The history of Moroccan media," News is sacred, comment is free " .

Apart from Radio Maroc,commercial stations borad-cast from Tangiers and Spanish station from Tetouan.
Faced with this situation,the state had to concentrate its attention on immediate maroccanisation of radio-broadcasting,so that very soon there was no need for reliance on non-Moroccan personnel.The department of Radio+broadcasting assured the training of its technicians by sending them abroad .As a result of a public competition a first group was sent to France in 1957.This operation was followed by training courses at the local level in 1958 and 1959 and by sending two other groups to the United States and to Egypt.
The sate soon promulgated a Dahir for the standardisation of radio+broadcasting by abolishing all commercial stations.This led to the recovery of Radio Tetouan in 1960,followed by Radio Tangiers.In 1959 various agreements were concluded with anothe foreign party which had a wiless sation,the city of Detroit .Among the early projects was the founding on 25th February 1959 of a national orchestra the first stage of a policy of the arts in Morocco.
April 30th 1960 was a milestone in the history of Moroccan radio-broadcasting.H.M.the late Mohammed 5 inaugurated the new short-wave transmitter at Sebaa Ayoun and sent his greetings to the Arab, African and Moslem countries and thus made Morocco's voice heard abroad for the first time .
Technical Equipement.The radio-Broadcasting organisation has at present 9 centres or stations with 21 studios to which must be added 2 sound screens at Rabat and a new studio being set up at Casablanca.
Since 1969 Moroccan radio-broadcasting has acquired for tis various centres mobiles was with the most modern technical equipement.
During the 5 year-Plans 1968-1972 and 1973-1977 the power of the network has been greatly strenghtened.The following broadcasting stations have been built since independence operating on strenghs varying from 3 to 140kw on different wavebands and sometimes on frenquency modulations:
Sebaa Ayoun 10 transmitters
Tetouan 4 transmitters
Zaers 2 transmitters
Azilal 1 long-wave transmitter
which provides coverage for the whole of the country and at certain hours of the day can be heard beyound the country's borders .It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister 1968 and is one of the most important achievements of the previous 5-year Plan.
Tangiers 3 transmitters
Ait Melloul 4 transmitters
Oujda 4 standard transmitters and
2 frenquency modulated transmitters
Safi 3 transmitters
Marrakech 1 transmitters
Errachidia 1 transmitters
Tetouan modern equipment is planned
Tarfaya 2 transmitters




This is most recent centre created in 1974 by the broadcasting organization at the gates of the Moroccan Sahara.A new project to use hertzian waves -as in television-to broadcast radio programmes is under study .
Light entertainements were programmed .There are also for the professional news services.Twenty years of practical experience and the development of higher education and university teaching and of specialist training have enabled the R.T.M. to recruit large numbers of staff well qualified in many fields.
From Rabat listeners receive broadcasts of artistic and cultural programmes on three channels :
Channel A : These are general programmes of a cultural and educational nature . The hundreds of plays and stories which are boradcasr each year give authors every opportunity to be heard on the ntional network.The programmes on this channel are broadcast on 3 wavelenghts and on frenquency moduclation.
Channel B : The foreign language channel: news and light music.
Channel C : It braodcasts programmes in three Berber dialects .
In addition to these channels there are the various regional stations at Tangiers,Oujda,Casablanca Marrakech,Agadir,Tarfaya and the one recently established at Layoun in Sahara province.
Moroccan television :
On the 3rd March 1962,His Majesty King Hassan the second delivred the speech from the throne before the television cameras.This event was the best possible culmination of a project which began in June 1960.
In the days of the protectorate there had been a television compagny ( Teima) in Casablanca .It had started to equip itself in 1952 in order to present its firts programme in 1954.





The first step taken by the Moroccan radio-broadcasting oragnisation,which could be said to have adopted Moroccan television,ws to send groups of trainees abroad,especailly to France and Italy.
In those early days,there were two television centres -the one of Ain Chok at Casablanca and the Mohammed the fifth Theatre at Rabat.
The netwwork.By 1972,the national television network already 80% of the country as provided by the previous 5-year Plan .The present Plan is intended to complete this task by covering the provinces of El Jadida,Safi and Ourazazate as well as Goulmin and Sidi Ifni.Tarfaya province was covered in 1975.
At the centre of Ain Chok at casblanc a,work has started on the conversion of the much larger fully equipped studio as part of major comprehensive project
Color televion.In 1972,Moroccan television started the first tests for color programmes on the occasion of the Olympic games in Munich.Since then it has been able to complete its equipment.
Film Production.To support the video centre installed in the radio-broadcast and Television building,another modern and fully equipped centre specialzing in televion film production has benn created in the same area.For the news coverage,the television organization has large outside units and a number of cameramen are stationed in the various provinces .





Professional Training .Groups are regularly trained at various institutions in Morocco and abroad.The R.T.M. has also launched its own ambitions project with the Hassan the secon Training Centre at Casablanca-Ain Chok which will provide specialists in the various technical ans artistic sectors.its completion is exepcted by the end of 1976.
Overseas activities.Moroccan television has been directly linked with Eurovision in BRussels since 1965.The link is made through Spain and also through the Magghrebo-vision channel.There are daily exchanges of news items with Europe.
The procedures governing relations between the General Office,the Centres and the Regional Services were laid don during a meeting which took place for the first at the R.T.M. in 1974.
That Maroccan radio and television are well established can be seen in the number and the quality of the programmes, Extension and futher promotion of these programmes are only possible if technical suplies and material are adequate and easily available,
It is worth noting that the R,T,M, played a vital role in connection with the Green March at both the National and international level, It proved to be an efficient and decisive instrument of information and guidance in the service of the aspirations of the whole of Morocco.



Maghreb Arab Press ( MAP)
" It is our pleasure to inaugurate the Map,Arabe Presse Agency which will fill the vacium,,,,exists in the world of information , It is imperative,that our country should have a national agency which guarantees the distribution of news with integrity; accuray and objectivity , In greeting the founding of the Maghreb Arabe Presse and wishing it all success in its mission; we also wish its motto to be: " News is sacred, comment is free " ,
It was with this message that the Father of the Nation, His Majesty the late Mohammed V , inaugurated on 18h Novembre 1959 the activities of the newly born national pressagency , the " Maghreb Arabe Presse " ,
The founding of a national news agency in the Maghreb countries was an absolute necessity on the morrow of indeoendence, Foreign agencies were then the only ones distributing news of North Africa both abroad and at home, Even in Morocco itself, the nationale radio-broadcasting organisation received its news through foreign agencies, The influence of foreign media on public opinion had dangerous political, economic , and social implications, Information about the Maghreb distributed by these media could never have satisfied national needs, at times it was distorted and at others it was quite simply ignored,
From the outset the aim of MAP was to organise and develop an information service which responded to the needs of the Maghrebian press.
The agency began by concluding agreements With three Worldwide agencies: A.F.P.A.C.P and U.P.I from which it was to receive 100,000 words daily.
At the start it distributed between 12,000 and 17,000 words daily within Marocco alone and only in Arabic, but MAP was already considering broadening its scope to reach the Arab Maghreb ans then Near East and Africa.
The Achievements of MAP . Today MAP is able to state that overall its main aims have been attained and even exceeded.
The Agency, wihich has concluded agreements with the five big international agencies. ( A.F.P? Reuter, A.P. U.P.I. and Tass )as well as with the majority of the national agencies of the Arab world, Europe, Africa, America and Asia, is now in a position to supply the Moroccan press and the various ministerial departments subcribing to it with a varied and com-prehensive information service.
I nese services amount io a dally average of 75,000 words and are in both Arabic and French.
This daily service is the essence of the flow of information estimated at over one million words daily pouring in from the five continents . At its beginning MAP received only a bout 50,000 words and of these distributed only a bout 15,000.
In the same way MAP has increased the number of its subscribers. In addition to all the daily news-papers published in Marocco, the Maroccan Radio-broadcasting and Television Organisation , the R.T.M has many embassies and banks among its subscribers.
Finally, after organising an efficient service in the French language in Novembre 1960, MAP inaugurated a year later a new service: the international service which distributes to Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America news concerning the African continent ( in Arabic, French and English ).
This service is now experiencing a new growth because of its position among the Afro-Arab and non-alifned countries which ensures a considerable expansion of MAP in the Third World. Furthermore, as a membre of the Unin of Arab Agencies for Information (U.A.A.I. ) MAP plays a leading role in co-ordinating the activities of the various agencies at both the Arab and African levels.
Professional Training Since its foundation , the MAP came up against the problem of specialised training.
For journalists, telecommunication technicians, tele-typists, radio operators, administrative staff, etc. Which is essntial for a well-organised press agency.
Today, the Agency is confident that as a result of accelerated staff training and improvement and refresher courses, as well as considerable support from the Centre for Training in Journalism, at Rabat, its staff maintain a high standard.
Technical Links. MAP has direct telegraphic links with all its subscribers in Marocco, with all its regional offices and with the A.F.P. and A.C.P. agencies ( France ), U.P.I. and A.P. agencies( U.S.A. ) , Reuter ( Great Britain ), E.F.E. ( Spain ) , A.P.S. ( Algeria ) and T.A.P. ( Tunisia ).
Arab and French bulletins are daily distributed by MAP , through the radio-teletype system which is provided by the Radio-Telecommunications Station at Tangiers and directed to 10 European agencies, 8 agencies in the Middle East, 8 African agencies and one in Latin America.
Conclusion . MAP does not intend to remain passive.
The state has decided on a total restructuring of the organisation to ensure a rapid and efficient growth of agency activities in every field.
In addition to the six regional offices at present in existence ( Casablanca, Tangiers, Marrakech, Agadir, Fez and Oujda ) and the national network for correspondents, it intends to strenghen, in the coming period, its agencies in all the provinces and prefectures of the kingdom and in major foreign capitals such as Paris, Madrid,Brussels,Geneva,Beirut,Dakar and New York.
In this way it will be better able to fulfil its true mission of proclaiming the bright image of modern Morocco, moulded and shaped by its young and dynamic sovereign, His Majesty King Hassan II.
Moroccan Cinematographic Cntre ( MCC )
The Moroccan cinematographic centre was founded as a public corporation by royal decrée on 8 January 1944. It is a legal entity and has financial autonomy. The task of the Centre is the distribution and exhibition of films, as well as the foundation of a national film library.
Since independence , the M.C.C. has publushed a weekly review of news films in 54 copies distributed to 240 cinemas. The Centre is also responsible, since 1958, for the control of film imports, film censorship, according to cultural and moral content , and finally for ensuring that the correct laws are respected by managers.
Balanced public relations policy has given positive results. The international press ( Arab; African, French, European, and American ) frequently devotes feature articles to Morocco and reports on events there. The holding of pan-Arab, African or Islamic conferences in Rabat as well as official visits by friendly heads of state are reported by hundreds of journalists for whom the Ministry of Information provides all the background information they require.
Every opportunity is taken to enable the truth about it better. This does not exclude periodic study visits by groups of specialised journalists who can thus investigate each sector in depth . In addition Morocco has always been actively represented at conferences on the co-ordination of information services among the Arab and African states either through the cultural relations departement of the Ministry of Information or through the RTM or CCM.
Moroccan Radio and Telrvision Broadcasting
1- Radio
At the time of independence the production and broadcasting centre at Rabat and the broadcasting station at Sebaa Ayoun, near Meknes, wer all that was available to Moroccan radio-broadcasting . The coverage of the country was therefore restricted and total daily broadcasts were limited to thirty hours.
Today taking into account the regional stations and the programmes in foreign languages and in local dialects, the total is about one hundred hours.
Studios were also very restricted. In Marrakech and Fez, bare museum rooms , with no technical equipement, served as studios. The permanent staff of Radio Maroc was almost entirely foreign and thre were no provisions for professional training ,Moreover, there was no integration of organised radio-broadcsting.

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