Last minute: Al Jazeera banned in Morocco

The Moroccan communications ministry has said its has suspended the operations of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television news channel in Rabat and withdrawn the accreditations of its staff, AFP has reported. The move followed "numerous failures in (following) the rules of serious and responsible journalism," the ministry said. The authorities took exception 'to the way Al-Jazeera handles the issues of Islamists and Western Sahara', a government official who declined to be named was quoted as saying.

Morocco's Amazight channel

Morocco announced that a new government owned channel will start broadcasting within the first nine months. The channel will be named the "National Amazight TV" .

The budget announced for the channel is relatively low, as Moroccoan communications minister announced that it will equal 4.5MEuros over 4 years!!!! That's probably enough to pay a dozen of employees, but shows that programming quality will be very week (a minimal yearly budget for a "respectable" channel stands at around $15M)

PS: Amazight is one of the languages of the "Berber" tribes mainly present in Morocco and Algeria.