Soutenance de Thèse de Doctorat en "Information and Communication Sciences" par M. Anoire EL ATTARI

The Euromed University of Fes (UEMF) is pleased to inform the public of

the doctoral thesis defense in ” Information and Communication Sciences ”

The thesis defense will take place on July 24, 2025 at 09:00 a.m. at l’UEMF

Location: The Great Hall of the Incubator (LOC001994)

The thesis will be presented by M. Anoire EL ATTARI

under the theme :

“ COMMUNICATING IN TIMES OF CRISIS: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COVID-19 COVERAGE IN MOROCCO ”

Summary

The Covid-19 is a phenomenon that deeply influenced our era. Set apart by high rates of infections and mortality, this crisis, was at the center of public debate. All stakeholder, governmental authorities, international organizations, scientific communities, media and public engaged in a combat against an invisible and life-threatening enemy. In a post-crisis context, this research aims to understand form a retrospective perspective the mechanisms of influence of Moroccan media in times of crisis. The interest towards this subject emanates from the necessity of understanding Moroccan journalist’s adaptation strategies to the Covid-19 challenges as well as exploring the influence of the media coverage on public’s perceptions and preventive behaviors.

To achieve these goals, this research adopts a mix research methodology consisting in both a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The former consists in a thematic analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews examining how media outlets experienced and reacted to the challenges related of Covid-19. The latter on the other hand involves a statistical analysis of data collected out of 562 participants through a large-scale questionnaire. This survey aimed to evaluate the public’s perceptions in terms of satisfaction, trust and media credibility.

The results of this study emphasize on the specific challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic on Moroccan journalism practices, such as information management, fact-cheking in a context of large-scale dissemination of misinformation and adaptations to traveling restrictive orders. Journalists expressed an increased awareness of their role as mediators of reliable information during the crisis, highlighting the tension between the speed of coverage and the accuracy of information. Additionally, the correlation and regression analyses confirmed multiple hypotheses such as the impact of traditional and digital media consumption on the preventive behaviors during the crisis.

The complementarity between the results of this study allowed the evaluation of media coverage in terms of strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats offering a comprehensive overview on both media outlets and public’s perceptions. Based on that, the wording of theoretical and practical implications destined for journalism practices in times of crisis, communication policies for public heath, traditional and digital media literacy and the utility of new technologies in addressing public’s concerns about fakenews and misinformation have been discussed allowing evidence based recommendations for future emergency and high calamity situations.

This thesis will be presented to the jury members:

Full name	Grade	Institution	Quality
Prof. Abdelhak AZZOUZI	Full Professor	Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University	Jury Chair
Prof. Zoubida NEGGAZ	Full Professor	Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University	Reviewer
Prof. Abdellah ROMLI	Full Professor	Ibn Tofail University	Reviewer
Prof. Ahmed OUAZZANI	Full Professor	Ibn Tofail University	Reviewer
Prof. Atmane BISSANI	Full Professor	Moulay Ismail University	Examiner
Prof. Khalid RIZK	Full Professor	Ibn Tofail University	Examiner
Prof. Abderrahman TENKOUL	Full Professor	UEMF	Thesis Director