Rabat – French-Moroccan journalist Rachid M’Barki has denied receiving payment to broadcast Morocco-friendly content, insisting that Morocco is a sovereign country that does not need anyone to defend its interests.
M’Barki made the comments on Wednesday as he appeared before a commission of inquiry into foreign interference in France’s national assembly, nearly a month after he was dismissed by French news channel BFMTV.
Headed by the Rassemblement National’s (RN) Jean-Philippe Tanguy, the commission conducted 20 hearings with 25 journalists in relation to the investigation for foreign interference in BFMTV.
M’Barki denied that Morocco had paid him any money to “say anything” during his time in BFMTV, adding that the North African country is “a big, sovereign country, and does not need anyone to defend its interests.”
The most high-profile suspension in BFMTV’s investigation, M’Barki was suspended in January after being accused of reporting information that did not go through the channel’s normal editorial process.
Following news of his suspension, the journalist told Politico that while he used sources that did not “necessarily follow the usual editorial process,” that he did not commit any misconduct, and that he was certain his information was “real and verified.”
The French-Moroccan journalist is notably accused of referring to “the Moroccan Sahara,” while reporting on the rapprochement of ties between Morocco and Spain.
Speaking before the national assembly commission, M’Barki defended his wording by arguing that the expression was used by the Austrian chancellor the very next week.
“There was a warming up of relations between the two countries since Spain had recognized the Moroccan Sahara,” he said. “That was my exact wording.
M’Barki also commented on his Moroccan origins.
“As soon as the topic of Morocco and my ‘Moroccan Sahara’ expression took on the gravity that we now know, I suddenly, magically became a Franco-Moroccan journalist,” he said.
“Before that, no one had mentioned my origins in the press,” M’Barki detailed. “And I, myself, had never put forward my Moroccan origins. Never.”
