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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000158 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA - DAS PATTON, NEA/PI, NEA/MAG AND NEA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KPAO EAID KMPI KDEM PREL MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO PRESS FREEDOM: DAS PATTON'S VISIT 
 
REF: 07 RABAT 1465 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  During his January 16-19 visit to 
Morocco, DAS Kent Patton discussed Morocco's media 
environment and press freedom with local stakeholders from a 
variety of backgrounds.  Embassy officials stressed that 
passage of a revised press code eliminating prison sentences 
remained a key USG reform objective.  While Moroccan press is 
widely considered to be among the freest in the Arab world, 
serious deficiencies remain.  The Government of Morocco (GOM) 
currently lacks the political will to fully liberalize the 
country's press code but seldom strictly enforces it, leaving 
a void of uncertainty for journalists to negotiate.  While 
this void can be arbitrarily exploited to harass and punish 
journalists, many prefer to operate within this vague 
arrangement rather than sign off on a less-than-ideal 
revision that, if strictly enforced, could in practice reduce 
press freedoms.  Many traditional partisans of press 
freedoms, having ascended to positions of power, find 
themselves targets of the increasingly aggressive independent 
press and thus are reluctant to push for even greater 
liberalization.  Moreover, the Moroccan press union is weak, 
unrepresentative and highly politicized, leaving Mission 
Morocco with no effective and obvious local ally with whom to 
partner in our efforts to promote legislative reform.  As a 
result, the Mission is focusing on promotion of journalistic 
professionalism and ethics by designing and implementing a 
variety of training programs in an effort to boost mutual 
confidence and trust between the political class and the 
press and help develop the political will necessary to move 
forward with legislative reform.  End Summary. 
 
------------- 
STATE OF PLAY 
------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Post's Information Officer David Ranz briefed DAS 
Patton on developments in the Moroccan media and USG efforts 
to promote freedom of the press and journalistic 
professionalism.  He stated that Morocco's vibrant, 
independent press enjoyed a wide degree of freedom; even the 
traditional red-lines -- the monarchy, Islam and "territorial 
integrity" (read: Western Sahara) -- were frequently breached 
without consequences.  Although the occasional criminal and 
civil cases against journalists clearly encouraged 
self-censorship, there was no evidence that they were 
impeding bold, independent journalists such as Tel Quel 
director Ahmed Benchemsi from continuing to push the envelope 
of freedom of expression.  The fact that the most recent 
prosecution against Benchemsi under the press code has been 
repeatedly postponed indicates a reluctance on the part of 
the Moroccan Government to pursue such cases, he stated. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Passage of a revised press code eliminating all 
prison sentences remains a key USG reform objective, but Ranz 
expressed skepticism that Minister of Communications Naciri 
would be able to bridge the remaining differences between 
conservative elements in the GOM on the one hand, and the 
media community on the other, over a draft bill that had been 
held over from the previous government.  He added that there 
was a broad lack of political will among Moroccan leaders to 
push for a revised press code, even among traditional 
supporters of press freedom among leftist political parties 
who increasingly found themselves the targets of the new 
independent press.  Responding to Patton's questions about 
potential mechanisms for fostering public demand for greater 
press freedom, Ranz noted that the Moroccan press union was 
deeply politicized and feckless, and was widely considered to 
be unrepresentative of the journalist community (of which 
perhaps 10-15 percent are members).  Moreover, it was 
maintaining a boycott against cooperation with the USG as a 
result of U.S. policy in the Middle East, making any 
partnership difficult to imagine for the foreseeable future. 
Patton urged post to continue exploring creative means to 
increase and focus demands for press freedom. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Patton also met with media mogul Abdelmounaim 
Dilami, whose titles include Chairman of the Moroccan 
Federation of Publishers (FMEJ), Director of Eco Medias Group 
(the largest private media conglomerate in Morocco), and IREX 
MENA Media Advisory Board member for Morocco.  Dilami said 
the media environment had improved significantly since the 
early 1990s, especially during the reign of King Mohammed VI. 
 
RABAT 00000158  002 OF 003 
 
 
 Regarding the press code, Dilami said the aforementioned 
draft bill was better than the existing law, but went 
insufficiently far from the perspective of the press 
community.  He added that the new GOM had been largely silent 
on the issue and he was not optimistic that it would take 
action any time soon.  He preferred the status quo to a 
poorly conceived revision, saying that severe penalties that 
are loosely and rarely enforced were preferable to more 
moderate sentences that judges would feel compelled to 
impose.  He admitted that while the FMEJ and the National 
Union of Moroccan Press (SNPM) would have little ability to 
fight more punitive press laws directly, they could exert 
pressure via the articles they publish. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Later, Patton discussed press issues with Sanaa 
al-Aji, the Moroccan journalist who received a one-year 
suspended prison sentence and a fine for her article on jokes 
in Morocco (including about Islam, sex and politics) in the 
Arabic-language weekly publication Nichane.  Al-Aji believed 
that while Morocco had reduced barriers to press freedom, the 
situation remained flawed.  On the one hand, journalists 
could speak freely and criticize religion with some limits, 
but they could still be put on trial for publishing 
controversial material, and unfortunately it was not clear 
who decided what was offensive.  Like Dilami, she felt that 
accepting the status quo might be the best course for now 
because "at least the King is open and modern." 
 
------------ 
ALTERNATIVES 
------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Given the lack of political will on the part of the 
GOM and the difficulty of finding enthusiastic and effective 
partners among the organizations that represent journalists 
to push for a revised press code, the Mission has focused on 
training programs to promote ethical and professional 
practices of journalists in Morocco.  Persistent problems 
with basic journalistic ethics in Morocco, coupled with 
arbitrarily enforced and punitive press laws, have 
discouraged politicians from supporting additional press 
freedom.  Dilami commented that politicians view their 
positions as a path to power rather than a way to liberalize, 
and they consider private media as trespassers on their 
domain.  Until those politicians who hold this opinion are 
forced to change their view, meaningful reform will be hard 
to achieve.  By providing training on ethical standards and 
professional practices, the Embassy hopes to contribute to 
the building of confidence between the media and the 
political class. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Dilami mentioned a proposal to create a National 
Press Council as part of the revised press code, which would 
include three independent representatives of human rights and 
public interest groups, as an indication of efforts to 
institute independent, self-governance of the press and 
remove this responsibility from the hands of the government. 
Al-Aji agreed on the need for an official media-monitoring 
body but questioned who would run it and how.  Dilami noted 
that the GOM now provided USD 6.4 million annually to 
subsidize print media, allowing it to modernize and become 
more professional.  Still, he complained that so much 
emphasis is placed on the political aspect of the media that 
it is not appreciated as a means of communication. 
 
---------------- 
CURRENT PROGRAMS 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Regarding IREX, Dilami, an IREX MENA Media Advisory 
Board member for Morocco himself, commented that he did not 
understand the purpose of the program an had the impression 
that those who managed it wee professional poject designers 
who simply run he same project in multiple countries rather 
tha creating new and country specific proposals.  He sid to 
be constructive, IREX needed to find an apropriate entry 
point for its efforts, but he didnot feel that it had.  He 
cited an IREX project n Jordan that trained lawyers in the 
field of prss freedom as an example of being pointless, 
becase even training journalists will not change the mdia 
environment if publishers are not willing toaccept changes. 
Separately, Ranz also encouragedMEPI to provide IREX's MENA 
Media poject with the latitude to fund training designed 
 
RABAT 00000158  003 OF 003 
 
 
specifically for the needs of Moroccan journalists, 
particularly the new crop of independent radio stations. 
IREX has the potential to be very helpful in promoting reform 
in Morocco, but the country's unique position in the field of 
Arab media requires adaptation to the needs of the local 
market.  Dilami voiced concern about Advisory Board members 
offering project proposals to IREX, something which he felt 
should not be allowed. 
 
¶9.  (U) As an example, Ranz cited a recent pilot project 
funded by the Public Affairs Section, which trained the press 
corps in Oujda, capital of the Oriental region, in the use of 
new media and citizen journalism techniques, such as 
podcasting, blogging, and posting videos on YouTube and 
dailymotion.com.  Ranz noted that the regional press -- both 
print and on-line -- played a vital role in fostering 
grass-roots democratization by conducting critical oversight 
of local governance, as evidenced by the now-famous "Sniper 
of Targuist" case, in which someone posted videos of Moroccan 
policemen taking bribes on YouTube, compelling local 
authorities to take action against the offending parties. 
Ranz stated that the Moroccan consultant who conducted the 
successful pilot training -- a well-known local blogger 
himself -- was submitting a proposal for a MEPI local grant 
to conduct similar training sessions in regional cities 
throughout Morocco; Patton expressed support for funding this 
proposal. 
 
¶10.  (U) DAS Patton has cleared this cable. 
 
 
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***************************************** 
 
Riley