It is taken for granted by many people that politicians, media and the people are three important pillars that every nation is built upon. In my view, the aforementioned three should be scrutinized meticulously in order to know whether a country is well governed or just left to a mere chaos and excessive use of power. The mass media is key here as it is the bridge between politicians and the people. Theoretically, people are supposed to know the nitty-gritty about what politicians do, provided that the mass media diffuses and broadcasts true information about what politicians do. The mass media plays the role of a vigilant “watch dog” that keeps an eye on politicians and reminds them constantly that people are watching over.
The aforementioned is deemed the perfect picture, but things differ when mass media is reversibly owned and funded by the government. In this view, the banning of whatsApp, Skype, Viber and other VoIP technology software in Morocco, for almost one year, was a serious mistake made by the government to exert its super power over people, an excessive use of power on the liberties of people. The banning was done without even announcing anything to the people. The three major telecommunication companies (INWI, MEDITEL and MAROC TELECOM) in Morocco made a deal under the table with the Morocco’s High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA) to block VoIP calls. That decision was like stabbing many families from behind as they relied on such calls to call their family members who live abroad. At the time of the blocking, the official mainstream media did little to cover this event and explain the policies that Morocco’s telecommunication agency, in collaboration with the aforementioned major companies, have taken against them.
Mass media is now used as a weapon against people; a tool to distort reality and replace facts with lies. As a result, the bridge between the government and the people is broken.
Stability and trust are gained only when the media is independent and funded by the people, to serve the people.
