Марокко апталық журналы: «Le Journal Hebdo» тарихы

Moroccan weekly magazine

Le Journal Hebdomadaire (French for The Weekly Journal; often shortened to Le Journal Hebdo) was a French language, Moroccan weekly magazine, published between 1997 and 2010. It was cofounded by Aboubakr Jamaï, who also co founded its Arabic language counterpart, Assahifa Al Ousbouia.

An MBA by training, at age 29 Jamaï moved from finance into financial journalism, helping to found the Casablanca based Le Journal. The magazine was first published on 17 November 1997. As a model, the paper's creators used the Spanish paper El País because of the way it had started as a weekly paper under Francisco Franco's rule before growing into a media conglomerate. In 1998, Jamaï co founded an Arabic language sister publication, Assahifa al Ousbouiya, designed to appeal to a broader audience.

On 23 July 1999, Hassan II died, and his son Mohammed VI succeeded him to the throne, raising hopes for democratic reform. Le Journal soon became critical of Mohamed's reign, however, particularly his slowness in transforming Morocco into a constitutional democracy. As a result of the critical editorials printed by the paper, Moroccan printers soon refused to do business with it, forcing Jamaï to print in France and pay enormous transportation costs. Following another round of international protest—including a question about the banning from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on the occasion of Youssoufi's state visit to Germany—the government relented, and the papers were once more allowed to print. Other lawsuits followed, and by 2006, Jamaï's debts amounted to more than US$1.5 million in fines, damages, and back taxes. A cousin of Mohammad's, Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah, offered to settle Jamaï's legal debts, but Jamaï refused, saying that he would "prefer to force the regime to let the press alone or be exposed for silencing it". Jamaï then resigned from his papers and traveled to the US, working as a professor at the University of San Diego for three years. He returned to Morocco in 2009. On 16 February 2010, bailiffs arrived with a court order that the paper must cease publication. Jamaï announced to a crowd outside the office that he was leaving journalism, because "serious journalism has become impossible in Morocco today". The following year, however, he would go on to found the news website Lakome. com. for his work with Le Journal. In 2010, the World Association of Newspapers awarded him its Gebran Tueni Prize, established in honor of the assassinated Lebanese editor and press freedom advocate of the same name.