MOROCCO: NEW OBSERVATORY TO BOOST CRITICAL ARAB JOURNALISM, SAYS UNION CHIEF
Rabat, 17 Feb. (AKI) - The leader of Morocco's journalists union believes an Arab Observatory for Press Freedom to open in Rabat in May will create a network supporting colleagues at home and in other Arab countries in their quest for more freedom. The observatory created by the Arab journalists union "will help us monitor the situation in the entire Arab region, from Algeria to Yemen, as reporters will write periodic dossiers on their own countries and then compare notes at annual meetings," Younes Moujahid, who heads the national union of the Moroccan press, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
"Our effort is to centralise all the data through national unions so that we can publicly compare what is going on," said Moujahid in a phone interview from Rabat.
The decision to create an observatory was taken at the 10th congress of the Arab Journalists' Union (AJU) in Cairo on October 2004.
Organisers, including AJU president Ibrahim Nafea, swear the body will be "fully independent." This claim is also endorsed by the Brussels-based International Journalists Federation (IJF), which is helping set up the initiative, which says the choice of venue is key. The IJF is the world's largest organisation of journalists which, among other things, helps out press and media unions in countries where undemocratic regimes are in place.
Bertrand Ginet, project manager of the Mediterranean area for IJF, told AKI he was confident the observatory would contribute to some progress by creating stronger links between various Arab media unions and would be given a certain degree of freedom, because it is based in Morocco.
"The situation there [in Morocco] is moving swiftly and, unless journalists investigate hot topics such as religion and territorial integrity, they are granted a certain amount of freedom," Ginet said.
The media in Morocco has become freer since Mohammed VI became king in 2000 and media reforms were pushed through in 2002.
Nevertheless, the law imposes major restrictions on press freedom and journalists are still arrested and jailed on libel and slander charges.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that certain offences - such as criticism of Islam, the monarchy or territorial integrity - are not clearly defined.
"Yet media freedom in Morocco is so much better than in any other country in the area, except Lebanon," Ginet said.
Progress is also being made after a bill on the liberalisation of the audiovisual media was passed in 2004 to make the industry more dynamic.
There are currently two state-owned Moroccan television channels and a very limited number of radio stations. The situation is about to evolve with approximately ten new radios and three new television broadcasters about to open.
"There is an atmosphere of great change now," explained Moujahid, adding that the first media outlets are expected to start operating during the course of 2006 and 2007.
Despite the planned emergence of many new media outlets Ginet said, "there is still a lot of pressure on single journalists in Morocco."
"The hope is that reporters will be less alone thanks to institutions such as the new observatory," the IJF member said.
chargement...
+ 
