However, national and international markets have seen the emergence of commercial groups that have come to resemble oligopolies that dominate the market. These business conglomerates have taken advantage of technological convergence, deregulation and of the subsequent merging and concentration of companies. As such, these trends threaten to marginalize cultural diversity as culturally independent creators, producers and broadcasters increasingly find themselves outside of the mainstream channels.

According to the Study on International Flows of Cultural Goods, published by UNESCO, the value of cultural goods and services rose from 95.34 million dollars in 1980 to 387.93 million dollars in 1998. Furthermore, the bulk of this trade, which includes print, music, visual arts, cinema, photography, radio, television, videogames, sports merchandising comes from a small group of countries. At the start of the present decade Japan, the US, Germany, Great Britain and China were the main exporters in this sector, controlling more than half of the total volume of business.

According to data published in The Economist, in 1993, 36% of the companies in the sector had their headquarters located in the US, another 36% in the European Union and 26% in Japan. In just four years later, in 1997, more than half of these companies were based in the US. In 1980, thanks to exports, the US obtained 30% of the profits of trade in this sector. At the end of the nineteen nineties, the US share of profits rose to 50%. Comparatively, the European trade deficit in the audiovisual sector rose from 3.5 million dollars in 1993 to 6 million dollars in 1998. Even more dramatically, as of the close of the past decade, the entire continent of Africa had an average level of film production of only 42 movies per year.

The HACA is a member of the BRCD and in addition holds the vice-presidency of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities (RIRM), and will host the next meeting of the Network in June 2007.

The interest in conducting this interview has been to know, firsthand, the position of the HACA regarding the questions that affect the representation of cultural diversity in the communications media and, in particular, the situation in Morocco.

The conversation with Mr. Gazhali touched on the following subjects: the position of Morocco in the international agreements that affect the cultural and broadcasting sector; the role of the HACA in the promotion of the representation of cultural diversity in the broadcasting media; and the challenges of the new audiovisual services.

This posture reflects the political and social consensus of the country. Not only in the political realm has there been awareness of the need to protect and promote the cultural diversity of the country, but also in recent years many diverse social groups and professionals have emerged that are working in this direction. One of these groups is the Moroccan Coalition for Culture and the Arts, an association of cultural professionals and which has strong links to the Comité International de Liaison des Coalitions pour la Diversité Culturelle (CIL). The Coalition acts as a lobbying group on the Moroccan authorities, but also has mobilized for the defence of the uniqueness of cultural products. For its part, the HACA maintains permanent exchange and dialogue with these organizations.

The Moroccan government has been very active in the creation and approval processes for the “Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression” of UNESCO. Currently, the involved organizations are making a broad effort in the follow-up and dissemination of this Convention.

And on the other hand, the HACA has completed an important administrative and executive project in the legal area. First is the recognition of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the country obliges that the HACA monitor the granting of quotas to ensure the presence of minoritarian languages in the public and private broadcasting media, especially French and the Amazigh languages. The second is that the HACA has introduced quotas for the broadcasting of Moroccan content (music and audiovisual productions) within the terms of agreements for the granting of radio and television licences.

There are also other measures that address the promotion of the Moroccan audiovisual industry. One of these is the obligation of public broadcasters to produce or co-produce audiovisual content. Public media are required to provide resources to produce about 30 cinematographic works. For music, radio stations must dedicate 30% of their airtime to music produced in Morocco. The aim is to limit the ability of the broadcast media to acquire cheaper content from foreign producers, namely those from America and India.

Given the presence of television broadcasting by satellite to Morocco, the HACA has contracted an audience rating company to measure the impact of satellite channels. The initial results show that international news channels from Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia have a large number of viewers. The Saudi channel, Al-Jazeera, has the largest audience, with an approximate share of 18%.

Regarding those public channels that broadcast by satellite from Morocco, two of them broadcast to Europe in a group of six channels. The HACA is responsible for controlling the quality of the programming of these channels and one of the basic criteria is the promotion of elements that facilitate the rooting of Moroccan immigrants in their adoptive countries. One of the existing challenges, which is under review, is the coordination needed among broadcasters and regulators of those countries receiving the signal.

Another challenge is the broadcasting of television over the Internet. Recently the HACA granted a licence to Maroc Telecom to broadcast audiovisual content via the Internet. This case demonstrates the intention to guarantee pluralism in the media for the citizens of Morocco.

Under this practice, regulatory authorities have monitored programming by broadcasters so that pluralism in general, including political, social, cultural and linguistic pluralism, is respected. But beyond this, we believe that regulatory authorities have a responsibility to define, in each instance, the specific aspects that are entailed in safeguarding diversity, in its specific social context and in the context of global information society.

We believe, therefore, that it is a priority of the highest order that the various broadcasting regulatory authorities lead this debate. This debate must bring awareness of certain steps and certain mutual and consensual strategies that will guarantee respect for cultural diversity.