Education, Culture, and Communication Committee Reviews Situation and Challenges of Press and Media Companies Considering COVID-19
The Education, Culture, and Communication Committee at the House of Representatives held a meeting on Friday, June 26th, 2020, under the chairmanship of the Committee's chairperson Mohamed Mellal, with Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports Othmane El Ferdaous. The meeting reviewed the situation of print and digital media in the light of COVID-19.
Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports announced that "More than 200 million dirhams were allocated to print media as part of an emergency plan to revive this sector that plays a major role in the democratic edifice." The Minister also noted that "traditional support is not enough, and there is an imperative to resort to extraordinary measures and differentiate between the situational and structural problems of the sector. In this respect, my department worked intensely with the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Administration Reform to prepare an emergency plan to revive print media, which is composed of four measures that are connected to the current circumstances."
According to Mr. El Ferdaous, the first measure allocates 75 million dirhams to cover the salaries of media companies for three months (July, August, and September.) He also highlighted that "more than 130 companies requested support through the request-for-proposal launched by the Ministry for traditional support, including more than 30 modern companies. The study of their requests revealed the deterioration of their financials.”
The second measure concerns the allocation of 75 million dirhams by the Ministry of Finance for the payment of suppliers to media companies to take over the economic value chain of the sector and mitigate costs.
The Minister added that the third measure concerns allocating 15 million dirhams for printing houses that produce more than 500,000 copies to enable these companies to pay the wages of handlers. The fourth measure is reflected in granting direct funding of 15 million dirhams to "SAPRESS" operating in distribution, considering the problems it undergoes due to the current situation. The Ministry of Finance will pursue its project for funding the company, launched last year, through a state recapitalization to the tune of 10 million dirhams.
Another 15 million dirhams were granted to private radio stations, which, according to the Minister, "made huge efforts in sensitizing citizens during this health crisis using simple and clear language."
As regards the sector structuring, Mr. El Ferdaous noted "the agreement on the creation of a joint working group to collect data to analyze the situation. Later, the Ministry will study the proposals of the sector's professionals regarding modernizing the sector, training, and investments in media companies through implementing long-running programs."
On another note, Mr. El Ferdaous noted that the crisis emanating from COVID-19 uncovered several problems that concern not only the sector of communication, but also other sectors, and need to be addressed by adopting a rational approach that is based on determining the situational problems that are relative to the crisis and establishing special plans to address them, and determining the structural problems that dictate action according to a medium and long-term vision.
The Speaker also stressed the importance of convergence between the projects of the sectors of culture, communication, youth, and sports through concrete projects. In this respect, he mentioned that the sector of youth had prepared the program "Kids and Culture," an easy-access interactive platform that aims to introduce the culture and heritage of the Kingdom to children. The Minister also mentioned a daily televised children game show broadcast on Al Aoula (Channel 1).
Besides, the Minister stressed the importance of technological transformations and digital platforms, which now have an impact on democracy. The Minister also mentioned the value of the advertising market, which grew bigger in the light of the said transformations.
In this respect, Mr. El Ferdaous mentioned the global dialogue within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding the problems of digital platforms' tax systems. The Minister qualified this dialogue of crucial for countries like Morocco as it "will enable the Kingdom to negotiate with big corporations from a position of power, considering that more than 15 million Moroccans have accounts on Facebook, 8 million of which are youth."
As part of the open discussion, the deputies, members of the Committee, representing the parliamentary groups and caucus, agreed on the vital role public and private media played during this pandemic. They also commended the approach adopted in communicating information, sensitizing, and fighting false information during the state of public health emergency. The Committee members called for broadening the freedom of journalism and providing and improving the social protection for workers of the sector to enable them to work in better conditions.
The participating deputies stressed the importance of cybersecurity and the protection of personal data in the light of digital transformations. In this respect, they called for engaging in agreements with the pioneers of information and communication technologies and focusing on an approach that aims to establish the Kingdom’s digital sovereignty. The deputies also affirmed the necessity of developing the new economic model of media companies, especially in the aspects related to managing the advertising market within public media companies, and adopting measures that would enable them to benefit fully from this important financial source.
Concerning the National Press Council, the deputies called for providing this institution with the necessary means for it to exercise its role in regulating and developing this sector. The deputies, drawing reference to the Code of Ethics of Journalism, noted several breaches of duty during the state of public health emergency. In the same respect, they called for enforcing the laws regulating this profession.
Additionally, the deputies tackled the various solutions to promote print media, especially considering the low reading rate and the decision to suspend printing newspapers upon establishing the state of public health emergency. The participants also commended the role of the regional press and media companies, especially given their efforts during the health crisis our country lived. Besides, they stressed the importance of training journalists, launching training camps at the regional level, and financing small and medium-sized media companies and providing them with financial facilities.
The rest of the deputies' comments focused on some details relative to financial aspects, especially regarding the collection of advertising revenues, the relations with sponsors, the tax constraints of media companies, and their impact on their liquidity, the resources of newspapers, and the wages and social situations of the workers in the sector.