HIBAPRESS – Rabat
The Progress and Socialism parliamentary group in the House of Representatives demanded that the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, intervene in the file of leaks attributed to members of the Press and Publishing Affairs Management Committee, due to the negative repercussions of the recordings' contents on trust in institutions and on freedom of the press.
Parliamentarian Nadia Tahami said in a written question addressed to the minister responsible for the press and publishing sector that the national public opinion had circulated, with "bewilderment and condemnation", audio recordings attributed to members of the committee in charge of overseeing professional ethics and disciplinary and arbitration issues of the Provisional Committee for Managing Press and Publishing Affairs. She added that the recordings contain data and contents that raise "great concern" about the management style of this important committee, because "they contain dangerous statements that involve serious slips, suggesting the employment of positions of responsibility, in ways that are contrary to the rules of neutrality, integrity and ethics assumed in the members of a committee that considers issues of ethics and rules of the practice of the journalism profession." Tahraoui considered that "the seriousness of what was circulated, and its impact on the image of our country's rights, and on the confidence of professionals and public opinion in the institutions supervising the sector, necessitates an investigation into the matter, and taking the necessary measures if what is stated in these recordings is proven." On this basis, the parliamentarian asked the minister about his position on "the contents of these recordings and the circulating conversations? What measures have you taken or are you intending to take to verify their accuracy and their circumstances and circumstances?", inquiring about "the measures that the ministry will take to "ensure the preservation of the principles of neutrality and independence in organizing the press and publishing sector." She warned in the context of her question: "Specifically within the Provisional Committee, to prevent the deepening of the manifestations of the crisis and congestion experienced by the journalistic body, in connection with the deep differences that the sector knows," questioning the measures that the minister will take to "correct the course, and ensure that practices that are offensive to the roles that any professional institution concerned with journalistic affairs and overseeing respect for ethics and the controls framing it do not recur."
