In a report on the repercussions of the pandemic on the Moroccan press sector, the Council also reports a 110% drop in advertising revenues between March 18 and May 18, 2020, compared to the same period last year.

The crisis triggered by the pandemic will have severe repercussions and exacerbate the structural crisis of the Moroccan press, the report points out.

To cope with this situation, the Council proposes thirty measures to save the press sector, through supporting reading newspapers, increasing government funding, organizing the advertising market and reviewing training and human resources, in addition to incentives for the creation of a competitive media industry.

The report is based on a survey carried out between May 25 and June 4 on a representative random sample made up of 30 publications, as well as the views of all stakeholders in the sector including the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers, the Union of Morocco’s Advertisers, the Union of Communication Consulting Agencies and the distribution company Sapress, in addition to taking into account the latest studies relating to newspaper reading and the economic situation of press companies and the advertising market.

The document underlines that the crisis of the Moroccan press worsened in the last three years before the pandemic, since the sales of newspapers fell under 200,000 copies per day, with a drop of 33 pc for daily newspapers, 65 pc for weeklies and 58 pc for magazines.

The share of advertising in the paper and electronic press also dropped by 50 pc between 2010 and 2018 and decreased by 72.4 pc in the first five months of the last three years.