Morocco Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
November 3, 2011
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Middle East and North Africa MSI in 2005.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download the Complete Morocco MSI Chapter (PDF): 2008 | 2006/7 | 2005
MSI Morocco - 2008 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.98
The characteristics of the Moroccan media over the course of 2008 remained basically the same as in previous years.
Despite their limited circulation, and even though their target audience is the elite, print media broadly affect public opinion and provoke fruitful social discussions in political circles. In particular, independent newspapers appear to be increasing their influence amid the continuing decline of party-controlled media and media that are close to the state.
However, problems persist with political control over the judiciary in trials of independent press companies that criticize state policy.
Public broadcast media remain subject to the influence of political power, which has sought to worm its way further into the media in recent times. The Moroccan government has made some moves to open the airwaves to greater private-sector participation. But in one of the most notable developments of early 2009, the government suspended issuance of new television permits just months after opening a competition for permits.
Since October 2006, media advocates have been calling for a law to be passed allowing access to information, but the government has not progressed on this issue.
