The Education and Communication Committee approves, by majority, the draft law to reorganize the National Press Council
The Education, Culture, and Communication Committee of the House of Representatives approved, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the draft law related to the reorganization of the National Press Council by a majority vote. This followed a meeting that lasted seven hours and was attended by the Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid.
The project received the approval of 18 deputies, while 7 deputies opposed it, with no abstentions recorded. A total of 249 proposed amendments were submitted, covering various aspects from general provisions to the Council’s competencies, its formation, and the mechanisms for electing and appointing its members from among journalists and publishers, in addition to its financial and administrative organization.
The government, represented by Minister Bensaid, adopted 45 amendments put forward by the deputies, with the project set to be presented in its final form, as approved by the committee, during a general session on Tuesday morning.
One of the most significant approved amendments was the removal of the penalty for suspending the publication of periodicals or electronic newspapers for up to 30 days. The majority coalition considered this amendment to be in line with the kingdom’s directions to support press freedom and the right to expression.
The committee also unanimously approved several other articles, most notably Article 68, which concerns mediation and arbitration, specifying a resolution period of three months, and Article 82, which pertains to the immediate referral of complaints by the Council’s president to the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee.
