According to Mr Benchemsi

fertieg97

News analysis
Newsbook
According to Mr Benchemsi, the advertising boycott came at the behest of ONA/SNI, Morocco’s largest company, which is owned by the king and run by his advisers. Its investments include the country’s biggest bank and lucrative monopolies in various sectors. But it also seems to have been followed by other companies,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], either because they sought to distance themselves from a critical magazine or―as Moroccan journalists say is commonplace―they were urged to by the palace. Most advertising in the country is by a handful of companies, including ONA/SNI, and most would rather not upset the palace.
Whether or not they are right, Nichane (which means "straighforward" or "direct") will not be part of Morocco’s future. Its combination of strident secularism, irreverence and willingness to tackle controversial political issues led to its success but also made it powerful enemies. Despite good sales, it suffered from a lack of advertising. That, says Ahmed Benchemsi, the magazine’s publisher, was because of a boycott campaign ordered by the palace.
"This intensive boycott has done irreparable financial harm," Mr Benchemsi said in a statement, claiming that the magazine was over $1 million in debt. "This financial bleeding had to be stopped." It struggled on for several years despite dwindling advertising sales. But things have become worse of late. Last year an issue containing a poll on the king's popularity was banned. Even though the poll was overwhelmingly favourable to the king,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the palace thought it inappropriate because "the monarchy cannot be the subject of debate, even through an opinion survey." It has had other issues banned and journalists fined or been given suspended prison sentences for using "disrespectful" language about the monarchy and religion.
ITS covers were often provocative, whether discussing sexual taboos in Islam or addressing the king in gutsy slang. But Nichane, a Casablanca magazine that announced its closure last week, was most unusual because it was published in darija, Morocco’s Arabic dialect. The majority of publications appear in the trickier Modern Standard Arabic that is written but rarely spoken. Darija, its editors argued, is polyglot Morocco’s real national language.
In January, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, another Moroccan weekly,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], folded after years battling against the regime. The oldest of a new generation of daring publications, it was even more critical than Nichane and faced an advertising boycott, as well as punishing fines from libel cases, for much of its life. Former members of staff say they have been blackballed at other publications, and at times denied press credentials. In June, Taoufik Bouachrine, the editor of al-Jarida al-Oula, an Arabic newspaper, was sentenced to six months in prison on the basis of what the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, described as a "politicised criminal charge." His newspaper closed in May because of financial difficulties.
Many Moroccan journalists and political activists say that the palace wants to tame the media after gains in press freedom in the late 1990s. Unlike many Arab countries, Morocco does not have state-owned newspapers. Most of the many titles available on its newsstands, however, tow the palace line. Part of what makes this possible is the king’s dominant role in the economy―which is not good for press freedom nor reliable economic reporting.