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Rabat – Morocco’s High Authority for Audio-visual Communication, better known as HACA, has issued a warning to Moroccan TV 2M, for broadcasting “tutorial instructions for females to hide bruises of domestic violence.”
The segment was aired on the channel’s morning show, Sabahiyates, on November 23, 2016 and became the subject of heated debate.
HACA published a warning communiqué on its official website on Tuesday, two months after the resulting scandal the show stirred among Moroccans,.
“[Following the absence of any denouncing reactions from the presenters [towards domestic violence] as if the issue [of domestic violence] is normal – leading to enshrining the image of ‘women as victims’ and implicitly encouraging the normalization of the domestic violence phenomenon. This is contrary to Morocco’s efforts as a country to fight against domestic violence,” the HACA said in the communiqué.
As soon as it received several complaints after airing the segment, 2M issued a communiqué on itsFacebook page, explaining, “Management believes that this segment was completely inappropriate and displayed a lack of editorial understanding of the sensitivity and seriousness of the subject of violence against women.”
The controversial show also spurred Moroccan women to create a petition on change.org, calling for Morocco’s government, through HACA, to penalize 2M as an important step toward denouncing the “standardization of violence against women.”
In an example of unfortunate timing, the show aired the disputed segment just two days before the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, celebrated annually on November 25.
