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Join on Telegram Rabat – The Moroccan Minister of Communication and Culture, Mohammed Laarej, has asked France 24 Arabic to correct the mistake it made when it aired footage of protests in Venezuela and claimed they were those taking place in Al Hoceima.
Laarej addressed a letter to Marie-Christine Saragosse, CEO of France Médias Monde, the national French media group which includes France 24, RFI and Monte Carlo Doualiya.
“That footage, which presented Venezuelan protesters as young Moroccans chased by law enforcement elements in Al Hoceima in northern Morocco sought sewing confusion and misleading the TV channel’s viewers,” the minister said in his letter.
He expressed the Moroccan government’s “indignation” over the error and demanded that this “professional mistake” be corrected.
“What France 24 has committed stands in total contrast with the most basic journalism rules that every media, preoccupied with the transparency and objectivity of the news aired on its programs, is obliged to respect.”
On July 13, a video clip aired during a news program broadcast by the French news channel two days earlier, was shared on Youtube showing Venezuelan protesters trying to hide from security forces firing at them.
The scene was shown during a conversation with Mohammed Ziane, a member of the defense team representing detained Rif protesters, implying the footage was from Al Hoceima.
The “blunder” is not the first committed by the Arabic language French channel.
In June, France 24 used images of marches related to International Labor Day on May 1 during a program about protests in Al Hoceima.
