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Rabat – French news channel BFMTV has suspended French-Moroccan journalist Rachid M’Barki, in the midst of an investigation the channel is conducting into the content of a recent broadcast by the journalist, Politico reported.
The channel is investigating content broadcast “without going through the proper editorial checks,” they announced in an official statement.
M’Barki is the most high-profile of the suspensions within the channel, having not appeared on air since mid-January, Politico reported, adding that the network has been holding hearings with his colleagues.
M’Barki told the outlet that while he used information he received from sources that did not “necessarily follow the usual editorial process,” he did not commit any misconduct.
“They were all real and verified. I do my job,” he told Politico. “I’m not ruling anything out, maybe I was tricked, I didn’t feel like I was or that I was participating in an operation of I don’t know what or I wouldn’t have done it.”
Many pointed to a news report of M’Barki reporting on the Morocco-Spain Investment Forum held in Dakhla in 2022, where he referred to the city as being Moroccan and used the expression “Moroccan Sahara.”
M’Barki, who is of Moroccan origin, has long maintained close ties to his country of origin.
M’Barki’s report and BFMTV’s investigation come in the midst of simmering political tensions between Rabat and Paris.
Notably in this case, France has maintained an ambiguous position on the Western Sahara dispute over the years, refusing to unambiguously support the Moroccan autonomy plan as some other nations such as the US and Spain have done.
The crisis between Paris and Rabat is also fueled by a French decision in 2021 to cut the number of visas issued to Moroccan nationals, a move that is still protested today by Moroccans.
