Report on Media in Morocco - Arab Center for the Rule of Law and ...

and yet, their attendance was objected to 61 . Journalists in the public media confirm the
existence of a list of prohibited people 62 , as well as a prior agreement with powerful
statesmen regarding who should be guests in talk-shows broadcast by these
channels 63 .
Such directives appear more in the Arab Morocco News Agency, where journalists
report the presence of internal evidence of certain directives concerning the material
produced inside the agency. Among the facts that most indicate that the said agency is
subject to directives concerning its business was what happened at the end of 2005
when the agency's administration broadcast a statement attributed to a French person
named Francois Clairie, who as the private physician of King Mohammed V
(grandfather of the current King), in which he denied that he gave statements to the
weekly "al-Ayyam" on the "Life of Women" under the rule of the mentioned king.
However, a phone call between another Moroccan weekly 64 and the mentioned
physician revealed that the said doctor clung to every word of the interview that was
published by "al-Ayyam" and led to legal action against the latter. The agency did not
apologize for what it published or at least clarify what happened.
1-3-2 Self-Censorship
Faced with the constrains that the opposition media and the independent media
remained subject to in the previous periods, and to avoid the control that the
authorities were exercising in this regard, self-censorship prevailed among journalists
and in media institutions alike. The Press usually avoided direct criticism of anything
related to the monarchy and its activities, preferring instead the language of signs and
addressing criticism through the Minister of Interior, who remained the channel of
direct contact with the King in the Moroccan political life.
If certain media institutions, especially independent newspapers, went far in canceling
such type of censorship, this does not mean the total disappearance thereof. The
Public media, of all forms, still subject themselves to terms of reference that specify
people and topics that should not be covered by reports or discussed. One cannot
imagine that in this type of media there could be material that criticizes any
governmental official. Nor can it be perceived that there could be anything broadcast
which carries critical assessment of the King's or government's work. Even when the
administration of the city, and was considered among the King's friends during school days. Before
that, he was the King's official spokesman.
61 It is sufficient to mention in this regard the case of journalist Ahmed Bouz, the editorial secretary of
"a -Saheefa" newspaper who was prohibited from taking part in the programs of Channel 2 on two
occasions. The first in 2002 when he was invited to take part in the program "the Press has an opinion".
The second was in 2006, when he was invited to participate in the program "Live With You". Every
time he was told that the news director in this channel objected to his attendance,
62 For example, there are popular figures in the media or in the legal or political circles who never took
part in the programs of public media channels, such as Abu Bakr al-Jamei, director of "Le Journal", Ali
al-Murabit, director of the suspended "Demain", Mohammed Hafiz, director of "al-Saheefa", Ahmed
Rida Bin Shamsi, dorector of "Tel Qu'il" magazine, Abdel-Hamid Amin, president of the Moroccan
Human Rights Association, Mohammed Sasi, secretary-general of the Unified Socialist Party, Ahmed
Binjaloun and Abdel-Rahman Bin Amro, secretary-general and deputy secretary-general of "taleea'"
Party respectively, as well as the artist Ahmed al-Sannousi who was forbidden to appear in the public
media since 1986.
63 The most obvious case is related to the program "Dialogue" broadcast by Channel 1.
64 Magazine "al-Saheefa" interviewed the mentioned doctor on December 12, 2005.