Bensaid says press council bill strengthens independence, ethics

Morocco’s minister of youth, culture and communication on Wednesday defended a draft law to reorganize the National Press Council, saying it marks a key step in modernizing the country’s media landscape and strengthening self-regulation of the profession.

Speaking during a plenary session at the House of Councillors, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid said Draft Law No. 026.25 is not merely an additional legislative text, but a “pivotal milestone” aimed at reinforcing good governance, transparency and the rule of law in the media sector.

“The government has no hidden agenda and no political orientation favoring one party over another,” Bensaid said. “The sole objective is to establish a National Press Council that strengthens press freedom, supports professional practice and consolidates its independence.”

Bensaid said the bill followed extensive public and professional debate, which he described as necessary to address shortcomings revealed during the first experience of press self-regulation. That initial phase, he said, exposed legal gaps and prompted calls from media professionals themselves to amend the existing framework.

He noted that a temporary committee, established as an extension of the previous National Press Council, spent two years assessing the state of journalism and publishing in Morocco. The committee, which consulted professional bodies in accordance with the law governing its mandate, submitted its recommendations to the government within the required deadlines.

The minister said the government drafted the new bill based on those recommendations, calling the process a genuine application of the principle of professional self-regulation.

“Self-regulation is a guarantee of the independence and ethical integrity of the press,” Bensaid said, adding that freedom of the press, enshrined in Morocco’s constitution, can only be realized through effective self-regulatory mechanisms.

He cited Article 28 of the constitution, which provides that journalism should be practiced on democratic foundations, arguing that the government’s role is limited to legally enabling and safeguarding the profession’s self-regulatory framework.

Bensaid rejected criticism over changes to the drafting methodology, saying the approach did not undermine consultation or dialogue with media stakeholders. Instead, he said, it reflected self-regulation in practice, since the bill was grounded in conclusions reached by a representative committee that engaged with the sector.

The draft law, he said, seeks to strike a balance between press freedom and adherence to professional ethics, stressing that “freedom is not chaos, and responsibility is not a restriction.”

Among its provisions, the bill addresses legal gaps by establishing an independent supervisory committee to oversee the election and appointment processes for journalists and publishers within the council, and by introducing a new voting system requested by professionals.

Bensaid described the reform as a second phase of press self-regulation, moving gradually toward a fully autonomous model. He acknowledged widespread concern, across both majority and opposition parties, over unethical practices in the media sector and the growing challenge of misinformation on social media platforms.

“The core of this project is to establish a National Press Council that independently manages the affairs of journalists and publishers, free from executive authority,” he said.