Had the state media in Morocco properly played its role of shaping intellectual movements closer to the public's awareness, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD – Parti de la Justice et du Développement) would not have been able to gain such exceptional prominence on the party and political scenes. Yet the paradox lies in the fact that failed experiments in this respect are today waging battles, while wearing masks that suggest that these battles are not their own. Is it a coincidence for at least one minister in the Islamists' government to be subjected to pressures and harassment no less harsh than attempts to keep hands tied and to allow misuse and inconsistency to prevail over the values of reform and the uprooting of centers of corruption? Minister of Justice and Liberties Mustafa Ramid has received threats from an unknown extremist organization promoting his execution for going against God's Law (Sharia), and Communications Minister Mustapha Khalfi is facing a storm as a result of the ratification of a set of regulations that seeks to besiege rogue islets within the state media that escape the control of the government. It is strange that both threats, with the difference in their origin and background, reveal the depth of the contradiction. And while the first does not hesitate to accuse the Justice Minister of not applying the rulings of Sharia Law, the second tries to erect a wall of fears, under the slogan of the Communications Minister seeking to turn state media into one of preaching, sermons and religious instruction. So who does one believe in such a case? Most likely provoking media uproar in the face of Abdelilah Benkirane's government represents nothing more than a tree or two trying to hide the forest. Indeed, opposition or even loyalist voices that blame the Communications Minister for ratifying a set of rules regulating the state media scene are the same ones that have not stopped criticizing the performance of that same sector, and had until the new government was formed waged additional campaigns of criticism against bad taste, the absence of culture, and the monopoly on media powers by hidden political parties and lobbies. In a media debate devoid of outbidding, the public is only asking that Channel Two return to its former self, when it was a vital forum for the interaction of opinions and openness to the various segments of society. Does requiring it to broadcast the five calls to prayer as scheduled then pose a problem? Or does the banning of gambling competitions contradict principles and legal procedures in a country whose constitution recognizes as Muslim? Or is there a tendency to keep a channel funded by taxpayers away from any kind of ethical censorship? The matter is not so childish, as those who adopt the choice of modernizing and bringing Moroccan laws in tune with universal values in turn acknowledge that modernization cannot be summed up in matters of form, and that the media, which has the ability to accompany aspirations of change, is the one to defend freedom and justice. And there is so far no indication that the current government denies these principles. If the blame falls on Morocco's Communications Minister for threatening to resign if he were to fail to regulate this sector, then such a stance counts to his benefit, not against him. At the very least, he is the first minister to have had sufficient courage to point to the flaw in the media experience. In fact he has, from his position as a government official, not neglected to put forward a critical and objective view of the problems at hand. How would it have harmed those who oppose such a direction to use legitimate means to express points of view that disagree with the minister's convictions? Indeed, in a government of institutions, there is a parliament in which ideas and suggestions compete, representing the vastest space for discussion over various issues and challenges. There are also labor unions and consultative councils which exist in the first place to make the dialogue more profound, and in fact there are arbitration models that can be resorted to when dialogue reaches a dead-end. Quite clearly, the issue of the media in Morocco needs to be assessed. There is no disagreement over this among those who call for modernization, the conservatives or those who work in the sector. Yet the problem is greater than to be summed up in this manner. It is a political issue centered on attempts to save the country from the experience of the rule of Islamists. On the one hand, this is because there are those who herald the end and the waning of the Arab Spring, and thus promote the notion of reshuffling the cards. On the other, it is because the PJD, as Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane keeps repeating, did not come to wage side battles. Nevertheless, acknowledging this does not mean that his party has the ability to confront it. And perhaps the most blatant mistake lies in the fact that there are those who do not want to change their mind on the issue, even if they are wrong. But history teaches us that it is very often tailored to mistakes made. Let then the media be left to its specialists. As for politics, it is like the weather in Morocco these days – rain in the summer and dryness in the winter. And there is nothing left in the state media but changing weather reports.
