Strengthening Access of Civil Society to Audio-Visual Media (MO0017)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Morocco Action Plan 2018-2020
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society
Support Institution(s): The High Audio-Visual Communication Authority (HACA) Civil society
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, Media & TelecommunicationsIRM Review
IRM Report: Morocco Transitional Results Report 2018-2020, Morocco Design Report 2018-2020
Early Results: No IRM Data
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Description
Strengthening access of civil society to audio-visual media
From October 2018 to June 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
Several civil society recommendations and requests were made in relation to “civil society’s access to audio-visual media” during the meetings, discussions, and trainings conducted by the ministry for the benefit of civil society. The latter: ▪ Faces difficulties in accessing media and audio-visual media, ▪ Suffers from unbalanced territorial representation and the lack of diversity in representations and opinions, ▪ Lacks the expertise on the legal framework related to mass media and audio-visual media, The Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society launched a concertation process, which lasted from 20 December 2017 to 07 January 2018, to receive proposals from civil society organisations and actors on developing a framework to enable balanced and diverse access of civil society to audio-visual media. The ministry received dozens of letters from civil society organisation following this concertation, and it grouped them into a letter sent to the High Audio-Visual Communication Authority (HACA) on 20 January 2018. The letter is entitled “towards an equitable, balanced, and diverse access by associations to audiovisual media services”.
What is the commitment?
This commitment consists of: ▪ Raising awareness about the legal framework for audiovisual media and the High Audio-Visual Communication Authority’s new decision number 20.18 issued on 7 June 2018 on access to audio-visual media services. The decisions will enter into effect on October 2018. Moreover, six seminars will be organized for 12 regions over two years to raise awareness of the legal framework for audiovisual media (1 seminar for 2 regions),
Training 80 individuals each year among civil society activists from different categories of associations in all 12 regions of Morocco ▪ Producing a guide to facilitate access and use of audiovisual media services Commitment indicators are: - Organization of 6 seminars of awareness raising - Training of 160 civil society actors
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
This commitment will enable: ▪ Increase knowledge about the legislative framework for audio-visual media, ▪ Strengthen skills of civil society actors in terms of audiovisual media, ▪ Reach greater diversity and representation of civil society in audio-visual media, ▪ Create guide to help civil society access and use audiovisual media
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
The commitment is relevant because it guarantees: - The promotion of civic participation via these communication channels - A better public accountability by offering to civil society new channels of advocacy, monitoring and evaluation of public policies.
Additional information
Related commitment: Commitment 16
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable
Organization of 3 awareness raising seminars to cover 6 regions
December 2018 June 2019
Organization of 3 awareness raising seminars to cover 6 regions
December 2019 June 2020
Training of civil society actors (group 1)
December 2019 June 2019
Training of civil society actors (group 2)
June 2020 June 2020
Preparing guides on the use of audio-visual media
October 2018 Mars 2019
Contact point details
Ms SELMA EL MOUDNI
Position/ department
Head of Communication Unit, Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society
Email and telephone
elmoudniselma@gmail.com / 0608878239
Other actors involved
The High Audio-Visual Communication Authority (HACA)
Civil society
IRM Midterm Status Summary
Commitment 17: Civil Society Access to Audio-Visual Media
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“This commitment consists of:
- Raising awareness about the legal framework for audiovisual media and the High Audio-Visual Communication Authority’s new decision number 20.18 issued on 7 June 2018 on access to audio-visual media services. The decisions will enter into effect on October 2018. Moreover, six seminars will be organized for 12 regions over two years to raise awareness of the legal framework for audiovisual media (1 seminar for 2 regions),
- Training 80 individuals each year among civil society activists from different categories of associations in all 12 regions of Morocco
- Producing a guide to facilitate access and use of audiovisual media services
Commitment indicators are:
- Organization of 6 seminars of awareness raising
- Training of 160 civil society actors
This commitment will enable:
- Increase knowledge about the legislative framework for audio-visual media,
- Strengthen skills of civil society actors in terms of audiovisual media,
- Reach greater diversity and representation of civil society in audio-visual media,
- Create guide to help civil society access and use audiovisual media.
Milestones:
- Organization of 3 awareness raising seminars to cover 6 regions
- Organization of 3 awareness raising seminars to cover 6 regions
- Training of civil society actors (group 1)
- Training of civil society actors (group 2)
- Preparing guides on the use of audio-visual media”
Start Date: October 2018
End Date: June 2020
Editorial Note: the commitment description provided above is an abridged version of the commitment text, please see the full action plan here: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/morocco-action-plan-2018-2020/
Commitment Overview | Verifiability | OGP Value Relevance (as written) | Potential Impact | Completion | Did It Open Government? | ||||||||||||||||||
Not specific enough to be verifiable | Specific enough to be verifiable | Access to Information | Civic Participation | Public Accountability | Technology & Innovation for Transparency & Accountability | None | Minor | Moderate | Transformative | Not Started | Limited | Substantial | Completed | Worsened | Did Not Change | Marginal | Major | Outstanding | |||||
1. Overall | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Assessed at the end of action plan cycle. | Assessed at the end of action plan cycle. | ||||||||||||||||||
Context and objectives
Since the end of the state media monopoly in 2006, Moroccan television and radio have struggled to include a diversity of viewpoints and narratives. [160] One barrier to diversifying the Moroccan media landscape is CSOs' inability to access airtime. Through this commitment, the High Audio-Visual Communication Authority (HACA) seeks to increase civil society's understanding of the legal landscape and ability to participate in television and radio broadcasts.
Civil society's ability to participate in national dialogues on government policy has gradually evolved over the last decade. Historically, CSOs have faced financial and legal barriers to engaging the public through television and radio. [161] The 2011 Constitution enshrined HACA's authority to regulate the broadcast sector, including monitoring diversity of opinion. [162] Civil society called for greater representation in media during a national dialogue with the government in 2013. As a result, HACA conducted a study on CSO presence in media and found that when CSOs were represented on TV and radio, it related to their community programming rather than policy discourse and advocacy. Mr. Achemlal from TANMIA adds that CSOs have been prevented from using the media for awareness campaigns and are often restricted to philanthropic efforts. [163] In particular, Selma Elmoudni highlighted a lack of regional and gender diversity of CSO participation in the media. [164] To address these issues, HACA published Decree 11.15 in 2018, laying out the regulatory framework for CSOs and political actors to have fair access to audio-visual media. [165] HACA also released decision 20.18, which called on CSOs to use the media to mediate, evaluate, and monitor public policies. [166]
Media pluralism and freedom of the press remain an important area for further open government reforms. Morocco's global ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has remained relatively the same from 2017 and 2020, hovering between 133 and 135 out of 180 countries surveyed. This places Morocco in the "difficult situation" category for journalists, in part due to their difficult encounters with the judicial system. [167] Therefore, ambitious open government reforms in this area require activities that continue to expand and strengthen legal protections and freedom of speech in Morocco.
This commitment is considered to have a minor potential impact on representation of civil society in Moroccan media. Through this commitment, the government seeks to both increase and measure civil society's media participation. The Department Responsible for Parliament Relations states that the training covers how to use social media, smartphones, and WordPress. Trainings also cover relevant laws such as lNo. 88-13 on Press and Publishing, No. 09-08 on personal data protection, No. 66-16 modifying and supplementing No, 77-03 on audiovisual communication. No. 31-13 on the right of access to information and decision of the CSCA n 20-18 of 22 Ramadan 1439 (June 7, 2018 - Superior council of Audiovisual communication). [168] This commitment makes a positive but incremental step towards strengthening media pluralism in Morocco. The ambition of this commitment is limited in that it only seeks to train civil society members to make use of the existing space for policy discourse, rather than expanding this space through legal reforms. This commitment is verifiable and relevant to the OGP value of civic participation.
Next steps:
While continuing participatory democracy reforms, the IRM recommends implementors consider the following:
- Provide guidance and training materials in various formats and languages to ensure accessibility to the broadest possible groups of Moroccans, with a focus on including marginalized populations;
- Actively seek out and include CSOs not typically involved in governance or media issues, such as groups representing rural youth, women, and persons with a disability, among others;
- Consider a funding or subsidy mechanism to address CSOs' financial barriers to media participation and whether to integrate media materials with the Chikaya platform so that resources for CSOs are readily accessible in one spot;
- HACA and civil society could partner up to provide transparency on the state of pluralism in the media and efforts to strengthen it, perhaps through regular reports or an online platform;
- HACA and civil society could work together through a permanent multi-stakeholder group to monitor and address obstacles to pluralism in the Moroccan media.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
17. Civil Society Access to Audio-Visual Media
Substantial:
Since the end of the state media monopoly in 2006, Moroccan television and radio have struggled to include a diversity of viewpoints and narratives. [183] One barrier to diversifying the Moroccan media landscape is the CSOs’ inability to access airtime. [184] Through this commitment, the High Audio-Visual Communication Authority (HACA) seeks to increase civil society’s understanding of the legal landscape and ability to participate in television and radio broadcasts. [185]
According to the self-assessment, the Ministry of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament developed a training program with HACA and other partners. This program informed awareness-raising and trainings for more than 400 civil society actors in the 12 regions of Morocco. [186] The trainings continued online during the COVID-19 crisis for another 70 CSOs from different regions. [187] The Ministry provided support for trainers at the local level for another 30 CSOs in Dakhla, and 29 in Kasbat Tadla 29. [188] As a result, some of the trainees presented their organizations and causes in the national media: 10 on national television, 10 on national radio, 10 on the Moroccan international channel, and 50 on websites. [189] The self-assessment [190] also highlights, as a result, the creation by trainees of a blog (https://ogpmediasmaroc.blogspot.com/) to convey information about the activities carried out within the framework of this commitment. [191] When consulted by the IRM researcher in late July 2021, the blog’s content consisted of “reprinting” on different websites the same official information about the trainings. The self-assessments state that a guide on the media legal framework was drafted, but not yet finalized or published. [192]
Overall, the Ministry carried out an important training and awareness-raising campaign among civil society. The 2019 OECD report “Citizen Voice in Morocco” notes that radio and TV continue to play an important role, especially in rural areas because of the illiteracy of some citizens, and that further efforts are needed to include civil society in the media landscape, recognize the potential of citizen journalism, and strengthen inclusive dialogue. [193] Meanwhile, Morocco’s global ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has slightly worsened for 2021, to 136 out of 180 countries surveyed. [194] The government plans to continues its training efforts through a future e-learning platform proposed in the upcoming OGP action plan, as well as to assess the impact of these efforts. [195]