Le Journal Hebdomadaire
Type | Weekly |
---|---|
Owner(s) | Laïcité Social democracy |
Language | French |
Ceased publication | 2010 |
Headquarters | Casablanca, Morocco |
Sister newspapers | Assahifa Al Ousbouia |
Le Journal Hebdomadaire (French for The Weekly Journal; often shortened to Le Journal Hebdo) was a
Background
An MBA by training, at age 29 Jamaï moved from finance into financial journalism, helping to found the Casablanca-based Le Journal. The magazine was first published on 17 November 1997.[2] As a model, the paper's creators used the Spanish paper El País because of the way it had started as a weekly paper under Francisco Franco's rule before growing into a media conglomerate.[3]
The journal's circulation was initially small, with the first issue selling only 3,000 copies, primarily to a business audience. However, the journal soon grew by word-of-mouth, attracting a non-business audience and attracting more advertisers.
Conflict with Mohammed VI government
On 23 July 1999, Hassan II died, and his son
In April 2000, Le Journal "crossed a political redline" by printing an interview with
The conflict with the government won Jamaï's papers publicity and popular credibility, and advertising revenues increased substantially for the following months. In November, however, the paper reprinted a letter implicating that a number of socialist politicians, including then-Prime Minister
In 2006, in its reporting on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy—in which a Danish newspaper published several cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, triggering widespread anger in the Muslim world--Le Journal published a blacked-out version of one of the cartoons. The newspaper's offices were then the target of a series of protests, which Jamaï alleges were orchestrated by the national government.[9]
Binaissa defamation suit
At the time of the papers' first banning in April 2000, Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa filed a defamation lawsuit against Jamaï and Ali Amar, another editor of Le Journal, for a 1999 series of articles alleging that the minister had profited from the sale of an official residence during his tenure as Ambassador to the United States.[6][7] Jamaï later speculated that Benaissa "was waiting for a signal" to attack the papers and that he saw his opportunity following the announcement of the ban.[4] In 2001, the pair were found guilty, and sentenced to pay damages of 2 million dirhams (US$200,000). In addition, Jamaï was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and Amar to two months.[7] Reporters Without Borders immediately called for the Moroccan Justice Minister to overturn the verdict, asserting that "Fines should not be used by the authorities with the aim of halting the appearance or publication of a media".[10]
Other lawsuits followed, and by 2006, Jamaï's debts amounted to more than US$1.5 million in fines, damages, and back taxes.[6] In 2002, Le Journal's staff was told by a number of companies that had formerly advertised in the paper that they had been pressured by the government no longer to do so. Jamaï speculated to an interviewer that having realized that they could not shut the paper down directly without international pressure, the government was now seeking to bankrupt it.[4]
In 2006, Jamaï lost another libel suit, this time to Claude Moniquet, director of the
A cousin of Mohammad's, Prince
Faced with growing debts and an advertising boycott, Le Journal went out of business in 2010.[13] On 16 February 2010, bailiffs arrived with a court order that the paper must cease publication. Jamaï announced to a crowd outside the office that he was leaving journalism, because "serious journalism has become impossible in Morocco today".[11] The following year, however, he would go on to found the news website Lakome.com.[13]
Awards and recognition
In 2003, The committee to Protect Journalists presented Jamaï its International Press Freedom Award, "an annual recognition of courageous journalism",
See also
- Telquel (Morocco)
References
- ^ Sylvain Mouillard, Au Maroc, le «Journal hebdomadaire» jette l'éponge, Libération, 2 February 2010
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6511-2.
- ^ World Association of Newspapers. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Hani Sabra (Fall–Winter 2002). "The Business of Journalism" (PDF). Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ "Aboubakr Jamaï". Yale University. 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d Jane Kramer (16 October 2006). "The Crusader". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Morocco: Aboubakr Jamai". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2003. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ "Moroccan editor on hunger strike". BBC News. 11 January 2001. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ a b Scott Macleod (14 May 2006). "Aboubakr Jamai: Journalist". Time. Archived from the original on March 22, 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ "Morocco editors jailed". BBC News. 2 March 2001. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ a b c "Morocco: Pioneer of independent press silenced amid censorship worries". Los Angeles Times. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ Mise à mort du Journal Hebdomadaire : une semaine pour payer trois millions de dirhams de dommages et intérêts Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, Reporters sans frontières, 23 December 2006
- ^ a b Aida Alami (28 April 2011). "Web Offers a Voice to Journalists in Morocco". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ "CPJ International Press Freedom Awards 2011". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2012.