This page provides a brief overview of the media structures in Libya and Morocco. To see more blog entries related to this topic or any other topics, select the categories drop down bar TO THE RIGHT. Thank you, and enjoy reading! 

Major Media Outlets

The major media outlets in Libya and Morocco are television, radio and the Internet.

Television in Libya

In Libya, 95.06% of households have a television.

The majority of television broadcasts in Libya come from the cities of Benghazi and Tripoli.

In the past, all broadcasts focused on Gaddafi, his family and his regime. The fall of Gaddafi brought enthusiasm for independent media.

Now, the transformation to independent state media is extremely difficult. The people are weary after 42 years of dictatorship. When they hear the words “control” and “censorship,” they associate it with the oppression under Gaddafi. This has led to more outlets being privately owned.

Main Libyan Television Stations

The titles on the left of the screen represent the main television stations that are privately owned. There are many more privately owned stations that outnumber the state owned stations on the right side of the screen.

Libya Al-Ahrar was the first satellite TV channel to emerge during the revolution.

Libya TV was set up during the civil war to counter the state media at the time.

Libya Al-Hurra is a news/talk show. It was originally a live web feed by a Libyan journalist and is arguably the first independent Libyan channel.

Libya, which was formerly Al-Libiyya, is no longer broadcasting new content. It shows old footage of the revolution due to management issues which is a reoccurring issue at many of the state owned stations.

Benghazi TV is a channel in the works. It has a goal to build a regional channel covering mostly local issues and highlighting local traditions. 20% of the airtime will feature news content and the other 80% will go to local news and a wide variety of non-political programming, like children’s shows and documentaries.

Privatization in Libya

Right after the revolution in 2011, state TV was taken off the air. Any state owned channels have not been generating any new content.

In December 2011, the Transitional Government issued decision number 7 placing the former state broadcasters under supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Civil Society and reactivating one channel, one newspaper and one radio station for the government to have an official voice.

Now, the majority of television channels are privately owned. The private channels are all funded by private businessmen or owned by partners.

State TV is given 82 million Libyan Dinars according to the 2012 budget.

The Misrata Local Council owns Misrata TV, but was initially founded by Misrata businessmen.

The Benghazi Local Council funds Benghazi TV as well.

Libya, formerly Al-Libiyya

This video is an example of a news anchor on the state owned channel Libya, which was formerly Al-Libiyya. It gives you an idea of what the channel broadcasted during the Libyan revolution and the outlet’s overall political stance.

Television in Morocco

76.07% of households have a television

The government owns a large amount of broadcast media, however there was a shift away from government regulation for a period of time.

Main Moroccan TV Stations

The Societe Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Television owns the television stations listed on the right side of the screen. It is a government owned corporation.

Al Aoula was the first television channel of this corporation and the rest followed.

2M TV is available free of charge to the people. It was set up as a second national channel to promote competition and diversity in Moroccan audio-visual broadcasting. It established itself as a symbol of freedom of speech in Morocco before the government took control of it.

Assadissa is the first Moroccan channel to be dedicated to religious affairs

Medi1 started as a news channel but has since shifted to more general programming with a focus on entertainment.

Privatization in Morocco

SNRT is the public broadcaster of Morocco

The royal-owned conglomerate ONA established 2M TV before being partly sold to the Moroccan state. So, 2M TV was originally privately owned, but it is now a government-controlled public TV station.

There is evidence that 2M TV has close ties with influential parts of the Moroccan government and the station has been used by the government as an indirect means to attack independent newspapers.

Radio in Libya

Dozens of radio outlets, many privately owned, broadcast from Libyan cities and from Middle East media hubs.

There are 889,232 radio receivers in Libya.

The major radio stations are listed on the slide.

Privatization in Radio

The majority of radio stations in Libya are privately owned after the fall of Moammar Gaddafi.

The only remaining state-owned station is Libyan Radio and Television.

Radio in Morocco

Broadcast media is much more popular in Morocco than print journalism

Despite the many newspapers and magazines, readership percentage remains around 1 percent

There are 3 radio stations operated by the SNRT, 2M and Medi1

There is also Radio Atlantic, Casa FM and Chada FM

Privatization in Radio

The radio stations in Morocco are under the control of SNRT and the government owned television stations.

Internet in Libya

There are 1.12 million Internet users in Libya.

The Internet played a major role in the Libyan revolution

Blogging became a way for individuals to express their political opinions and avoid government regulation

Twitter became a way for citizens to update each other on the current events during the revolution and provide the facts when the government failed to do so.

Internet Privatization in Libya

The Internet was government-monitored during the revolution and during Gaddafi’s reign. Journalists and any user of the Internet had to be extremely careful what they posted. If anything was written to criticize the government they could face punishment. During the revolution, the Internet was completely shut down for a period of time. It was not until the liberation that Internet usage was restored. Now, the Internet use is growing because people are not as scared to use it. Libya’s social media landscape will continue to change drastically in the following years.

Internet in Morocco

17.77 million Internet users

In 2011, approximately 745,000 Twitter users

Blogging and Twitter is big in Morocco, just like in Libya

The Internet has the least amount of regulation out of all of Morocco’s media outlets.

It follows the initiative for an Open Arab Internet. This allows citizens to freely browse any sites they choose. However, some sites still remain blocked.

The level of regulation is still more than we are used to in the United States. What would it be like if we couldn’t access our social media sites?

The government patrols the Internet in some attempt to control the messages that the public is exposed to.

Twitter in North Africa

Twitter is on the rise in North Africa. In 2011 about 68% of the population said that it used Twitter to get the daily news.

Portland Communications conducted research to show the Twitter use and created this infographic called How Africa Tweets. It shows that Libya had approximately 3,096 tweets from Libya, which is nothing compared to the United States and what we may be used to, but major for the North Africa region. Morocco had 745,620 tweets.

Conclusion

Television, radio and the Internet are the largest media outlets in these nations. The Internet is a growing medium in both countries, which is one of the largest similarities between the two nations.

It is important to understand media structure in Libya because it shows the country’s development as a whole, reflected through its media structure. The fall of a dictator led to a change in a way of life and a change in media structure and now there is a struggle to rebuild after so many years of oppression and strict regulation. Privately owned media has exploded due to such a massive distrust of government owned media.

It is important to compare the various levels of regulation and control in Libya and Morocco. It is also important to recognize how much these countries’ media structures differ from our own in the United States and understand the impact it has on the people of these nations. There is a large bias in many media outlets.