Rachid Nini: Between his Supporters and Opponents

Many things have been said about him, and several persons wrote about him in newspapers, magazines and online forums. He has been seen as a phenomenon in the field of journalism in Morocco, as his talent has been noticed since the very beginning of his career, and his writings now are recognized all around the Arab world. Yet, the Moroccan popular columnist, Rachid Nini, is still considered to be a big question mark in Morocco.

In February 2008, Nini was assaulted with knives from behind in the Rabat train station, without knowing up to now how was behind that. On October 30, 2008 Almassae was sentenced a fine of 6 millions MAD (600.000 euros) after a column by Nini in which he has introduced a private ceremony as a homosexual marriage, after which Almassae will apologize. This last event led several journalist in the editorial team of Almassae, notably Ali Anouzla and Toufik Bouachrine to withdraw from Almassae and set up their own newspapers Aljarida Al-Oula, by Anouzla and Akhbar Al-Youm, by Bouachrine.

Last week eight journalists were called by the police for a probe after publishing stories that shed light on the health of King Mohammed VI. Idriss Chahtan, the publishing director of the weekly Al-Michaal, Nour Eddine Miftah, the publishing director of the weekly Al-Ayam, Ali Anouzla of the daily Aljarida Al-Oula in addition to five other journalists. The stories published by these journalists have been described as being groundless since they rely on anonymous sources that contradict the official press release published by the Ministry of Royal Household, Protocol and Chancellery, which was signed by Abdelaziz Maouni, the personal doctor of the king, saying that the sovereign will be convalescing for five days from a rotavirus infection, along with digestive signs and acute dehydration, and  insisting that the monarch’s health condition was not worrying.

After this event, Rachid Nini has addressed his colleagues in his daily column "Shuf Tshoof", (in Arabic: (شوف تشوف saying: «You journalists, no one understands what you want; if the palace decides to keep the health of the King confidential, that’s a disaster, and if the palace decides to make the King’s health a public concern, that are two disasters». Pointing out that highlighting the king’s illness by the press was characterized by a kind of hype and inflates.

Straightaway after his column, Nini has been attacked by Hespress, a pioneering Arabic-speaking e-paper, that posted an article on September 09, 2009 titled: "Rachid Nini: from asking the king’s sympathy to services delivery", in which Hespress accuses Nini of asking the government’s sympathy so as to remain silent of the fine handed down against him. The article was extremely debatable to the extent that it has received more than 220 comments; some of them were even longer then the article itself. Some of the commentator see that Nini’s editorial line has been changed after he was sentenced the fine of 6 million MAD, some see that his writings are only for the sake of money, some think that he is seeking a high rank position within the government, others believe that he defends the sanctities of the nation, religion and language, yet the great majority have been defending Nini as a journalist who belongs to the people and who expresses their concerns and expectations. 

Just after less than one day and following the voluminous comments, Nini was the subject of an opinion poll organized by Hespress. The question poll was "to whom Rachid Nini provides services?" and voters had to choose one of the three possible answers namely: to the nation, to money or to the government. The number of voters has reached 6272. The majority of them, that is; 3699 voters with an average of 59 pc see that Nini provides services to the nation. The second category has reached 1854 voters with an average of 29,6 pc which see that Nini provides services for money, and the last category which sees that Nini provides services to the government was 719 voters, with an average of 11,5 pc.

However, in response to Hespress’ attack, in his daily column that was published last Sunday, Nini considered what has been published by Hespress and other online forum to be a fierce and an aggressive campaign against him saying: "My biggest crime is that I haven’t held the slogan «support your brother either he’s right or wrong», to stand by fellow journalists who are sued on the light of what they have published about the king’s health, based on the Internet as one source.