List of newspapers in Morocco

Newspapers in Morocco are primarily published in Arabic and French, and to a lesser extent in Berber, English, and Spanish. Africa Liberal, a Spanish daily, was the first paper published in the country which was launched in 1820.^[1] Al Maghrib was the first Arabic newspaper of the country, and was established in 1886.^[1]

In 1999, the number of French language newspapers distributed in the country was 130,000 while it was 62,000 in 1981.^[2] As of 2013, 71% of the papers were published in Arabic and 27% in French.^[3]

History[]

Front page of El Eco de Tetuan of May 2, 1921.

For those who consider Ceuta an occupied Moroccan city, the first newspaper in Morocco was in 1820.^[4] Otherwise, the first newspaper to appear in Morocco was Pedro Antonio de Alarcón's El Eco de Tetuan, which published one edition in March 1860.^[5] Later in 1860, two Spanish soldiers fighting in the Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60) launched , which published 89 editions before ceasing in 1861.^[5] The period after the 1880 Madrid Conference saw the rise of , printed in Spanish by , and the , printed in Englsih by ;^[6] these two papers would later join and become the .^[7][8]

Al Maghrib was the first Arabic newspaper of the country, and was established in 1886.^[9] In 1908 the Sultan launches "Lissan Al Maghrib" the first state owned official media in Arabic.

(1885-1930) was a political, literary, and general interest periodical founded by Isaac Toledano and Isaac Laredo of Tangier and Agustín Lugaro of Gibraltar.^[10][11]

Following the bombardment and invasion of Casablanca in 1907, a French daily called La Vigie Marocaine was founded at the behest of General Albert d'Amade in 1908.^[4][12] With a conservative, colonial editorial line that rejected any notion of Moroccan sovereignty and supported the idea of making Morocco an extension of French Algeria,^[4] it became one of the most important French publications in the period of the French Protectorate.^[13][4]

Another major publication of the early colonial period was , which was published in 4 editions: one for Rabat, one for Casablanca, one for the south, and one for the north.^[4] In 1919, Pierre Mas began , his media empire in Morocco, with his purchase of L'Echo Du Maroc.^[4]

Due to the French colonial authorities' censorship of newspapers in Arabic, Muhammad Hassan al-Wazzani founded L'Action du Peuple, a Moroccan nationalist newspaper published in French.^[4]

Press in Arabic[]

Al Maghrib was the first Arabic newspaper of the country, and was established in 1886.^[14] It was a local media, based in Tetouan.

The first national newspaper to be published in Arabic by Moroccans was (النفحات الزكية في الأخبار المغربية The Pleasant Notes in the News of Morocco) in 1889.^[15]

Logo of es-Saada (السعادة), an arabophone Moroccan newspaper supported by the French government.^[16]

es-Saada (السعادة Happiness) was arabophone newspaper promoting the French position on events in Morocco published at the French Legation in Tangier,^[4] first appearing in 1904.^[7] With French encouragement, supporters of Abdelaziz founded (الصباح) in Tangier in 1904; its editor was an Algerian named and it published 52 issues.^[17][18] (إظهار الحق), edited by a nationalist figure named , was also founded in Tangier in 1904.^[19][20] After the 1906 Algeciras Conference, the Sufi leader started publishing a periodical entitled (الطاعون The Plague) in response to the colonial press and European colonialism in general.^[7]

In 1908, Sultan Abd al-Hafid founded Lisan al-Maghrib (لسان المغرب), an arabophone newspaper funded by the Moroccan government;^[7] it was run by two Lebanese brothers, and ,^[21] and it famously printed the , as well as open letters to Abdelaziz and then Abd al-Hafid.^[22]

In 1909, the Spanish started publishing an arabophone newspaper called (تلغراف الريف),^[23] then a newspaper called (الحق) in 1911 to push their position.^[24] The newspaper (الترقي) also presented a colonial perspective and was published in Tangier in 1913.^[24][25] They were followed by al-Islah (الإصلاح), a quasi-official Spanish newspaper published in 1916.^[25] These publications were similar to es-Saada in their objective.^[25]

The first arabophone newspaper in Casablanca was published in 1912: (الأخبار المغربية), financed by ;^[25][24] in Marrakesh, (الجنوب المغربي) in 1927.^[25]

Among the first colonial policies promulgated by the French authorities under the French protectorate was a policy designed to censor the Moroccan press;^[4] Moroccan newspapers, whether Jewish or Muslim, had to receive advanced authorization from the French authorities, while European publications were not required to do this.^[4] The French authorities forbade Moroccan nationalists from publishing in areas under French control, especially in Arabic.^[4][26]

(أخبار المغرب) was published in Darija in 1915.^[25]

(النظام) was published by an Egyptian in 1924 in Tangier.^[25]

(أخبار تلغرافية), covering national and international news as well as the affairs of al-Majlis al-Baladi and meant to "disinform"^[27] its Moroccan audience, was published in Fes and edited by .^[27]

(الاتحاد الغنمي), syndicated throughout the Maghreb, was first published in Tunis 1929^[25]

(الاتحاد)^[28] was published in 1927 and covered all the regions of the north under Spanish control.^[25]

was one of a number of Moroccan newspapers tied to political parties.^[29][4]

In the north appeared Mohammed Daoud's journal (السلام),^[30] the newspaper (الحياة), followed by an explosion of periodicals including (الوحدة المغربية) published by ,^[4] (الحرية) published by Abdelkhalek Torres,^[4] (الريف), and others.^[25] (الأطلس)^[31] was the mouthpiece of the (كتلة العمل الوطني) and expressed the views of the .^[4]

The journal (مجلة المغرب) was directed by Mohamed Ben Saleh Maysa an Algerian resident of Morocco working in Rabat.^{[25][32][33][34]}

Masthead of Said Hajji's .^[35]

In 1937, Said Hajji of Salé founded (المغرب Morocco), a newspaper critical of French colonialism that was often censored.^[35]

The newspaper Al-Alam, speaking for the Istiqlal Party, was founded in 1946.^[36]

Muhammad Hassan al-Wazzani's (الرأي العام)—the mouthpiece of Democratic Independence Party, which had recently splintered from the Istiqlal Party—published its first issue on April 12, 1947.^[37]

The National Union of Popular Forces founded Al Muharrir, which published its first edition December 1964.^[38] It was edited by Omar Benjelloun until his assassination in 1975.^[38]

Jewish press[]

Salomon Benaïoun's in its Judeo-Arabic version, written with the Hebrew alphabet.

In 1883, Abraham Lévy-Cohen founded the first francophone newspaper in Morocco, Le Réveil du Maroc,^[39] to spread French language and culture among the Moroccan Jews.^[7] A man named Salomon Benaïoun started (1891), (1894-1895), and (1904), though these periodicals were short-lived.^[40] Benaïoun also founded (1915-1922), which covered Jewish interests in Morocco in two different editions: one in Judeo-Arabic and one in French.^[40][41] (1929-1932) was an independent hispanophone bimonthly periodical.^[40]

In Casablanca, the Hadida brothers edited , or (1922-1924), a Zionist^[40] newspaper written in Judeo-Arabic with Hebrew script, which ran from 1922 until the French authorities shut it down in 1924.^[42][40] It was followed by (1926-1940) a nationalist, pro-Zionist francophone newspaper, edited by ^[43][40] as well as (1932-1940), a francophone newspaper in line with emancipatory views of the AIU, edited by .^[44][40] L'Avenir Illustré and L'Union Marocaine were both shut down by the Vichy regime.^[40]

Present[]

Below is a list of newspapers published in Morocco:

List[]

Legend[]

Defunct daily newspapers[]

These newspapers are no longer published:

See also[]

• Media of Morocco
• OJD Morocco
• List of magazines in Morocco
• Television in Morocco

References[]

• (in French) ojd.ma
• (in French) medias.ma

Bibliography[]

• "Morocco: Directory: The Press". Europa World Year Book 2004. Europa Publications. 29 July 2004. p. 2970. ISBN 978-1-85743-255-8.
• William A. Rugh (2004). "Diverse Print Media: Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, and Yemen". Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-98212-6.