The Press House, a socio-cultural complex currently under construction in Tangier and dedicated to the media family, constitutes a pioneering experience, the first of its kind in Morocco, and is capable of contributing to the strengthening of the skills of Moroccan journalists, indicated the regional director of the Department of Communication in Tangier-Tétouan, Brahim Echaâbi.

In an interview granted to MAP, Mr. Echaâbi highlighted the importance of this infrastructure, which will constitute a meeting and exchange point for journalists and will offer multiple services in terms of training, capacity building, and leisure for the benefit of professionals.

The progress rate of the work on this project, which will have an international scope by hosting an Arab and Mediterranean press centre, has exceeded 80% and should be delivered in the coming months, he affirmed.

This socio-cultural complex covers an area of more than 5,000 m² and will be equipped with a Mediterranean media centre, an Arab training centre, a conference room with more than 200 seats, an open-air theatre, and sports and leisure spaces.

A budget of 12 million DH has been allocated to this project, financed in partnership between the elected councils, the Ministry of Communication, and the Agency for the Development of the Northern Provinces (APDN).

According to Mr. Echaâbi, this meeting space will be open to all journalists from the Northern region, the rest of Morocco, or the Mediterranean rim, and should benefit from a participatory management involving people in the profession.

Furthermore, Mr. Echaâbi noted that the opening of regional directorates of the Ministry of Communication aims to implement government policy in the media field at the regional level and to accompany press, audiovisual, and cinema professionals within the framework of decentralisation and in perspective of advanced regionalisation.

The Tangier-Tétouan directorate is part of the branches created recently for this purpose in 10 regions of the Kingdom, he made known, expressing the regional directorate's willingness to work with all media actors with a view to finding solutions to the various problems and accompanying professionals in the implementation of their projects.

The goal is to ensure regional management of the sector in order to improve the services of the Department of Communication, whether in terms of subsidising local press companies, streamlining procedures for obtaining press cards, bringing institutional information and ministry services closer, and supporting the local press through financing and continuous training in information techniques and new developments in the media world.

The electronic press is not left out in this vision, affirmed Mr. Echaâbi, noting that the department has a great interest in the strengthening and organisation of this media genre, with a view to its professionalisation.

On the other hand, the regional director highlighted the important place of the Tangier-Tétouan region in the national media landscape, the North having seen the birth of pioneering experiences whether in the written press, radio, or television, affirming that Tangier is promised an even more important media future given its position as the second economic hub of Morocco and the locomotive of development for the entire North.

Among the five regional newspapers subsidised by the State, four are located in the Northern region, he made known, adding that the ministry's objective is to cooperate and work in close collaboration with professionals to overcome the problems and dysfunctions of the sector, particularly of a financial and training nature.

The regional directorate also has the mission of accompanying and supporting local cinema professionals through the accompaniment of the regional cinematographic landscape, notably through the bringing closer of information and the decentralisation of administrative procedures.

In this regard, Mr. Chaâbi stressed that the problem of cinema closures that the region is experiencing is present throughout Morocco, highlighting the successful experience of the Tangier Cinematheque, which constitutes an example to follow in terms of rehabilitating cinemas and transforming them into multifunctional cultural spaces focused on the 7th art.