The media in Morocco, a highly political economy
Résumé
This analysis of paper and electronic non-specialised press (and its managers) focuses on five main issues. The first addresses the history of the non-partisan press and the social, political protest issues within it since Moroccan independence. The second illustrates the explosive expansion in the volume of news produced by the press since the 1990s, and thereafter, by the electronic press (notably since 2011), but underscores that this multiplication of titles should itself not hide historically consistent continuities. The third describes the market in which the press companies operate and which occupies a positional continuum located between two poles: the hanout (the corner shop) and the media conglomerates; it includes a look at the careers of their senior executives. This issue also highlights how the sustainability of publication depends on the balance between political and economic parameters and maintaining certain un-crossable ‘red lines’: the Monarchy, the Sahara and Islam. The fourth issue focuses on the direct impact which the advertising oligopoly, closely connected to the main power centres, has on the workings of the press industry. Lastly, analysis of the Moroccan transformations in social space enables us to articulate why the press is facing difficulties when trying to expand audience share.