Rabat – Opponents of the draft law related to the reorganization of the National Press Council in Morocco expressed that its approval would be a decline in the constitutional guarantees of the freedom of the press and the independence of its representative institutions, as the project contents sparked a wave of controversy within the media and human rights circles recently.
The project, which was presented for discussion about 3 years after the extension of the council’s mandate with exceptional decree, includes wide reservations, most notably: changing the mechanism of electing members of the council, adopting the standard of transactions number in the assignment of publishers, and making the decision to stop newspapers from the publication of the council, not in the hands of the judiciary.
While the government says that the project seeks to ensure the effectiveness of self -regulation for the profession of journalism, and to provide a stable legal environment for press practice, its opponents believe that it devotes an approach to control that weakens the independence of the press body, and harms the accumulated gains in the field of self -regulation of the profession of journalism.
Legitimacy of the Council
The National Press Council was elected as an independent professional body in 2018, with the aim of self -organization of the press and publishing sector, and set its powers with the following tasks:
- Grant the press card.
- Performing the role of mediation in resolving conflicts between professionals.
- It follows respect for freedom of the press and monitor the respect of the ethics of the profession.
- Providing opinion on bills and decrees related to the profession.
- Preparing studies related to the sector.
Since 2022, the Council has experienced an exceptional situation after the end of the period of the assignment of its members without holding new elections, which made the government issued a law to extend the council’s life for 6 months, and in April 2023 issued another law stipulating the transfer of the council’s powers to a temporary committee to manage journalism and publishing for a period of two years.
In conjunction with the end of the mandatory period of the temporary committee, the government approved a draft law related to the reorganization of the National Press Council, and referred it to Parliament, last Tuesday, so that it would be initiated and discussed in the Education, Culture and Communication Committee.
The project created an election system based on the nominal secret polls of journalists, compared to the mandate system for publishers, and the representation of this category was linked to the number of authorized users and annual transactions number, the materials that sparked controversy among professionals, in addition to giving the council the authority to prevent newspapers from issuance.
Rotting the sector
The Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Al -Mahdi, Bensaid, affirmed the harmony of this project with the provisions of the constitution related to freedom of expression and self -organization of the profession of journalism and publishing.
He explained during his presentation in the Education, Culture and Communication Committee in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, that the temporary committee for the running of the press sector consulted with various professional bodies in the field of journalism and publishing before setting the amendments.
The Minister stressed the need to secure the continuity of the council with its mission of self -regulation of the profession and the advancement of its ethics, and to fortify the sector in a democratic and independent way, considering that this law shows the ministry’s intention to provide a stable and transparent legal environment for the press practice to frame the press sector and ensure the continuity of its representative institutions.
And the number of Benaida, the developments that the project brought, including reducing the structure of the council from 21 to 19 members, and raising the representation of publishers to 7 members assigned by professional organizations, in addition to two members of the wise publishers with experience and competence.
In turn, the National Society for Media and Publishers defended the mechanism that the draft law brought in forming members of the council by electing representatives of journalists in exchange for the assignment of publishers.
She said in a statement that this mechanism should not be understood as an obstacle, but rather as an introduction to enhancing reform, and stressed the importance of this trend by valuing the efforts of strong press institutions, and in motivating and encouraging medium and small institutions to develop within the framework of a coherent economic and financial model.
Renovate
On the other hand, the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers considered that this mechanism is a “consolidation to distinguish between professionals in the way of their choice”, and she saw the adoption of the representative of publishers according to the number of media institutions transactions as “detailed on the size of contracting with larger capital, and thus devoting monopoly, domination and mutilation, and eliminating pluralism and diversity”, according to their description.
The former Minister of Communication, Nabil bin Abdullah, criticized the new amendments, as he considered it “a complete modification of the philosophy of the self -organization of the profession, and reflects a trend towards making the press under the authority of money.”
He condemned, through his intervention by the Voice of Morocco newspaper, to “abandon the philosophy of pluralism and remove the societal representation within the council, which included groups such as lawyers and writers, and compensating them with constitutional institutions”, which he considered “an emptying of the council of its independence.”
For his part, former Minister of Communication Mustafa Al -Khalafi said that the draft law constitutes a serious retreat from the democratic gains, which Morocco accumulated in the self -organization of the press.
In his speech to Al -Jazeera Net, he considered that the project’s dependence on a dual election system is a “dangerous setback”, adding that “the original ruler in the representation is the direct elections, while the mandate is supposed to be an exception”, and he explained that the absence of international experiences that adopt this mixed model confirms its non -democratic character.
He stressed that the proposed project contradicts the Moroccan constitution, which provides for the organization of the press and publishing sector in a democratic manner, denouncing what it considered “a miscarriage of the experience of the National Press Council”, which was supposed to enhance and develop, not to back down.
Al -Khalafi criticized the adoption of the number of transactions as a criterion in the representation of press institutions within the council, stressing that what must be taken into account is the “criterion of readiness and pluralism”, as indicators that reflect the actual presence in the media scene, and not only the economic weight.
Acknowledgment concerns
In turn, the head of the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers, Al -Raqsa, told Al -Jazeera Net that the new amendments, especially those related to the system of selecting members of the Council, are clearly contradicting with Chapter 28 of the Moroccan Constitution, which calls on the authorities to encourage journalists to organize themselves democratically and independently, stressing that the election is the supreme expression of this independence.
Al -Raqas explained that linking the representation to financial standards such as transactions or monthly profits leads to monopoly by a limited number of press contracts, and it contradicts the spirit of professional councils that are supposed to be based on the ethics of the profession, as is the case in international experiences.
The project stipulated a number of disciplinary penalties against publishers and professional journalists, including withdrawing the press card and stopping the issuance of paper or electronic newspapers for a period not exceeding 30 days.
The background minister warned against granting the authority to arrest the newspapers of the National Press Council, considering that this contradicts international covenants and the Moroccan press loses one of the most important guarantees of independence.
While the dance described this step as a “real catastrophe” and a “dangerous retreat” from one of the democratic gains achieved by Morocco, as the ban was only the jurisdiction of the judiciary, without even being granted to the government as an executive authority.
After referring the project to the House of Representatives for discussion and vote on it, he called for parliamentarians to win the values of democracy and freedom of the press, and to enable the legislative institution to fulfill its role in protecting the independence of the media, considering that this law not only affects the press body, but offends the general democratic image of Morocco.
As for the background, the parliamentarians demanded their responsibility to protect the democratic gains that Morocco has achieved in the press and publishing sector and to provide enough time to discuss the amendments.
While Al -Raqas expressed its pessimism and fear of passing the project quickly in Parliament and the strength of the governmental majority, the National Association of Publishers regretted what it described as the “cramping discussion” that accompanied the project’s presentation, which has tended to delete a legislative effort that deserves to be valued, especially in an apartment related to forming the structures of the National Assembly.
She saw that the project in its current form “is an effective tool to stop the manifestations of chaos and the profession, which sometimes turned into a haven for those who have no profession, in the absence of control and accountability.”
