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Morocco’s Press Freedom Declines Amid COVID-19 Crackdown, RSF Reports
Wednesday 22 April 2020, by
In its latest global press freedom ranking, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says Moroccan journalists are "under judicial pressure". The organization believes that the coverage of information related to the coronavirus threatens the journalism profession.
RSF notes that it is more dangerous for any journalist to practice their profession in the Middle East and North Africa regions. To support its argument, it cites the recent incarceration of the RSF correspondent in Algeria (146th, -5).
In the eyes of the organization, this shows "how the authorities of certain countries are taking advantage of the covid-19 epidemic to settle scores with independent journalism".
For RSF, Moroccan journalists are "under judicial pressure". The kingdom ranks 133rd in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, gaining two places compared to 2019 (135), out of a total of 180 countries.
"In addition to the trials that have been going on for years against several media players, new legal actions have been taken against journalists and heavy sentences have been handed down. Also, several journalists and citizen-journalists remain incarcerated," laments the NGO.
For Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of RSF, the health crisis is an opportunity for authoritarian governments to implement the famous "shock doctrine": taking advantage of the neutralization of political life, the public’s stunned reaction and the weakening of mobilization to impose measures that would be impossible to adopt in normal times.