Address of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, At Award Ceremony of the 2022 Parliamentary Press Prize

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, and may prayers and peace be upon His noble Messenger and his kith and kin

Ladies and gentlemen, Honorable Board members and Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Groups and Caucus and Standing Committees,

Honorable Representatives,

Distinguished Chair of the Jury, Mr. Abdellah Bakkali,

Distinguished Jury members,

Distinguished media representatives,

Esteemed guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is with pride that I welcome you today, in my own capacity and on behalf of all the House components. I am also very happy and honored to take part in the award ceremony of the 2022 Parliamentary Press Prize, in its second edition. The ceremony is organized by virtue of Rule 136 of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, which stipulates that “an annual parliamentary press prize shall be awarded, and its procedure shall be fixed by a decision of the Board of the House of Representatives.” This Prize was created to reward Moroccan journalists or media institutions, as a recognition of their individual and collective efforts in contributing to the advancement and promotion of parliamentary action, the consolidation of political participation, and the entrenchment of the State of institutions.

I would like to seize this opportunity to extend my warmest thanks to the journalists who ran for this Prize, thereby proving their interest in parliamentary action in our country. On the same note, I call upon other journalists to participate in the next editions. I would also like to seize this opportunity to praise the Jury members, presided over by Mr. Abdellah Bakkali, and including Ms. Sabah Bendaoud, Mr. Mohamed Mamad, and Mr. Abdelwahab Errami.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Esteemed attendees,

We, the House of Representatives, consider the press and media our partners in parliamentary action. Accordingly, we commit to continuous communication with media representatives, through issuing regular press releases on parliamentary action, providing parliamentary information, documents, and data as fast as possible and through all available means, and by inviting journalists to attend and cover the House activities in full compliance with the related provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the House. In this respect, I would like to note that the draft new Rules of Procedure is under examination by an ad hoc committee. The new Rules of Procedure will include several novelties that clarify and further regulate the relation between the House of Representatives and media in our country, in a way that guarantees the right to access information, on the one hand, and an adequate media practice that respects the laws in force, on the other.

On this same occasion, we would like to inform you that as part of providing the adequate conditions for a professional and adequate media practice within the legislative institution, the Boards of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors have agreed on the adoption of a new procedure to accredit journalists and media institutions, which will soon enter into force. In this regard, we assure you of our strong commitment to reinforcing the cooperation and partnership links with journalists and journalism bodies and providing credible information that reflects the true image of parliamentary action and contributes to raising awareness and consolidating citizenship values, out of awareness that the dissemination of several fallacies on social media, online news websites and the various media may have serious consequences on the democratic process.

To conclude, I present my warmest congratulations to the awardees of the 2022 Parliamentary Press Prize, and wish them the best of luck and further success. However, I would like to clarify that the Prize Jury is the only party that has knowledge of the names of awardees of the this year's Prize in its four categories, as the House was keen to award the ones that deserved it the most.

We hope this Prize would encourage journalists, particularly young ones, and that it would be an incentive for them to create and work harder, in a way that contributes to the consolidation of our country's democratic process, under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist and glorify him.

Thank you for your keen listening.