Media Censorship in Morocco
Alexander Messam, Aurielle Barnett, and Chaoran Jin
Carnegie Mellon University - Arabic Studies
This project was funded by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.
Abstract: This video focuses on the media censorship in Morocco by first giving an overview on how the government censors different platforms of media like national TV, independent press and the internet, in particular, restricting unfavourable perspectives on political and economic matters. Religious expression is also highly conserved as the majority of Moroccans practice Sunni Islam and strict laws are put to protect Islamic dogma. A series of cases are listed on the punishment of freedom of expression in Morocco where students and journalists are imprisoned and independent media are forced to shut down due to pressure. The video concludes with a discussion on whether censorship is necessary in Morocco and a debate on the new media law. Moroccan students at Al Akawayn Universities in Ifrane, Morocco give answers on how freely they can speak online, at school and in the general public, on the restriction of religious expression and whether censorship is needed.