Telquel

Telquel in a French-language weekly general information magazine created in 2001 by journalist Ahmed Réda Benchemsi. It is edited by the company Telquel Media, owned by Hariry and his spouse. Aicha Akalay is its current Director of publication. Telquel has built an online presence through its French and Arabic language versions, telquel.ma.

At the time of its creation, this ambitious project was supported by fifteen investors with ties to the business world. One of the figureheads of group of investors was Jean-Louis Servan Schreiber, French journalist and Benchemsi’s former mentor at La Vie Ecomomique where he started working as a journalist before founding Telquel.

Telquel’s creation coincided with the early years of current king Mohamed VI’s reign. It was one of the rare outlets representing the independent press that created quality content.It editorial line stood out in the print media landscape not only because of its criticism of the political power but also because of its assertively progressive view on societal issues, most of which were taboos in the country. This editorial line was summarised in the magazine’s slogan: ‘Morocco as it is’ [Le Maroc tel qu’il est].

Since 2003, a number of lawsuits were brought against this outlet because of its investigative reporting deemed bothersome for the power in place. In 2006, Telquel launched Nichane, its Moroccan-language (darija) version. Nichane was quicky abandoned and boycotted by advertisers as well as vehemently attacked by the conservative public opinion, which led to its disappearance.

In 2009, Telquel published a poll, in partnership with the French newspaper Le Monde, to test the popularity of king Mohammed VI. This triggered the regime’s anger and thus followed the censorship of the issue, with all of its copies seized before leaving the printing plant.

Seasoned journalists and editorialists such as Driss Ksikès, Karim Boukhari, Fahd Iraqi and Abdallah Tourabi have in turn led Telquel editorial team.

2010 was a turning point for Telquel and its editing company called Presse Directe at the time. In fact, its founder, Ahmed Reda Benchemsi left for the United States - where he currently is the Advocacy and Communications Director for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division - as well as most of the first investors that had joined the project at the time of its creation.