[Ennahar] The Moroccan government has promised reform of the current press code "based on democratic benchmarks" during a meeting with news hounds who called for "striking red lines" that the media must not cross.If you need a license to report news you don't have a free press.
"We presented to the government a reform bill on a philosophy that is liberal, and have requested the deletion of articles on "red lines"," said Wednesday Younes Mujahid, president of the National Union of the Moroccan press (SNPM ).
If the government can shut you down and throw you in jail for something you wrote, no matter how stoopid or how accurate, you don't have a free press.
Moroccan journalists complain about the current press code ambiguity of some items, particularly those relating to the monarchy, Islam and "territorial integrity".
If you have a "press code" you don't have a free press...
"My goal is to balance freedom with responsibility. We'll be able to find appropriate solutions, refining the text to make it look more modern," said Khalid Naciri, the Moroccan Minister of Communication.
Mussolini's fascist state doled out what it considered adequate freedoms to its citizens.
The working conditions of journalists, their independence and articles on custodial sentences for crimes of opinion dominated discussions at the meeting Tuesday night in Rabat between Naciri, the Moroccan Federation SNPM and newspapers Publishers.