By Larbi Arbaoui
By Larbi Arbaoui
Morocco World News
Taroudant, Morocco, June 12, 2012
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s recent speech, which was aired on both 2M and Al Oula Channels, as well as the Laayoune region station, broke the record for numbers of viewers when the broadcast reached more than 7 million people.
The statistics issued by the institution, “Maroc Mitri” confirmed that the percentages of audiences who watched the program, or part of it, reached 41 percent of Moroccan viewers. The number of viewers in the Al Oula Channel reached about (3,307,000) views, while the number increased to 5 million viewers in 2M Channel.
Mohamed Darif, a professor of political science, at the Faculty of Law of Mohammedia, linked this high proportion of viewership, on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, to the growing interest of Moroccan citizens about all issues concerning the conduct of public affairs.
In a telephone conversation with Justice and Development Party, Darif explained that “in the past, some agencies were trying to interfere with the follow-up of citizens for programs dealing with public issues, in an attempt to lessen all that is political to assure legitimacy to the options that were imposed on the people.”
Darif continued, “In this situation, Moroccan citizen favored some French and Arab channels to quench their thirst for programs discussing political issues. After the change of the situation in Morocco, it was normal to reconcile again with channels of the public Pole. Following the Arab spring, through the speech of March 9, and the elections of November 25 2011, to the leading of the new government by the ruling Justice and Development, Moroccan TV initiated to broadcast program shows dealing with topics that deal with the daily concerns of the Moroccan people. “In addition to that, says Darif, there is desire of the party that leads the coalition government to communicate on the ongoing matters with citizens, an initiative that has been hailed to by Moroccan journalists”.
Regarding the often criticized rhetoric of the head of the government, Darif says that, “whatever the criticism addressed to the Prime Minister like using (populist) discourse, the man, in fact, managed to speak to Moroccans in a simple fluent Arabic, away from the sophisticated language, allowing him a large possibility to communicate with a wide range of citizens who are keen to follow up on everything related to their daily life.”
© 2012 Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved
