Media of Morocco
Encyclopedia
Early history
The first newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
to appear in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
was an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
weekly called "Maghreb Al Aksa" in 1877. Such publications were not generally available in Moroccan cities until 1908. There was one newspaper before : El Eco de Tetuán 1860 in Spanish. It was founded by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Spanish writer and journalist.http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860
Under the French protectorate
French Morocco
French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
from 1920, French titles such as "L’Echo du Maroc" and "la Vigie Marocaine" started to appear. They were followed by the launch of a press group called "Mas" which issued "Farmhouse" and the daily newspapers "Le petit marocain" and "L'Écho du Maroc", although these titles continued to cater mainly to foreigners.
Presently Moroccan nationalists such as Mohamed Al Ouazzani began to publish their own titles. In 1933 he founded "L'action du peuple", a weekly French language newspaper. Later, Abdekhalek Torres and Mohamed Bennouna
Mohamed Bennouna
Mohamed Bennouna is a diplomat and jurist from Morocco. He worked as a professor at the Mohammed V University, as a permanent representative of his native country at the United Nations from 1998 to 2001, as a Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
issued two publications in Arabic in Tetouan
Tétouan
Tetouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tetouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier...
"Al Salam" and "Al Hayat" respectively. These gave the nationalists a platform to advance their demands regarding independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
from both France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. More and more foreign press published in Morocco appeared.
Morocco issued a press code on November 15, 1958.
Today
The government of MoroccoMorocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
owns many key media outlets, including Moroccan radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Moroccans have access to approximately 2,000 domestic and foreign publications. The Moroccan press agency, Maghreb Arab Press
Maghreb Arab Press
Maghreb Arab Press , is a Moroccan official news agency founded on May 31, 1959 by Mehdi Bennouna in Rabat. The director is Mohammed Khabbachi, and the general office is located in Rabat....
, and one Arabic daily newspaper, Al-Anbaa, are official organs of the government. One additional Arabic daily newspaper, Assahra Al Maghribia, and one French-language daily newspaper, Le Matin, are semi-official organs of the government.
ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK
In the past the majority of Moroccan newspapers did not represent actual commercial ventures or profit-making corporations, since they were essentially the written public outlet of political parties. As such they were owned by political interests and survived on contributions and government subsidies. In the last 10 years an influx of new capital has led to the creation of newspapers and periodicals that aspire to become commercially profitable. It should be noted, however, that the new publications are still heavily dependent on the government's budgetary allocations and that this reliance is inversely proportional to the professional autonomy of the younger generation of journalists.
ELECTRONIC NEWS MEDIA
The development of the Internet has brought a new dimension to news reporting in Morocco. Many of the major dailies and weeklies can now be accessed on their own Web sites. The landscape is changing almost as quickly as the Moroccan skyline. New publications such as Morocco Newsline Morocco Newsline. (www.morocconewsline.com), an online English language newspaper, are in line with the country efforts to attract English speaking tourists and investors. In 2007, Tourist arrivals from all countries of origin were up. The most significant increase comes from the UK, whose 344 000 visitors represents a 41% rise on 2005 figures.
Press freedom
Although journalists continue to practice self-censorshipSelf-censorship
Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own work , out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities of others, without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority...
, opposition dailies have begun to explore social and political issues that have traditionally been considered out of bounds. There is a substantial and close military relationship with the US, and the media continue to exercise great caution when discussing government corruption, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and Morocco’s policy toward Western Sahara
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...
. Radio Méditerranée Internationale (Medi-1), a joint French/Moroccan broadcaster, also practices self-censorship.
According to the most recent available information, Morocco has 27 AM radio stations, 25 FM radio stations, 6 shortwave stations, and 5 television stations including 2M TV
2M TV
2M TV is a Moroccan television service. It was established by the largest Moroccan economic conglomerate, ONA, before being sold to the Moroccan state. It is based in Casablanca...
.
On December 20, 2006, Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou
Driss Jettou
-Early life and education:Jettou was born in the town of El-Jadida. After secondary studies at El Khawarizmi college in Casablanca, he obtained a technical Baccalauréat in mathematics in 1964. He then joined the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat where he graduated in physics and chemistry in 1966...
banned the Arabophone weekly magazine Nichane
Nichane
Nichane was a Moroccan weekly arabophone and darijophone magazine...
. This action was taken in retaliation for publishing "provocative jokes" related to religion. The website was also shut down.
Real progress at the start of King Mohammed’s reign has been followed by reverses and tension, especially from 2002 onwards, Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
said in an evaluation of the state of press freedom in Morocco on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Mohammed VI’s accession to the throne on 23 July 1999. The number of daily and weekly newspapers has grown dramatically since 1999 and several new radio and TV stations were given licenses when state control of broadcasting began to be relaxed in May 2006, offering Moroccans some diversity in this sector for the first time. Despite the impartiality of the High Council for Broadcasting (CSCA), there was widespread disappointment that no new TV stations and only four new radio stations (either regional or specialist ones) were awarded licences in a second wave in February of this year. There had been 23 applicants.
Although Morocco now tolerates more media criticism and more editorial freedom, the Palace still does not accept that the media have an important role to play. It allows some leeway to print media journalists because only 1 per cent of the population buys newspapers and magazines. And only a few newspapers such as Tel Quel and Le Journal hebdomadaire are really independent.
The media still has to face obstacles, archaic laws and arbitrary reactions. Policemen often assault reporters and photographers and confiscate their equipment. Twenty policemen raided the Arabic-language weekly Al Ayam on 10 February just because of a photo of a member of the royal family which it had requested permission to publish. Combined total of nearly 25 years in prison for journalists since 1999.
Journalists can still be jailed under the Moroccan press code. The media were angered by the code’s latest revision, in May 2002, because the possibility of prison sentences was maintained even if the maximum terms were cut significantly (for example, from 20 to five years for attacks on the king’s honour).
The most draconian article, 41, extended the defamation law’s applicability to Islam and Morocco’s territorial integrity, while the courts, in addition to the executive, were given the power to suspend or close newspapers. The latter provision would arguably have been a move in the right direction if it had not been for the fact that Morocco’s courts are not independent.
Ranking
- Worldwide press freedom index 2008: Morocco ranks 122nd out of the 173 countries assessed. For reference, there were then 192 members of the UN, and there may be 8 other nations in the world, see List of sovereign states.
Operators of the telecommunication
- Maroc TelecomMaroc TelecomMaroc Telecom is the main telecommunication company in Morocco.IAM employs around 11,178 employees. It has 8 regional delegations with 220 offices present on all the territory of Morocco.IAM is controlled by Vivendi which has a 53% share of its capital...
- MeditelMéditelMéditel is one of three licensed telecommunications operators in Morocco. Its headquarters is based in Casablanca.Méditel obtained the second license of mobile telephony in Morocco in 1999...
- Wana (Telecommunications)Wana (Telecommunications)Wana is the third main telecommunication company in Morocco. It was one of the early Internet service providers in Morocco. It started marketing its internet services representing the brand Wanadoo, thus the name Wana...
- Mobisud
- Inwi
Canal TV
- RTMRTM- Computing :* Release to manufacturing - a term used when software is ready for release- Marketing :* Return to manufacturer - of faulty goods* Registered Trademark - Radio and TV :...
- Arriadia TV
- Arriadia 2 TV
- Arrabiaa TV
- Al Maghribia TV
- Assadissa TV
- 2M TV2M TV2M TV is a Moroccan television service. It was established by the largest Moroccan economic conglomerate, ONA, before being sold to the Moroccan state. It is based in Casablanca...
- Medi 1 TV
Radio Stations
- Radio 2M
- Medi 1MEDI 1Médi 1 Radio is a private, commercial Moroccan radio network owned by various banks and private companies from both Morocco and France. The station started broadcasting in 1980 and is based in Tangier, Morocco....
- Casa FM
- Chada FM
- Hit Radio
- Radio Aswat
- Radio Atlantic
- Radio Plus
- SNRT Chaine inter
- SNRT coranique
- SNRT arabic