November 12, 2009
Moroccan bloggers fear for free press
Posted on 11:49 PM by google
Magazines shut down by the authorities, a wave of court cases, jail sentences for some journalists ... Moroccan bloggers are taking all these press freedom issues very seriously.
The woman who runs the Agora blog draws readers' attention to Morocco's tumble in Reporters Without Borders' annual global ranking, writing that the country "[dropped] from 122nd place in 2008 to 127th. Remember how in 2007 we were in 106th place."
This fall from grace seems to have encouraged the emergence of a less risky "erotic" style of journalism, says Bigbrothermaroc.
"Some of our magazines…have been trying in recent times to introduce erotic journalism, in all but name, by slipping in articles here and there with fairly explicit but non-controversial photos", writes the blogger. "Just look at two cases this week: Femmes du Maroc with Nadia Larguet virtually in the nude, and TelQuel."
Bigbrothermaroc writes sardonically that it's a good example to follow. "Rather than confronting the courts, write something erotic, and no one will bother you, you'll see."
For Moroccans struggling to keep track of press-related court cases, Larbi provides an in-depth overview of authorities' crackdown on the media, focusing particular attention on the case against Akhbar Al Youm, in which the paper was sentenced to pay 3 million dirhams in damages to Prince Moulay Ismail. Larbi writes, "The damages payable to the prince, if confirmed in the appeal and demanded by the prince, would be a de facto financial death sentence" for the paper.
Larbi wonders about the future of press freedoms in Morocco as the number of attacks on media increase. "And so we lose the freedom of the press in Morocco," he writes. "All we can do now is call in the UN peacekeepers to stand up against the 'freedom of expression' Taliban, which wants to wage a war from another age."
Even blogs are not immune to the crackdown. Ibn Khafka, in his Ramblings of a Lawyer blog, urges readers to check out Global Voices' work on the top 10 blogger persecutions. "This map of the world shows the number of bloggers who have been threatened, imprisoned or even killed on a country-by-country basis, and includes not just ongoing cases but previous cases."
Moroccan bloggers are also looking to international relations, targeting the perceived ambivalence of American foreign policy-makers, especially on the thorny issue of Middle East peace. In his Citoyenhmida blog, "the man in the Clapham omnibus" mulls over the contradictory statements made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding Palestine and the fall-out from negotiations with the Israelis. "We need to know where we stand!" he insists.
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