2024-08-01 20:37:36
In a presentation made Tuesday at a meeting of the Education, Culture and Communication Committee in the House of Representatives, the minister indicated that this support will be paid on the basis of precise criteria, in particular the size of the press company, the volume of its investments and the number of journalists it employs.
Mr. Bensaid stressed, in this regard, that his department will proceed, as soon as the decree is promulgated, to the publication of the joint decision of the government authority responsible for Communication and that responsible for the Budget, which sets the ceilings for support for management and investment as well as the manner of calculating them and the terms of their distribution and payment, adding that this project of support and modernization of press companies will be launched as soon as possible.
With regard to the audiovisual sector, the minister reviewed the broad outlines of the reform project, which is based on the creation of a unified public audiovisual center, intended to “play an active role in the development process of the sector through rationalized management and strategic repositioning.”
This restructuring operation will be carried out in two stages, the first of which consists of the creation of a holding company responsible for the public audiovisual sector and bringing together the National Radio and Television Company (SNRT), the company “SOREAD-2M” and the company “MEDI 1 TV”, the aim being to create complementarity between these companies, improve their efficiency and promote good governance, while the second stage will see the merger of the company “Radio MEDI 1” and its branch “Regie 3” within the said holding company.
To anticipate these developments, and in execution of the High Royal Instructions for a fundamental reform of the public sector, it was decided to continue the process of restructuring the companies of the public audiovisual sector in the form of a public television holding company, Mr. Bensaid said.
And to note that his department is working, in coordination with SNRT and SOREAD-2M, on the development of the specifications of these two companies according to a new approach based on simplification and efficiency, which pays particular attention to sports channels in preparation for continental and international competitions that will be hosted by the Kingdom, talk shows, political debates and cultural and artistic broadcasts as well as national productions.
Regarding the advertising sector, Mr. Bensaid assured that the ministry is committed to supporting this vital sector which represents an essential lever of the national economy, through the collection and analysis of the various data and statistics relating to it and their use in the development of visions for the support of media outlets whose advertising revenues constitute the main source of financing.
In this regard, the government official recalled that the total volume of advertising investments for 2022, all means of communication combined, reached 5,165,980,004 DH, “a figure which speaks volumes about the importance of advertising revenues from these investments for the media”.
Regarding the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM), Mr. Bensaid noted that the cinematographic sector benefited from support worth a total of more than 241 MDH, divided into 75 MDH benefiting national production and 116 MDH allocated to the production of foreign cinematographic and audiovisual works in Morocco, after the increase from 20 to 30% of the rate of support for foreign production, which brought the total amount of investments by foreign producers in Morocco to one billion dirhams.
The CCM has also embarked on a process of dematerializing its administrative services with the aim of simplifying procedures and measures and attracting more investment, he added.
In their interventions during this meeting, the representatives of the parliamentary groups stressed the importance of strengthening transparency in the granting of public support intended for the press sector in order to enshrine pluralism, consolidate the capacities of human resources and promote local journalism by encouraging public debate, supporting the regional press and supporting the development of Moroccan cinema.
2024-08-01 20:37:36