Radio and political change [Ressource électronique] : listening in contemporary Morocco / Ali Sonay

Bibliogr. p. 431-434

Among the effects of the Arab uprisings on Morocco were the adoption of a new constitution and the emplacement of an Islamist-led coalition government. Despite these significant changes, the internal discussion on democratic change and increased political participation and freedom is ongoing. The media are both one of the major subjects and the forum of this debate. An important development has been the liberalisation of the previously statecontrolled radio sector in 2005, with 13 private radio stations having been established in addition to the already existing public stations. As the restructuring of the audiovisual sector is a recent phenomenon, this paper asks how contemporary Moroccan audiences responded: What do they listen to and why? In order to answer this question, fieldwork was conducted for a period of three months, primarily interviewing taxi drivers as a major cohort of radio listeners. In addition, an online survey of students' listening preferences helped to contrast the taxi-driver findings with those relating to a younger generation. Theoretically, the paper approaches the topic by looking at the 'uses and gratifications' theory in an authoritarian context. The findings indicate that newly established private radio stations enjoy wide popularity and thereby are challenging the public stations' position