Société nationale de radiodiffusion et de télévision (SNRT)

The Société nationale de radiodiffusion et de télévision (SNRT) is Morocco’s national public broadcasting corporation, the successor to Radiodiffusion Télévision Marocaine (RTM), whose radio operations trace back to 1928 and whose television service began in 1962. SNRT operates Morocco’s principal state television and radio services, including national television channels, national and thematic radio stations, regional radio services, digital news platforms and streaming services. In 2024, it launched Forja, a free video-on-demand platform dedicated to Moroccan-produced films, series, animation, theatre and documentaries in Arabic and French.

Since 2021, SNRT has been the centrepiece of a government project to consolidate Morocco’s public-service and state-linked broadcasters into a single public audiovisual holding under SNRT’s direction. The acquisition phase advanced significantly in 2024 and 2025. In January 2025, SNRT’s president-director general, Faïçal Laraïchi, announced that the process had reached the stage of acquiring Medi1 Radio, Medi1 TV and Régie3, and that SNRT would hold 100% of SOREAD 2M and Medi1 TV and 83.6% of Medi1 Radio and Régie3. The formal legal and contractual architecture of the “Media Holding Public,” including the programme contract required under Law No. 77-03, was still being finalised, so 2M and the other entities continued to retain separate legal and editorial identities pending full integration. In the State Media Monitor database, 2M is treated as part of SNRT’s portfolio for the purposes of ownership mapping, while its separate profile can be merged into SNRT once the holding structure is fully formalised.

Media assets

Television and digital video: Al Aoula, Laâyoune TV, Arryadia, Athaqafia, Al Maghribia, Assadissa, Tamazight TV; 2M and Medi1 TV as entities brought under the SNRT-led public audiovisual consolidation.

Radio: Al Idaa Al Watania, Chaîne Inter, Al Idaa Al Amazighia and Radio Mohammed VI du Saint Coran; Medi1 Radio as a majority-held entity under the consolidation.

Regional radio: SNRT regional services including Agadir, Al Hoceima, Casablanca / Casa FM, Dakhla, Fez, Laâyoune, Marrakech, Meknes, Oujda, Tangier and Tetouan.

Digital: SNRTNews; SNRT Live; Forja streaming platform; official web, replay, live and social-video services.

Ownership and governance

SNRT is fully owned by the Moroccan state and operates under the authority of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, in accordance with Law No. 77-03 on audiovisual communication. The law transformed RTM into SNRT as a Moroccan public limited company whose capital is entirely held by the state. The broadcaster is therefore legally corporatised but publicly owned.

SNRT’s governance is dominated by the state. It is overseen through an administrative council and led by a président-directeur général appointed through the executive/state appointment system. Faïçal Laraïchi has headed SNRT for many years and remained PDG as of mid-2026, overseeing the public-audiovisual consolidation.

The consolidation has concentrated control of Morocco’s principal public and formerly part-private broadcasters under a single state-owned parent. The 2024/25 acquisition process brought SOREAD 2M, Medi1 TV, Medi1 Radio and Régie3 into the SNRT-led public media perimeter. Laraïchi has publicly stated that the integration is intended to pool technical, satellite, production, training and broadcasting resources and reduce costs, while preserving each channel’s editorial identity. In practice, bringing the major broadcasters under one state-owned holding further concentrates the state’s position in the sector.

Source of funding and budget

SNRT is funded through a mix of direct state subsidies, commercial advertising revenue and dedicated public-audiovisual financing mechanisms, including the Tax for the Promotion of the National Audiovisual Space (TPPAN) and the state-managed audiovisual-promotion fund. State subsidies have historically provided the largest share of the broadcaster’s resources. Earlier public financial reviews reported an operating budget of around MAD 1.6bn in 2019, with roughly two-thirds coming from direct state subsidy, and a 2020 funding mix including direct state subsidies, TPPAN revenue and audiovisual-promotion funds.

As the acquired entities are absorbed into the SNRT-led public audiovisual holding, their revenues, costs and funding obligations are expected to be folded into the consolidated public-media framework. Funding arrangements under the holding are to be set out in a programme contract with the Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of Finance, as required by Law No. 77-03. Detailed current consolidated accounts for the post-acquisition structure were not publicly available as of mid-2026.

Editorial independence

Although the transition from RTM to SNRT was framed as a step toward a more autonomous public-service broadcaster, little has changed in practice. SNRT is widely regarded as a government-aligned state broadcaster, avoiding criticism of state authorities and sensitive political actors. This reflects both direct political control through state ownership and executive appointment of leadership, and a broader climate of self-censorship across Moroccan media. Legal exposure, regulatory pressure and informal warnings remain common, and SNRT journalists tend toward caution even when the political climate would allow more latitude.

SNRT maintains an ethical charter and an internal rulebook, but these do not provide a substantive guarantee of editorial independence. The broadcaster operates an internal mediator’s office to handle audience complaints, but the mediator is appointed by and reports within the SNRT hierarchy, limiting the office’s capacity to function as an independent ombudsman. The consolidation does not introduce any statutory safeguard for editorial autonomy at SNRT or at the entities it has absorbed. SMM’s separate assessment of 2M has found that self-censorship remains entrenched and, if anything, has deepened since the SNRT acquisition process.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that SNRT has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026.

SNRT has, however, begun deploying artificial intelligence in its digital news output. In September 2025, it launched an AI-powered news section on SNRTnews, presented as Morocco’s first such section. Public reporting described the initiative as part of SNRT’s digital-transformation strategy, using AI technologies for content production, editing, news categorisation, rapid verification, AI-written articles and news reports, with human oversight intended to ensure accuracy and credibility.

SNRT’s broader digital development has centred on SNRTNews, SNRT Live, replay services and Forja, its free VOD platform for Moroccan-produced audiovisual content. These developments show significant digital expansion and early AI use in news production. However, SNRT has not published a public framework governing AI use in editorial decision-making, verification, attribution, recommendation systems, audience analytics, synthetic-media labelling, content disclosure, bias mitigation or human editorial oversight.

Classification rationale

SNRT is classified as State-Controlled (SC), a classification maintained from prior SMM cycles and unchanged for 2026. It is wholly owned by the Moroccan state, operates under the supervising ministry and Law No. 77-03, and is led by a PDG appointed through the executive/state appointment system. Its governance is dominated by state representatives, its funding is predominantly drawn from public resources, and its editorial output consistently aligns with government priorities, with no statutory or independent oversight safeguard for editorial autonomy.

The 2024-26 consolidation, which brought 2M, Medi1 TV, Medi1 Radio and Régie3 into the SNRT-led public audiovisual perimeter, reinforces rather than alters these determinants of control. It concentrates the principal Moroccan broadcasters under a single state-owned holding while leaving the mechanisms of state control intact. SNRT therefore remains firmly in the SC category.

June 2026