Economic Life : global capital,financial journalism,and independent media

Abstract

This article examines financial journalism in Morocco during the 1990s, focusing on the tenure of French press magnate Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber at La Vie économique (LVE) and the entrance of global capital into Morocco’s media market. At LVE Servan-Schreiber assembled a group of young reporters, columnists and analysts who came to journalism through finance and financial journalism at a time when Morocco was in the throes of economic liberalization. This moment proved formative for a new generation of media ownership and demonstrates a shift in media-state relations toward an ambivalent authoritarianism, defined by a new openness to complementary interests of media and the state. Bringing together political economy and textual analysis based on archival research, this article argues that financial journalism set the stage for a commercialization of independent media in Morocco that is characterized by recognition of media’s role as both a facilitator for global capital and a powerful player in the realm of geopolitics. Additionally, on the domestic front, the economic press paves the way for the reentry of politics into public discourse and a liberal approach that attempts to work within the constraints of capital while not eschewing critique.

Keywords

authoritarianism financial journalism global capital independent media Morocco neoliberal globalization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

AMPHP (1997, January 16) Communiqué de l’Association de la Presse Hebdomadaire et Périodique (AMPHP): Respecter la confraternité et l’éthique. L’Economiste (263). Available at: https://www.leconomiste.com/article/presse-la-vie-economique-suspendue-de-lamphp (accessed July 2018).

À Nos Lecteurs (1997, January 17) La Vie Économique (3901), p.47.

Bogaert

(2018) Globalized Authoritarianism: Megaprojects, Slums, and Class Relations in Urban Morocco. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Bousquet

(2015, August 20) Un nouveau site d’enquêtes marocain va voir le jour: Le Desk. Telquel. Available at: https://telquel.ma/2015/08/20/nouveau-site-denquetes-marocain-va-voir-jour-desk_1460160/?utm_source=tq&utm_medium=normal_post (accessed July 2019).

Bozonnet

J-J

(1997, February 20) Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber rachète le mensuel ‘Psychologies’. Le Monde. Available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1997/02/20/jean-louis-servan-schreiber-rachete-le-mensuel-psychologies_3768120_1819218.html (accessed July 2018).

Catusse

(2011) Morocco’s political economy: Ambiguous privatization and the emerging social question. In: Pioppi

Guazzone

(eds) The Arab State and Neo-Liberal Globalization: The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East. Ithaca, NY: Ithaca Press, pp.185–216.

Dawson

(2009) EU Integration with North Africa: Trade Negotiations and Democracy Deficits in Morocco. London: Tauris Academic Studies.

Douai

(2009) In democracy’s shadow: The ‘new’ independent press and the limits of media reform in Morocco. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 6(1): 7–26.

Ebticar Media (2015, June 11) Ebticar-Media: The 8 Award Winners. Canal France International (CFI). Available at: https://www.cfi.fr/en/news/ebticar-media-8-award-winners (accessed July 2019).

10.

El Farah

(2017, December 15) Marcel Herzog nous quitte. La Vie Économique. Available at: https://www.lavieeco.com/actualite-maroc/marcel-herzog-nous-quitte/ (accessed July 2018).

11.

Etchegaray

(2007, December 4) Ahmed Benchemsi, fils spirituel de Servan Schreiber. In: Boulevard 117 [Ecole de Journalisme de Sciences Po Blog]. Available at: http://boulevard117.over-blog.com/article-14341118.html (accessed July 2018).

12.

Garon

(2003) Dangerous Alliances: Civil Society, the Media, and Democratic Transition in North Africa. London: Zed Books.

13.

Gershovich

(2013) The “New Press” and free speech under Mohammed VI. In Contemporary Morocco: State, Politics and Society under Mohammed VI. London: Routledge, pp. 93–108.

14.

Hachmi Idrissi

(1997, January 11–17) La Vie Derrière Soi: Les égarements de Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, directeur de La Vie Economique. Maroc-Hebdo (256).

15.

Hassan

(1988, April 8) Discours prononcé par S.M. Le Roi Hassan II à l’occasion de l’ouverture de la session du printemps de la Chambre des représentants du 8 avril 1988. Bulletin Officiel (4042). Available at: http://www.sgg.gov.ma/Legislation/LarecherchedanslessommairesBO.aspx (accessed July 2019).

16.

Horton

(1990) Morocco: Analysis and Reform of Economic Policy. The World Bank. Available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/600501468757531984/Morocco-Analysis-and-reform-of-economic-policy (accessed July 2019).

17.

Iddins

(2015) Debating Darija: Telquel and language politics in modern Morocco. Media, Culture & Society 37(2): 288–301.

18.

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber rachète le mensuel ‘Psychologies’ [Psychologies] (1997, February 21) La Vie Économique (3906), p.63.

19.

Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber reprend ‘Psychologies’ [Jean-Louis] (1997, February 19) Libération. Available at: https://www.liberation.fr/medias/1997/02/19/jean-louis-servan-schreiber-reprend-psychologies_196582 (accessed July 2018).

20.

Journalistes taisez-vous! (2009, December 26 – January 8). Telquel (404-5), p. 21.

21.

Kaitouni

(2007) La privatisation au Maroc: Ses débuts, son évolution, ses impacts. HEC Montréal: Memoire.

22.

Khiabany

(2007) Iranian media: The paradox of modernity. Social Semiotics 17(4): 479–501.

23.

Khosrowshahi

(1997) Privatization in Morocco: The politics of development. Middle East Journal 51(2): 242–255.

24.

La Vie Économique (LVE) [graphic] (1996, May 17) La Vie Économique (3868), p.2.

25.

Leveau

(1976) Le fellah marocain, défenseur du trône. Paris: Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques.

26.

L’Expansion (1994, January 15) Communication Conséquence de la récession CEP communication prend le contrôle du groupe expansion. Le Monde. Available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1994/01/15/communication-consequence-de-la-recession-cep-communication-prend-le-controle-du-groupe-expansion_3799010_1819218.html (accessed July 2018)

27.

Mhaoud

(2018) Les champions nationaux. Casablanca: En toutes lettres.

28.

Miller

(2012) A History of Modern Morocco. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

29.

Najem

(2001) Privatization and the state in Morocco: Nominal objectives and problematic realities. Mediterranean Politics 6(2): 51–67.

30.

Nocetti

(2015) Russia’s ‘dictatorship-of-the-law’ approach to internet policy. Internet Policy Review 4(4): 1–19.

31.

Nouvel Actionnariat Pour La Vie Économique [Nouvel] (1997, May 23) La Vie Économique (3919), p.79.

32.

Progression de 2,400 exemplaires des ventes de La Vie Économique (1997, January 10) La Vie Économique (3900), p.63.

33.

Qui paye? (2001, October 29–November 4) Telquel (1), p.5.

34.

Qui sommes nous? (2018) Le Desk. Available at: https://ledesk.ma/qui-sommes-nous/ (accessed July 2019).

35.

Rabat et Kenitra: Un supplément spécial region (1996, May 24) La Vie Économique (3869).

36.

Repnikova

(2017) Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

37.

Salles

(1999, April 24) Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber préfère ‘Psychologies’ à ‘L’Expansion’. Le Monde. Available at: https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/04/24/jean-louis-servan-schreiber-prefere-psychologies-a-l-expansion_3558500_1819218.html?xtmc=jean_louis_servan_schreiber&xtcr=82 (accessed July 2018).

38.

Sassen

(2006) Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

39.

Servan-Schreiber

J-L

(1991a, September 16) Entretien avec SM le Roi. La Vie Économique (3625), pp.1–17.

40.

Servan-Schreiber

J-L

(1991b, September 16) Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber: J’ai confiance dans l’avenir du Maroc. La Vie Économique (3625), p.24.

41.

Servan-Schreiber

J-L

(1996, May 17) Une ‘Vie Économique’ Renouvelé. La Vie Économique (3868), p.3.

42.

Servan-Schreiber

J-L

(1997, May 30) Chers Lecteurs. La Vie Économique (3920), p.5.

43.

Smith

Loudiy

(2005) Testing the red lines: On the liberalization of speech in Morocco. Human Rights Quarterly 27(3): 1069–1119.

44.

Spécial: Enseignement privé (1994, September 23) La Vie Économique (3783), pp.1–20.

45.

Tayebi

(2015) The Independent Press after the “Moroccan Spring.” Mathal: Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Multidisciplinary Studies 4(1). DOI: 10.17077/2168-538X.1065

46.

Vermeren

(2001) Le Maroc en transition. Paris: La Découverte.

47.

Waisbord

(2002) Media in South America: Between the rock of the state and the hard place of the market. In: Curran

Park

M-J

(eds) De-Westernizing Media Studies. New York: Routledge, pp.50–62.

48.

Waterbury

(1970) The Commander of the Faithful: The Moroccan Political Elite – A Study in Segmented Politics. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

49.

Wyrtzen

(2015) Making Morocco: Colonial Intervention and the Politics of Identity. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

50.

Yesil

(2016) Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

51.

Yudice

(2004) The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

52.

Zaid

(2016) Internet and democracy in Morocco: A force for change and an instrument for repression. Global Media and Communication 12(1): 49–66.