The US Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is failing in Morocco and Bahrain, where not only government authorities but also publishers and journalists associations have rejected any attempt by the US administration to provide financial aid to independent newspapers.

Moroccan Federation of Newspapers Publishers and the Moroccan Journalists Union have turned down the MEPI grants program. According to the Moroccan French Language daily Aujourd’hui Le Maroc, the Journalists Union considers this initiative an action plan to manipulate the Arab press in the name freedom of the press and democracy. Morocco approved in 2005 a 4,5 million euros annual plan to modernize the press sector. The plan was reached between the government, journalists and publishers.

The Middle East Partnership Initiative , the Bush Administration's response to calls for change in the Middle East, recently closed the deadline of a program offering seven grants up to 1 million USD for independent media in the Arab countries.

[Image]Moroccan Minister of Information Nabil Benabdallah (pictured left) told US Ambassador to Rabat, Thomas Riley, on 20 March that the American offer contradicts Moroccan laws that prevent local media from receiving direct or indirect subsidies from foreign parties. The same argument was presented by the Bahrain Journalists Association to reject the US initiative and to condemn any newspaper that accepted such support.

In Bahrain. Issa Al Shaiji, President of the Bahrain Journalists Association and editor-in-Chief of the “semi-official” newspaper Al Ayyam, met MEPI’s Regional Director, Hans Wechsel on 5 April to express his reject of the initiative. During the meeting, Wechsel explained that the aid is limited to technical and material support, and that it does not offer direct funding.

Al Shaiji said the program contradicts Bahraini laws and that it could lead to a lose of independence among newspapers. Anyone journalist accepting direct or indirect financial support from a foreign body can be fined up to BD 1,000 (USD 2,650) according to Bahraini laws.

Wechsel, has attempted to assure critics that the US does not want to control the media in the Middle East through its MEPI program, said that hundreds of journalists in the region have already benefit from training programs financed by his country and others, and that Arab media outlets continue to be interested in these programs. He added that MEPI has been asked by media outlets in the region to enlarge its fields of support.

The Arab press remains unconvinced.

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Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news