reaction - "State-administered Public Service Broadcasting in Morocco"
In Bouziane
Zaid’s paper titled “State-administrated Public Service Broadcasting in Morocco”,
the main topic concerns the regulations and the structure of public broadcasting
in Morocco, focusing on the post-1990s period.
This period
was characterized by the government’s will to create “political reforms aimed
at promoting human rights, civil liberties, an open, pluralist media, and
establish the rule of law.”. Very important changes were made during this
period, but the changes made to the media specifically were not, according to
Dr. Bouziane, as “genuine and profound”.
The most
important milestone in the changes in regulation for public broadcasting in
Morocco, which included the creation of the HACA (High Authority for
Audiovisual Communication) in 2002, was the establishment of a framework for
private broadcasting. These regulations and reforms were made in the context of
Morocco’s efforts of democratization, however, it has led to a conflictual
reality where reforms were made both to free the media from state monopoly,
while at the same time limiting that freedom due to fears of challenges to the
status quo.
According
to Bouziane, Morocco has failed to liberalize the media and free it from being
a political tool at the hands of the state government. Instead, Bouziane argues
that the reforms were actually created in order to be a seemingly democratic
tool against opposing forces.
He argues
that this is because Morocco, rather than being a democracy, is a “competitive authoritarian
regime”, which is defined as a regime that is “characterized by the presence of
some democratic institutions and some democratic practices” but that ultimately
fail to reach democracy due to constant violations of democratic principles.
I think
that the nature of the regime in place in Morocco makes it very hard to reach
democratization, especially in the media. An authoritarian regime cannot have a
completely democratic media, or else it would risk its destruction, which is
why true democratization is not feasible in my opinion, as the state would
never allow it. But I do believe that the regulations that are in place at the
moment can and should be subject to changes that would further enhance the
liberalization of media.
Bouziane, Zaid. “State-administered
Public Service Broadcasting in Morocco”.P.149-163. Web.
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