It is expected that the Coordination of Victims of the Interim Committee for the Management of the Press and Publishing Sector will hold a warning protest on Friday, January 12, at ten in the morning in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication – Communications Sector – in Irfan in the city of Rabat, and on the same day at eleven in the morning in front of Headquarters of the National Press Council in Souissi, Rabat
Against what I considered to be the refusal to renew the professional press card for hundreds of companies and professional journalists, despite the fact that they obtained the press card several years ago and provided all the required documents this year, on the one hand, and in view of the complicity of the guardian ministry in not intervening to correct the situation, as the Coordination Committee put it, on the other hand.
The Coordination Committee pointed out – according to the confirmed data it concluded – that the temporary committee, which established a strange “special system” that conflicts with many of the legal requirements contained in the Press and Publication Code, especially the law related to the basic system for professional journalists, premeditated and premeditated retaliation against… All professional journalists and Moroccan press institutions.
What was brought by the special regulations of the Interim Committee for Managing the Press and Publishing Sector, which is headed by Younes Mujahid, the outgoing president of the National Press Council, is considered a form of restrictions and abuse on many serious national and regional press institutions that are still suffering from many problems and constraints.
The Coordination Committee records with regret that the Guardian Ministry has stood by and watched since the issuance of this special system. Rather, it has dealt with this unacceptable situation, which aims to strike at the core of pluralism and freedom of expression with indifference and neglect. This is behavior that reflects the Ministry’s complicity in excluding a large group of journalists and small and medium-sized media companies. And depriving her of her demand guaranteed to her by Moroccan law, denouncing the policy of deaf ears, and holding the ministry fully responsible for the way it dealt with this file and its legitimacy.
The Coordination Committee also notes with regret that the National Press Council has not published – since its creation in 2019 until now – the lists of journalists who obtain a press card, as well as journalists who obtain a free train card every year, in accordance with Article 27 of the Moroccan Constitution and in accordance with Law 13.31 relating to the right to obtain information, as well as Article 10 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which obligates public administrations to enable citizens to obtain information and take measures to ensure their exercise of this right, in order to enhance transparency and establish a culture of good governance. Note that the guardian ministry in the past was undertaking this initiative, i.e. publishing regulations without the existence of this law. Which was published in the Official Gazette only in 2018.
The coordination also records that the temporary committee was confused about the conditions for public support for journalistic enterprise (according to the decree) and the conditions for the professional press card (according to the law), and began planning and legislating far from legal controls and rules, without accountability or oversight.
Speaking of public support, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaïd, previously revealed that the exceptional support for press and publishing companies during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 amounted to 716 million dirhams, which included disbursing the salaries of journalists and workers, and covering some other management expenses, after press companies abandoned payment. Their wages. While the value of public support allocated to the press during the year 2023 amounted to 63 million dirhams, and thus the percentage of increase in support is estimated at 177 million dirhams.
As for the new decree to support press companies in Morocco during the year 2024, it has moved from 63 million dirhams to 240 million dirhams, or 24 billion centimes. Note that this decree imposed illogical and unfair conditions and obligations on press companies, and will undoubtedly lead to the exclusion of a large number of newspapers. Serious and active newspapers and websites, whether national or regional, without taking into account the actual reality of these small and medium-sized journalistic enterprises.
In this context, the Coordination Committee calls once again – as part of the Right to Access to Information Law – the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication – the Communications Sector – to publish the financial amounts for public support in all details and with full transparency according to each media platform during the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, as it was doing. Ministry commanded earlier.
In this context, the coordination of the *Victims of the Interim Committee for the Management of the Press and Publishing Sector*, Younis Mujahid, in his capacity as Chairman of the Interim Committee, and Abdullah Al-Baqali, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee for Granting the Professional Card in the same committee and the guardian ministry, bears full responsibility; it calls on all female and male journalists, whether those affected or others, and the professional frameworks. And all the media activities that are jealous of the sector and the jurists in our country must mobilize from now on to engage in the initiative to organize this protest next Thursday under the title: *All for the sake of not only overthrowing the interim committee for managing the affairs of the press and publishing sector, but also abolishing the National Press Council and returning to assigning the guardian ministry. This mission is temporary because it is more compassionate, just, and equitable than the so-called Self-Regulation Council until the conditions are mature*.