Media of Morocco

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Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Today 2 Press freedom 2.1 Ranking 3 See also 4 External links 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The first newspaper to appear in Morocco was published in English and was called "Maghreb Al Aksa". It was a weekly newspaper and started in 1877. However, it was only until the beginning of 1908 that publications started to appear in many Moroccan cities.

Around 1920, and under the French protectorate, French published a few titles like "L’Echo du Maroc" and "la Vigie Marocaine". That was followed by the launch of a press group called "Mas" which issued "Farmhouse" and the daily newspapers "Le petit marocain" and "l'Echo du Maroc". The titles were reflecting mainly the ideas and opinions of the foreigners.

These events led Moroccan nationalists to publish their own titles and it was Mohamed Al Ouazzani the first Moroccan to do so. In 1933 he founded "L'action du peuple", a weekly French language newspaper. Later, Abdekhalek Torres and Mohamed Bennouna issued two publications in Arabic in Tetouan "Al Salam" and "Al Hayat" respectively. That gave the nationalists a platform to advance their demands regarding independence from both France and Spain. Foreign press published in Morocco also continued to appear.

Due to the increase of new titles' appearances, Morocco promulgated a press code on November 15, 1958. ^[1]

[edit] Today

The government of Morocco owns many key media outlets, including Moroccan radio and television. Moroccans have access to approximately 2,000 domestic and foreign publications. The Moroccan press agency, Maghreb Arab Press, 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.

[edit] Press freedom

Although journalists continue to practice self-censorship, opposition dailies have begun to explore social and political issues that would have been considered out of bounds until recently. However, the media continue to exercise caution when discussing government corruption, human rights, and Morocco’s policy toward Western Sahara. 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.^[2]

On December 20th, 2006, Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou issued a statement prohibiting thus the diffusion and distribution of the Arabophone weekly magazine Nichane.^[3]

This prohibition came as a result of the publishing of "provocative jokes" related to religion according to the statement. The website has also been shut down.

[edit] Ranking

• world-wide press freedom index 2002: Rank 119 out of 167 countries.

[edit] See also

• List of newspapers in Morocco
• List of magazines in Morocco

[edit] External links

• Main Moroccan Media portal (French)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
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