Following the expiration of the National Press Council’s mandate in October 2022, new elections should have been held. However, the Moroccan government intervened on an ‘exceptional and temporary basis’ to extend the Council’s mandate for six months, arguing that the situation did not allow for the election of new members (Decree-Law No. 2.22.770). On April 13th, the Government approved the bill No. 15.23, which seeks to establish a temporary committee to conduct the affairs of the press and publishing sector and to replace the Press Council for the next two years. What is more striking so far , is that the temporary committee is still replacing the Press Council position . Therefore, some observers saw this decision as an indicator of a clear intention on the part of the Government to get rid of self-regulation, and regain its iron fist on media .
Despite all the changes that have occurred in Morocco media landscape, the country ranked 129th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index. In recent years, there have been many cases of using any possible means to silence journalists through intimidation, persecution and detentions. The famous journalist and editor in-chief of Akhbar Alyoum Taoufik Bouachrine was released last year -Whereas , Souleiman Raisouni is still in prison for “sexual assault” The complex process of media reform during political transitions is a persistent and notable aspect of media system in the country (Zaid et al., 2021). To illustrate this, during the first phases of King Mohamed the Sixth reign, a new law, 77.03, was introduced as a pretention to liberate the press sector in the Kingdom. However, the scale of liberation was only formal, and to a lesser extent.
According to the 2005 Law on Audiovisual Communication, SNRT (public broadcasting company) is wholly owned by the Moroccan state and subordinated to the Department of Communication in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Communication. Besides, the company is going to turn into a holding company regrouping other media outlets to be under the state control- In addition to the public media sector- , It goes without saying that the majority of media outlets rely on State subsidies, which means that it is rare to find independent media outlets as they confront many difficulties, especially when they have a critical tone towards the Authority.
Most Read with opposing directions.
Hespress (high parallelism) was founded in 2007. Since then, it has become an active voice in the Moroccan digital media with a strong presence on social media platforms, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to its various platforms and social media accounts ( 20 M visitors per month- 35 M followers from all the world). Published by Marocads, the leading digital newspaper in Morocco tops the weekly digital traffic rankings in the country, according to a study on journalism published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
The ranking also included a mix of government-run and independent news websites, such as Akhbarona, Assabah, and Media24.Lastly, “Alyaoum24” was listed with a weekly usage rate of 8% and an engagement rate of 3% for at least three days per week. Ostensibly, Hespress positively covers the Government policies and initiatives and its voice is so close to the official narratives concerning the Red Lines (Islam -The Monarch, Sahara issue) Annmarie Eddins , 2021.
Lakome2: a different voice (independent)
In 2010, Ali Anouzla founded Lakome online newspaper, and was joined by Abou Bakr Jamaai. Anouzla served the position as an editor-in-chief of Lakome until 2013, when the State blocked the Arabic and French versions of this online newspaper. It was on 17 September 2013, Ali Anouzla was arrested in a raid against his home in Rabat, officially for having been linked to an El País article that contained a video allegedly posted by AQIM – hosted on the website of the Spanish newspaper. Later- after his release, Anouzla founded Lakome 2 as an independent online newspaper focusing on civil liberties, human rights, and the promotion of the right to access information and freedom of expression.
Refrences
– Bouziane Zaid and Mohamed Ibahrine, Morocco: Competitive Authoritarianism in Media reforms” , in Arab Media Systems , eds. Carola Ritcher et Al , (Open Book Publishers ,2021), 303 .
– Suares, Michael. “Morocco Seeks To revamp public Media after Decline in TV Aspend.” Morocco News World, May 25, 2021.
-Reporters without borders, plan to scrap press council would further erode media independence in Morocco ,
https://rsf.org/en/plan-scrap-press-council-would-further-erode-media-independence-morocco
– Imru AL Qays Talha Jebril , Morocco , in Reuters Instutute Digial News Report 2024, Nic Newman et al , p158,
-IDDINS, Annemarie. “A Sword of Damocles”: Media Policy, Digital Cultures, and the Discourse of Press Code Reform. International Journal of Communication, [S.l.], v. 15, p. 19, aug. 2021. ISSN 1932-8036. Available at: <https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17262>.