French TV Anchor Suspended Over ’Moroccan Sahara’ Comment, Sparks Controversy

6 February 2023 – bySylvanus@Bladi · 1 min read

The sidelining by BFMTV of its Franco-Moroccan journalist, Rachid M’Barki, whom the French channel accuses of having pronounced the expression "Moroccan Sahara" on air, has elicited a reaction from the parliamentarian and former minister Lahcen Haddad. He denounces a "visceral anti-Moroccanism."

"Censorship at @BFMTV, because he said "Moroccan Sahara". #McCarthyism à la française! & Visceral anti-Moroccanism! If he had said "Sahrawi people", the term preferred by #Algeria, it would have passed! Double standards!" Lahcen Haddad indignantly tweeted, accompanied by a portrait of the BFMTV presenter Rachid M’Barki.

Since mid-January, it is Thomas Joubert who presents the "Journal de la nuit" of BFMTV in replacement of Rachid M’Barki "dispensed from activity" for having broadcast information on an economic forum between Morocco and Spain in Dakhla, in the Sahara, without referring to his hierarchy. He is the subject of an internal investigation whose results are awaited.

Category: Morocco

Keywords:

Moroccan Sahara Lahcen Haddad Rachid M’Barki