Morocco's Benchemsi says journalists should reject extremism

18/06/2007

In the second part of a two-part interview, award-winning Moroccan journalist Ahmed Reda Benchemsi talks about the role of journalists in rejecting extremism and about the new press law in Morocco.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 18/06/2007

[Imane Belhaj] Benchemsi denies any relation between Islam and the atrocities carried out in its name

Moroccan journalist Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, publications manager for French-language weekly magazine Tel Quel and Arabic-language weekly magazine Nichane, was selected recently for the Press Freedom Award, created in memory of late Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut in 2005.

Benchemsi earned the 15,000-euro award for his piece entitled "The Cult of Personality", published in Tel Quel in July 2006. The award is conferred annually by the Delegation of the European Commission and the Samir Kassir Foundation.

In the second part of a two-part interview, Benchemsi talks about the role of journalists in rejecting extremism and about the new press code in Morocco.

Magharebia: Aside from condemnation, what can you do as a Muslim journalist to put a stop to the abduction of foreign journalists in Iraq or Afghanistan, which is usually carried out in the name of religion in countries torn apart by conflicts, and to avert accusation against Islam?

Ahmed Reda Benchemsi: First, I do not want to talk to you here as a Muslim journalist, but as a journalist only, without regard for my religious affiliation. For I am a journalist before everything, and my being a Muslim is something else. I do not want to mix them in any case. I am a big defender of secularism, and this means faith is solely a personal matter to its holder, bearing no relationship to what we write. I think the solidarity of Moroccan journalists with their abducted colleagues in all parts of the world is something professional, whether the abducted person is Muslim or otherwise. And our condemnation of the operation is absolute, whether the perpetrators are Muslim or otherwise. Religion bears no relationship to what happens in terms of civil strife in the world, and Islam bears no relationship to a number of abominable behaviours carried out in its name daily. But I think extremism is the origin of the problem, not in the Islamic religion alone, but even in the other religions. Extremism is the deed of those with sick minds, whether they are Muslim, Jewish or Christian. Thus, I say any journalist who defends the values of modernity and openness and the values of humanism and the right to freedom, rejects all forms of extremism, whether in religion, politics or any other ideology.

Magharebia: What is your opinion on the new press law, which is still pending and has not yet been authorised?

Benchemsi: In truth, I personally do not know the reason for its delay. But my opinion on the law itself is that it moved us from the point of negative 100 to negative 50, meaning that in the end things remain as-is. Nonetheless, they want us to applaud it. It is not possible for us to rejoice over this law, even if it reduces all the deleterious penalties on freedom with regards to journalists. For we cannot merely reduce the number of these penalties in the new law in order to say we made progress. On the contrary, so long as there remains a single deleterious penalty on freedom, we will continue to reject this law, which takes us backwards.

Magharebia: In your view, what is the Moroccan press still lacking?

Benchemsi: In general, perhaps we are lacking balance in courage and professionalism, because the truly professional newspapers represent a minority in Morocco. In my view, some newspapers are still operating with the logic of defending principles bearing no relationship to the press. Professionalism requires confirming the veracity of news before publishing it, and, in the case of publishing erroneous news, it is necessary to apologise for it as soon as possible. This is what makes it respect its readers. This common denominator must exist among all journalists. After that, each one may defend the principals or understandings he wishes, without being concerned thereafter whether or not others agree with him.