Rabat – The Club for Accredited Journalists in Morocco (CJAM), the first association in the country for journalists working with foreign outlets, launched on Saturday.
“This is a happy occasion because after several attempts from colleagues years ago to establish an organization that includes them, this goal was achieved today and we now have a framework that includes several colleagues,” CJAM’s President Jalal Makhfi said at the launch party which took place at the Morocco’s Higher Institute of Information and Communication (ISIC).
CJAM President Jalal Makhfi and Abdelmonim El-Omrani, a consultant with the organization.
The launch event presented the new organization’s goal, as well as its administrative structure and conditions that allow journalists to join.
Makhfi added that the goal of the association is to “strengthen the presence and diversity” of international media institutions in the country, to enforce diversity and freedom in Moroccan media.
The launch event was attended by various members.
“We will be open to the various public and private sector actors, as well as international and regional actors in the media sector, in accordance with the rules of constructive dialogue,” to facilitate the work of foreign media representatives in Morocco, he added.
The club will work to facilitate collaboration between its members and enable them to develop their knowledge and abilities, according to a press release issued on Saturday.
Makhfi said the organization will strengthen media diversity and freedom in Morocco.
It will also work to defend the members’ “professional and social” rights and be an intermediary to facilitate their work, the release added.
Vice-president of the CJAM Fadwa Mrabti said the association aims to achieve several goals over many years to benefit accredited journalists in Morocco.
CJAM Vice-President Fadwa Mrabti at the launch event.
“I invite all my colleagues to join this experiment and to share this dream, which is in its infancy now but we will surely see it become bigger in and outside of Morocco,” she said.
