After the recent parliamentary election in Morocco, the newspapers turned to publish articles lacking objectivity and neutrality, as they provided information refuted by the officials just hours after they are published, including reports of ministerial reshuffle.
“Arabs Today” held an interview with Moroccan journalist Bin Daod Kassab to discuss the political position in the country after the parliamentary elections and the way adopted by the Moroccan media to cover the governmental crisis.
He acknowledged that many journalists and newspapers have been recruited to support specific trends at the expense of others, while the Moroccan arena was suffering from political paralysis, while the people were confused between the few credible news on one hand and the other news aiming to smear specific persons and political parties.
He blamed specific political agendas for the biased approach adopted by many media platforms, as the editorial line overlapped with the political convictions of the journalists, while the social position in the Moroccan community provided the fertile ground for this approach. He clarified that the people turned to describe the biased journalist as courageous, while the objective as coward.
In the same context, the Moroccan journalist stressed the need for implementing the law, saying that the career is ruled currently by the law of jungle. He stressed that the first step to end the current state of chaos dominating the media is to organize the career and to cleanse it from intruders. He added, “Not all of those who have computer and the money to take a cup of coffee is a journalist.”
He added that it was not a coincidence to choose journalism to be my career, saying that I was keen since the phase of the study not to commit only to the curricula but to delve deeper in the sciences of Arabic language, philosophy and sociology. He added, “I was keen to get them out of curricula during classes to discuss deeper issues, including the Arab nationalism, independence, and socialism.” He expressed his appreciation to this generation of teachers who supported him.
He added, “In the university, I was keen to participate in the panels discussing the different controversial issues and ideas. I also was studying English. During this phase, journalism attracted me so I became a journalist.”
He underlined his role to serve his country’s development, saying, “I have a social role through participating in campaigns aiming to fight a number of negative phenomena in the Moroccan community, including homelessness, and drugs.”