Saturday, October 2, 2010

On dead magazines..

So Nichane is dead? Big deal.
Sorry I'm not going to join the cohorts of sympathizers lamenting its ending business as if it were martyrdom. OK, Nichane marketed itself as anti-establishment, titillating the Makhzen, incidentally not going far enough where it mattered to me time and again, and spreading far too much space to trivialities sometimes, justifiably so they can sell paper. Yeah, not completely a fan, I admit. But they must have been irritating enough in Nichane to get reactions.
So, it succumbed because its opponents changed (finally) strategy from outright seizing copies and harassment, to the more subtle judicial and economic harassment, and apparently it works. I respect smart moves, objectionable or not, though I'm told these techniques were perfected in places like Singapore, and Tunisia has been an early adopter, so it's hardly innovative. What's Nichane's people are going to do next is what I would like to know. Another Magazine, a website, individual or collective blogs?
What bothering me though is the whining. Not Nichane's people, but some people commenting on this bit of news here and there. It's irritating, I want to tell them it's hardly a surprise, if it's nothing else, it's an acknowledgement of Nichane's voice. I want to tell them to suck it up and focus on what's next, but that's irrelevant because, strangely, Nichane's people are not the one whining, and that's forcing respect.
On the other hand, the other "independent" Arabic press is engaged in an entertaining, though pathetic, catfight complete with figurative slapping, scratching, hair-pulling, and shirt-shredding over failed mergers and acquisitions.
Anyone still wonders why newspapers don't sell in this blessed country?

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