Accused of having broadcast on the air content not validated by his hierarchy, Rachid M’Barki, star presenter of BFMTV, was withdrawn by the channel for having used the expression “Moroccan Sahara”. An internal investigation has been opened by the French channel.
After having approached, during the night diarythe subject of the strengthening of relations between Rabat and Madrid, referring to the “heating of diplomatic relations” between Morocco and Spain, facilitated by the “Spanish recognition of the Moroccan Sahara”, Rachid M’Barki, a journalist from Morocco and presenter of BFMTV, has been suspended by the French television channel and exempted from activity since mid-January.
“An internal investigation was opened two weeks ago following information received concerning a journalist from our channel”, declared Hervé Beroud, deputy general manager of Altice media, the parent company of BFMTV, to POLITICO. He explains that “this journalist has been exempt from activity since the beginning of this investigation and for the entire time of this investigation“.
For his part, Rachid M’Barki indicates to the same source that he “used information that [lui] came from informants” and who “did not necessarily follow the usual course of writing”. The journalist, however, denies any intentional nature: “They were all real and verified, I do my job. (…) I’m not ruling anything out, maybe I got tricked, I didn’t feel like that was the case or that I was taking part in an operation of I don’t know what, otherwise I wouldn’t would not have done”.
It should be noted that in France, a large majority of the media refer to the South of the Kingdom by the expression “Western Sahara”, especially in the context of the diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Algeria.