Violence, Censorship and Freedom of Press: The Moroccan case (Part1)

The growing importance of online reports opens many new and exciting opportunities for the Media Industry. In fact, the global media industry has attended a real revolution in the transmission of information, caused by the emergence of the Internet and the loss of momentum of traditional media. 

In Morocco, the mass media remains generally under the government influence, in the exception of satellite channels, blogs and, websites that provided a tap to freedom of speech. In this regard, Morocco was ranked 136th by Reporters Without Borders on a list of 173 countries, considered as a country where the authorities have as much as necessary managed to make compromises and promises to calm claims for freedom.

The Media reforms were announced after the establishment of the Benkirane government in November 2011. But, the decriminalization of press offenses still slows to come true. The drop is due to the arbitrary and the lack of transparency in decision making such as the granting and the withdrawal of journalists’ accreditation. 

For the record, in October 2012, the accreditation of Omar Brouksy, a Moroccan journalist who works for Agence France-Presse (AFP), has been removed because he’s accused of having doubts about the neutrality of the King during partial parliamentary elections in Tangier.

For years, the official red lines in Morocco:  the monarchy, religion and, territorial integrity (The Sahara issue), repress the freedom of speech. But for Omar Radi, an independent Moroccan freelance journalist: “With online media, journalists can express themselves freely but they don’t know what time they will be oppressed because there are no rules!”.