The Minister of Youth, Communication and Culture, Mehdi Bensaid, indicated that the electronic press sector “lives in a kind of anarchy due to the presence of unapproved websites which are at odds with the law”.
Speaking during the session of oral questions on Tuesday at the House of Councillors, the Minister indicated that the number of these unauthorized sites amounts to approximately 1300, not counting the approved sites but which do not pay the contributions. social protection for their employees.
“This anarchy in the media sector is mainly due to the press code,” he said, hence, according to him, the need to change it.
The government is already working on this file, and has held meetings with professionals, Bensaid announced, noting that a decree is being prepared at the ministry and will be ready soon.
The Minister also affirmed that his department is in the process of drawing up a framework agreement with press companies, the objective being to strengthen the management of public aid and the incentive for these bodies to develop and to modernize in order to break with previous practices, emphasizing the need henceforth to respect press companies and to fill the legal loopholes from which the sector suffers.
For Mehdi Bensaid, journalism remains a noble public service, and “a profession that must be supervised, as well as access to it must be done according to clear and strict conditions”.
The official also mentioned the challenges to be met, the main and most important of which is that of fake news which affects citizens, different actors, and the State who are therefore harmed, and which constitute an economic and political threat.
The ministry in charge of the sector intends to work on the issue to deal with this phenomenon, in particular through strong legislation, he concluded.