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VIEWPOINT -
ZAK ETTAMYMY
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We had hopes that the opinionated position of many international media groups has finally reached us, but then nothing moved, the only things that moved were the cheap furniture and cardboards, they moved them around in Studio Lebrihi, a real mockery of the Moroccan intelligence.“Ca bouge a la tele” was nothing but a slogan to get people to consume mediocre and poor TV programming.
The only thing I remember worth watching was the weather news, acted by Mr. Fadel who managed to put a smile on otherwise bored and unhappy viewers. I remember we turned on our Tvs to watch football “soccer”. Moreover, the victims were not the adults only, the National TV somehow thought that ½ hour of Sindibad was enough for the 16 million Moroccan kids. The program was basically as follow:
½ hour “Sindibad or Grandizer” or other free/cheap kids stuff
½ hour News in French
3 hours News in Arabic
1 hour Egyptian series
½ hour Finale News
No art! No political debate! No Children learning programs! Not one reflection to uplift the spirit of the Moroccan society, not one thought to eradicate illiteracy with specially targeted programs, not one consideration to entertain the Moroccan child after a long-boring day in school.
We were left to wonder…not for long. 2M was introduced right at a time when people started to put KASKAS on top of their antennas to “catch” the Spanish TV out of despair. 2M charged approximately $ 65.00 per month to watch its coded signal, people were in so much need for a new TV experience they flocked to it “although in my opinion $ 64.00 was too high”
2m started well at first but then, the national TV bureaucracy was so contagious it reached 2M and quickly it became another Dinosaur with heavy payroll and very little to show for.
Now, 2M and RTM are on the web, on Satellite and on air, to me this is a great achievement, accessibility is important in conveying the message and or serving the public; however, the content is still poor and inadequate for the educated, politically motivated and savvy Moroccan viewer.
Speaking from the point of view of a Moroccan living abroad, I truly believe that the programs we watch are poor. Moroccans living abroad need more targeted programs and they need to be involved in the output of 2M.
Again the problem is that we need to teach our kids to speak Arabic, to know their history and their religion not to watch 24/24 reality TV made in Morocco or Studio 2 M every 5minutes. This is not the 80sWe can compare now, most TV channels in the world can’t squeeze their programs in24hours. One full day is not enough anymore for them because they have so much content they have to rely on their website to direct their viewers to certain programs. Our TV is still relying on re-runs and re-re-runs, the news are repeated, the films are played again and again and the SAHRA “soiree” is always on sometimes at 9 AM in the morning.
If Morocco wants another generation of committed citizens living abroad with great income potential and great source of foreign currencies, it must invest in them while they are kids.
Zak Ettamymy
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ViewPoint