In the same week as we heard the death rattle of serious journalism when Nichane announced it was shutting down under State pressure, the United States Army's website on North Africa, Magharebia, ran a puff piece on teaching Moroccan youth how to use social media to effect change. This would seem to be a little bit like conducting a course on teaching fish to swim, but a number of the participants seem to have enjoyed the course, at least. Mind you, I have nothing against social media: my face is on Facebook, I tweet on Twitter, and I link on LinkedIn. But I do have a few reservations about its efficacy as a medium of social change.
As I see it, the real reason that social media, including most blogs, is not likely to be taken seriously is that it is not backed by the power and resources to conduct serious investigations. Although the press has a spotty record on the use of its investigative powers, the best publications, at least, were willing and able to pay a few people to work days, sometimes weeks, on investigating important stories with the potential to uncover genuine wrongdoing even if it meant offending powerful interests. The paradigm for thirty years, of course, has been the Watergate coverage of Woodward and Bernstein, widely credited with the toppling of a crooked American president. It is an open question whether that kind of investigation could be successfully undertaken in America today, much less in Morocco, but even as it becomes a conservative shell of its former self, the Post is still willing to take on major interests such as the American national security apparatus. And when senior bureaucrats at a major government agency spend eight hours a day downloading pornography on the taxpayer's dollar, at least it gets reported. And most of the time, it is the relics of the Old Media that break the story, not "social media," which by and large provides thoughtful commentary at its best and idle chatter at its worst. This is a natural result of the fact that most bloggers have neither the training, the budget, or the institutional backing to conduct serious independent investigations, although there are a few courageous bloggers who find themselves in dangerous circumstances that allow them to provide breaking news.
I have admittedly a rather shallow understanding of the Moroccan press, but I have a much better, albeit dated, understanding of the Moroccan educational system. If I had a chance to provide educational opportunities for Moroccan youth in order to promote the better dissemination of information, I would be teaching investigative techniques -- cultivating sources and obtaining documents while (hopefully) staying out of jail -- rather than "social media." With a more expansive opportunity, I would try to provide the students with analytical tools by increasing their knowledge of history, economics, and statistics. Any fool can write, but to really understand what one is talking about requires some serious education.
