Younes Majid, head of the interim committee managing the affairs of the press and publishing sector, announced his withdrawal from the National Union of Moroccan Journalists following a decision to suspend his membership during the Federal National Council meeting held on November 1st.
Majid stated that the meeting “violated the union’s basic law” regarding the timing of the invitation and the agenda, emphasizing that “the absence of ethics and financial oversight committees after half of the term reflects a lack of transparency and respect for organizational rules.”
He clarified that the decision taken against him is “illegal,” as the authority to suspend membership belongs to the executive office or branch offices after notifying the individual and allowing them to defend themselves, adding that the union president “renounced the commitments to governance and financial oversight that were agreed upon before his election.”
This decision, made late yesterday during the union’s national council meeting, also led to the referral of journalist Hanan Rahab and several other journalists to the ethics committee. While Rahab’s summons is understandable given the numerous complaints from colleagues within the sector, the inclusion of Younes Majid in the decision is viewed by many as an unprincipled act, difficult to justify morally or professionally.
Strangely enough, no other professional bodies in the sector intervened or issued a stance, even though this concerns the first president in the history of the National Council of the Press, a man who contributed to establishing the first experience of self-regulation for the profession in Morocco, only to find himself today targeted by narrow political and personal vendettas.
Behind the scenes, professional sources indicate that the decision to suspend Majid’s membership emerged from the Socialist Union Party, whose influence is still evident within the union. The group leading this course is the same one that overturned the equilibrium of the profession and turned Moroccan journalism into the only exception globally where journalists become state opponents instead of defenders of truth and public interest.
This group, which has benefitted from rent-seeking privileges for years, colluded with other professional bodies to cover unethical practices, turning a blind eye to entire media businesses that engage in extortion under the guise of freedom of expression. Thus, the sector has become a battleground for personal vendettas rather than a unifying space for journalists and a realm of professional dignity.
Targeting Majid in such a public manner today reflects the decline of values within the profession and is a blatant assault on the morals and honor of Moroccans, especially when a symbol of self-regulation is sacrificed amidst the silence of all.
In light of this scenario, the crisis within the journalistic body deepens, where political calculations intersect with personal ambitions, leaving the genuine voices that advocate for the profession in its national dimension absent. Journalism has, in many national issues, become present only when it concerns positions and gains, not when the situation demands a triumph for both the nation and the profession together.
