The government Dominates Broadcast Time in Public and Private ...

?By Loubna Flah

Morocco World News

Casablanca, August 30, 2012

According to the Moroccan daily Le Soir, the High Council for Communication and Audiovisual sector (CSCA) revealed that News bulletins broadcast by both private and public media could not achieve equity in the time allotted to guests among politicians, professionals and union representatives.

The study was conducted under the supervision of the High Commission for the Audiovisual Sector (HACA) in an attempt to give an accurate assessment of equity and pluralism in the Moroccan media.

The report relates the performance of 20?293 news bulletins where the intervention time of politicians, professionals and union leaders did not exceed 251hours. The HACA tries to ensure that the Moroccan media outlets offer a platform for counter arguments and free expression for all trends of thoughts with no discrimination.

The report reveals that the time allotted to government statements and members of the parliament especially from the majority parties has reached more than 79%? on Al Oula, 2M, Medi1TV, TV Tamazight and TV Laayoune.? The figures are more shocking for the National Radio Station that has allotted 90% of its broadcast time to government officials and politicians mainly from the majority.

On the other hand, the parties that could not secure seats in the parliament were granted limited time for intervention except by the Tamazight Radio station and Tamazight TV channel.

The private media did not behave differently. Indeed, the time allotted to government officials and the majority parties in private TV channels and radio stations ?is estimated to 70% especially for Radio Atlantic, Radio Aswat, Radio Med. Surprisingly, the government dominated 90% the intervention time on Radio Medina FM.

?On the other hand, Information magazines broadcast by public media outlets have nearly achieved equity in representing a broad spectrum of ideas, including equally the intervention of government officials as well as the opposition parties except for TV Layooun unable to reach an optimum level of equity.

The state monopoly over public and private media is a major threat to democracy. ?State-owned Media outlets become more often the government?s mouthpiece instead of being a platform for debate and critical thinking. ?In the midst of this strenuous transition, Moroccan audiences need to be exposed to dissimilar perspectives rather than a bigoted and misleading appraisal of current.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/08/53701/the-government-dominates-broadcast-time-in-public-and-private-reports/

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