Establishment of Institutional Mechanisms for Media Professionals to Cover Security Operations (DGSN)

The National Police (DGSN) said that institutional, central and regional mechanisms were established and made available to professionals in the media sector to organize media coverage of security operations, and more particularly those included in the framework of the application of the state of health emergency. These mechanisms, put in place with regard to the particularities of the functions of the National Police services in public areas and in order to preserve the rights and freedoms of citizens and policemen, made it possible to interact actively with all requests for media coverage from national and international media establishments, the DGSN said in a press release. The DGSN, which sees to it to facilitating the missions of media outlets to cover and film security interventions in public areas, affirms that this operation is governed by an administrative procedure which imperatively requires prior coordination with the prefectural communication units, in order to guarantee compliance with legal and ethical regulations governing police and journalistic work. The DGSN indicated that it has reacted, with seriousness and positivity, to the content of a press release published by the Moroccan press union on the ins and outs relating to the filming by a journalist of a police agent while on duty, within the framework of the application of the state of health emergency in Casablanca. The DGSN services conducted, during the state of health emergency, security control operations of the movements of citizens, said the press release, adding that during the exercise of this role, policemen are responsible for the physical integrity of citizens and their rights and freedoms guaranteed by law, namely the right to the protection of personal data and the preservation of their photos and identities against any publication or dissemination without their consent.