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The Journal of North African Studies
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fnas20
Citizen journalism in Morocco: the case of fact-
checkers
Hamza Bailla & Mohammed Yachoulti
To cite this article: Hamza Bailla & Mohammed Yachoulti (2020): Citizen journalism
in Morocco: the case of fact-checkers, The Journal of North African Studies, DOI:
10.1080/13629387.2020.1814749
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2020.1814749
Published online: 17 Sep 2020.
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Citizen journalism in Morocco: the case of
fact-checkers
Hamza Bailla and Mohammed Yachoulti
Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Moulay Ismail University of
Meknès, Meknès, Morocco
ABSTRACT
Social networks are becoming a site of unprecedented diffusion of fake news
and misinformation in Morocco. This fact does not only affect people as
individuals but also undermines social order and cohesion in general. To fight
back, a number of journalists and researchers have engaged in fact-checking
processes to verify claims and information. In this regard, this study considers
fact-checking as an emerging journalistic brand that has the potential to
promote healthier public debate in the contemporary media environment in
Morocco. For this reason, a qualitative approach is adopted to explore the
nature of a group of Moroccan online fact checkers to understand their
motivations, practices, process of production, and the impact they have made
in the public sphere. The significance of this research resides in the fact that it
tracks a trend in Moroccan media landscape and investigates its importance
in creating communities of interest. Also, exploring this new online trend will
help in providing a different perspective on the richness and diversity of
content, and change how people think about the online media environment
in Morocco.
KEYWORDS Citizen journalism; fact-checking; fact-checkers; online journalism; Morocco; social networks
Introduction
Fake news has become a serious issue, rated by Americans as larger than
racism, climate change, or terrorism (Pew Research Center 2019). It is
causing people to consume less information and is also accelerating the
process of polarisation (Pew Research Center 2019). What makes the situation
worse is that the field of journalism is facing diverse existential crises. These
include financial burdens, lack of trust, and most importantly, constant
attacks from politicians and decision-makers. For example, US President
Donald Trump has based his electoral campaign on attacking the mainstream
media. He even went so far as to describe the media as ‘the enemy of the
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
CONTACT Mohammed Yachoulti m.yachoulti@umi.ac.ma; yachoulti.mohammed@yahoo.com
Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Moulay Ismail University of Meknès,
B.P. 11202 Zitoune, Meknès, Morocco
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES
https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2020.1814749
people’and called any opposing views as ‘fake news’. Donald Trump’s rhetoric
is not a unique example; instead, he exemplifies a symptom of complex
internal and external deficiencies that have made the public trust in journal-
ism all over the world significantly low. Indeed, this change has jeopardised its
noble role as a fourth estate and trivialised values like accuracy, objectivity,
and a separation between facts and opinions.
Within this context, fact-checking has emerged as a response to the
growing threat of misinformation, and the eagerness of professional journal-
ists to reclaim the importance of journalism to accurately inform the public in
moments of electoral campaigns and to double-check politicians statements
(Graves, Nyhan, and Reifler 2016). In Morocco, however, fact-checking has ori-
ginated in a different context and has been pioneered by a group of young
citizens whose focus is forming free and independent online communities.
In other words, in analysing the situation of media in Morocco, many
studies and reports have emphasised the growing role of citizen journalists
on social networks as a revival of the watchdog function (Bouziane and Ibahr-
ine 2011), because they have provided breaking news in several occasions
and allowed alternative voices to be diffused and heard online.
Although Moroccan fact-checkers, as a new type of young journalists, may
lack professionalism and formal affiliation, they are producing organised infor-
mative content to the public about a large variety of sensitive issues. Their
objective is to verify claims and information in the Moroccan media land-
scape. Examples like the Aji Tafham (Let’s Understand) YouTube channel,
Najib Mokhtari’s channel, and Othmane Safsafi’s channel have managed to
attract a total of more than 900,000 subscribers and millions of viewers –
and they have stirred reactions from all fractions of the Moroccan society.
1
Given the lack if not the absence of literature or studies on the specificities
and practices of these fact-checkers and on this trend of emerging journalism
in Morocco, this research attempts to explore how fact-checking YouTube
channels work and operate in Morocco, their production process, and their
contribution to the creation of a digital public sphere in Morocco. Put differ-
ently, the purpose of this case study is to explore the motivations, the creative
process, the influence and the practices of this wave of online fact-checking
from the perspective of Najib Mokhtari, Othmane Safsafi, and Mustapha
Fekkak as the most prominent fact-checkers in Morocco. By exploring the
experience of this group of fact-checkers and their approach, the study
offers original insights to researchers, public relations practitioners, and
other stakeholders about this new trend in the Moroccan media landscape.
It will also contribute to filling in the gap within the literature about the
media production of content in the online environment and enrich the
ongoing global debate about misinformation by bringing up a local perspec-
tive on this problem.
2H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
To this end, in addition to an introduction and a conclusion, this research is
divided into four main sections. The first section is a review of literature. It
reviews how citizen journalism and fact-checking emerged as two outstand-
ing forms or types of media activism in Morocco. The aim is to deeply under-
stand the situation of the media industry in the Moroccan context. However,
this will be done after tracing the development of fact-checking and citizen
journalism as two new forms of emerging journalism and media activism.
The objective is to clarify their meaning, understand their process of operation
and comprehend the areas of their intersection. The second section discusses
the research methodology adopted in this study. The target is to reveal the
research approach, and research design implemented, identify the target
population and discuss how the data have been collected and analysed.
The third and fourth sections respectively analyse and discuss the data
collected.
Review of the literature
The dominance of online sources of information has shaped the global and
the local media industry. The widespread use of internet in Morocco has
made access to information more affordable to a large portion of the
society. Although there are similarities between the global and the local con-
texts, the Moroccan media landscape has different structures that are going to
be explained in detail. In this section, the aim is to provide a general account
of the media landscape in Morocco and track the development of fact-check-
ing trend and citizen journalism and as two forms of emerging journalism and
media activism. However, this will be done after clarifying the two concepts.
Fact-checking trend
Fact-checking may be defined as ‘the assignment of a truth value to a claim
made in a particular context’(Mihaylova et al. 2018). In other words, it is a
modern, distinguishable category of journalism whose goal is to provide accu-
rate and unbiased analysis of statements and narratives made in public and
correct misperceptions. Still, the task of a fact-checker is not that clear or
simple as this definition suggests. It is indeed becoming a respected brand
of journalism as it is driven mainly by professional values to restore the demo-
cratic role of journalism.
This new trend of fact-checking news and political claims is becoming
prevalent all over the world. It is becoming a movement, which challenges
not only the political elite but also journalism itself (Graves, Nyhan, and
Reifler 2016). It started as a temporary activity during US electoral campaigns,
and moved to be a permanent part in the American media coverage by the
Washington Post, Factcheck.org, and Politifact. This new media product has
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 3
made these organisations more visible and recognised by major journalism
awards (Graves, Nyhan, and Reifler 2016).
Given the fact that the fact-checking trend was born during the 2007 US
elections, it is safe concluding that it is meant to protect democracy from
the oversupply of misinformation of the competing parties during heated
the electoral campaigns. This tradition has its roots in the process of selecting
claims and statements for fact-checking, as fact-checkers prioritise factual
statements of people in power and decision making. FactCheck.org states
clearly on its methodology page ‘Our topics vary slightly depending on the
election cycle’(FactCheck 2020).
Though stories influencing elections are often prioritised, fact-checking is
expanding the range of topics covered, as they become a permanent com-
ponent of the media environment. Politifact is developing its fact-checked
content to debunk misleading misinformation in a broad spectrum of subjects
like science and economics. The general rule for Politifact is to ask several
questions to select a story ‘Is the statement significant? Is the statement
likely to be passed on and repeated by others? Would a typical person hear
or read the statement and wonder: Is that true?’(Angie 2018).
As for the process of research, there is no agreed procedure to follow by
fact-checkers. However, Politifacts has developed seven steps to verify the
veracity of content after selecting it:
(1) Ask the person making the claim for evidence (2) Look for what other fact-
checkers have found before you. (3) Do a Google search? (4) Search the Deep
Web. (5) Look for experts with different perspectives. (6) Check out some
books. (7) Anything else? [to take some time to ask if something is missing].
(Angie 2014)
The reasons and motivations of fact-checking are many. The first main
reason is its early adoption by leading journalistic organisations like the
New York Times, as the standard-bearers, and the defenders of the core-
role of professional journalists in providing the public with accurate infor-
mation (Graves, Nyhan, and Reifler 2016). So to speak, fact-checking is a
more pro-active process that takes a reporter and a news organisation
beyond describing events to digging and verifying facts. The audience
growing demand for truth and transparency is another sound reason for
the rise of fact-checking as a new media product. Accordingly, Graves,
Nyhan, and Reifler (2016) suggest that the history of journalism has been
shaped by the preference of ‘soft news’by a large portion of the public at
the expense of ‘hard news’. He conducted a randomised field experiment
during the 2014 US congress elections to evaluate the effect of professional
recognition given to fact-checking and the public demand. The study
included 34 newspapers and 1346 journalists and revealed that professional
values and journalists’status concerns are the primary drivers for the fact-
4H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
checking trend. Also, fact-checking is crucial in healthy democracies ‘because
of its theoretical potential to hold elites accountable and keep the national
debate grounded in shared facts’(Pingree et al. 2018, 3). It can ‘correct misper-
ceptions and create reputational costs for elites who make false claims’
(Pingree et al. 2018, 1). Besides, fact-checking, as a new trend and approach
of new journalism, helps and contributes to raising awareness against per-
spective biases innate to individuals. Strictly speaking, thanks to with the
efforts invested in the process of checking facts, individuals remain alert
and skeptical and therefore vaccinated against surrendering their reality to
others. More than this, fact-checking, as a process of investigation, has
recently been adopted by social networks algorithms to curb misinformation.
By way of explanation, since the 2016 US presidential elections, Facebook has
engaged in partnerships and collaborations with some fact-checkers all over
the world to check fake news (Facebook 2019). The system, in theory, works as
follows: when users report content as false, Facebook passes it on to indepen-
dent fact-checkers for further checks to give their feedback. If the fact-check-
ers judge and confirm the content as false, Facebook’s algorithm limits the
sharing of this content to prevent it from spreading in the network.
By the same token, despite the lack of transparency from Facebook about
the effectiveness of this project and the methodological challenges and the
various definitions of what is meant by fake news, many independent
research studies have demonstrated that this policy might be working to
reduce the overall flow of misinformation. A good example in this regard is
the study conducted by Hunt Allcott from New York University in collabor-
ation with Matthew Gentzkow Chuan Yu from Stanford University and pub-
lished in 2018. The study followed the activities of 673 fake news sites and
discovered a 50 per cent drop of articles from ‘Fake news’sites in the Face-
book platform after applying the policy following the election (Allcott, Gen-
tzkow, and Chuan 2018).
Notwithstanding all the voices praising this practice of fact-checking as a
new transparent journalism, and even calling it the new democratic insti-
tution, there are legitimate criticism to consider when it comes to the
concept of fact itself, or at least, as fact-checkers try to promote it. Accordingly,
Uscinski and Butler (2013) cite several methodological criticisms. To begin
with, the selection affects directly the content of fact-checkers, and the
choice of what to check is subject to the biases and the ideology of the
fact-checkers (Uscinski and Butler 2013). In this sense, fact-checking is
subject to the gatekeeping effect alike other types of journalism. Also, as
maintained by Uscinski and Bulter, the main problem of the contemporary
fact-checkers is the binary opposition between a fact and a lie, and the
difficulty or even the impossibility to verify certain political claims. This is
due to many reasons: First, using the terminology of true, false, mostly true,
or other expressions to assess political claims is not accurate. Second, fact-
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 5
checkers often check political claims about policies and their future impact,
which is subject to different variables that need more scientific research.
Third, the strategy to divide political statements into fragments and rate it
is ambiguous because giving an overall rating of ‘mostly true’gives the audi-
ence the impression that all the claims are true (Uscinski and Butler 2013).
Regardless of the critics of fact-checking as a new practice in journalism, it
is worth noting that it allows the use of facts as a ‘symbolic power or capital’
2
to counteract a political discourse or restore the pride and dignity of journal-
ism as a profession. That said, journalists’symbolic capital or power is based
on their honour, prestige or recognition, and serves as a value that they hold
within any media or journalistic context.
Citizen journalism
Just as traditional journalism has received due attention namely with respect
to its role in modern democracies, citizen journalism is also gaining attention
from researchers in different fields due to its undeniable important place in
the world media landscape and democracy promotion. However, if the wide-
spread use of new technologies makes it easier for most people to produce
and post content online, there is a tense debate about the democratic poten-
tial of this new production and content. In view of that, Sienkiewicz (2014)
calls for more control from professional journalists over citizen’s content,
and the need for different norms to understand citizen journalism content.
Citizen journalism has specific characteristics that make it different from
participatory journalism. In citizen Journalism, news is produced by citizens
without the help or involvement of professional journalists in any step. Parti-
cipatory journalism, however, includes citizens’participation in the process of
media production, but the whole process is subject to the control of pro-
fessional journalism (Abbott 2017). This implies that the content published
or broadcasted should fulfil and meet the professional journalistic practices
and the editorial line of the media institution.
Abbott (2017) points out the democratic potential of citizen journalism; he
explains how citizen journalists can motivate and strengthen civic society by
encouraging dialogue, engagement, and participation. Notably, there is
growing number of research about the role of citizen journalism and ‘user-
generated content’
3
on social media as a revival of the watchdog function
(Bouziane and Ibahrine 2011). Legitimate concerns are voiced with regards
to citizen journalism itself and its role in the rise of misinformation, low
quality content, ethical violation (El Issawi 2016), the failure to meet the stan-
dards of traditional journalism, and the difficulties to verify citizen content
(Sienkiewicz 2014).
Mostly, these conflicting judgments about citizen journalism production
are due to different approaches in framing the topic and the use of traditional
6H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
journalism standards as a frame of reference to assess citizen journalism prac-
tices (Abbott 2017). To illustrate, Sienkiewicz (2014) uses the case of material
published by citizen journalists during the last Syrian civil war to point out the
difficulties in verifying contradictory versions of the story in the context of
wars. Indeed, it is hard to avoid comparing citizen journalism with the tra-
ditional one. Abbott (2017) concludes after his evaluation of the literature
related to citizen journalism that researchers use professional journalism
norms and guidelines as a reference to any assessment of the role of
citizen journalism. On the other side of the line, Carpenter (2008) reports
that there are fundamental differences between traditional and citizen jour-
nalism. He explains that citizen journalists try to interpret the reality to their
public; they include their opinions, discuss how events affect the community
and interact more with their audience to know relevant topics. As for pro-
fessional journalists, he maintains that they rely heavily on routines and
press releases, and work in media organisations that tend to be ‘fountain of
information’.
All in all, the particularity of citizen journalism activities can be taken from a
social and civic engagement perspective to understand the true nature of
citizen journalists. The subsequent section provides brief notes on the
general context of the Moroccan media. The aim is to pave the ground to
how citizen journalism and fact-checking trends emerged in Moroccan
media landscape.
Notes on the development of the Moroccan media
The Economist Intelligence unit has described Morocco as a hybrid democ-
racy because its democratically elected institutions, under the new consti-
tution, are placed under the control and power reserved to the prime
minister (The Economist 2019). Yet, the state authoritarian practices are out
of sync with its claims of democratic transition. This analogy can also be
applied, to a large extent, to the Moroccan media landscape. At first glance,
it looks diverse, free, and informative, but it is deemed to operate within a
defined frame. In other words, despite the tangible improvements of the
freedom of speech in the last two decades, the state has developed many
legal and economic restrictions on the press and kept on many of the old
tactics of cracking down on a free press.
During the reign of Hassan II, there was a concrete shift in terms of the
content covered by local newspapers, from being very restricted to a status
of being open on sensitive topics about human rights violations (Bouziane
and Ibahrine 2011). Also, the 2011 constitution offered fundamental media
rights. For instance, Article 27 of the newly approved Constitution recognises
that ‘citizens have the right to access information held by the public admin-
istration, elected institutions, and public service bodies’. Nevertheless, the
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 7
gap between the principles of the constitution and the situation in practice
has always existed. Investigative journalism is subject to legal sanctions, exor-
bitant fines and economic boycotts (El Issawi 2016). In 2017 for instance,
human rights watch, the outspoken organisation specialised in Human
rights, criticised the Moroccan government reluctance to implement its inter-
national duties related to ensuring freedom of speech. In its 2017 report
entitled ‘The red lines stay red’, which is a conclusion of an investigation on
the new legal reforms of the new press code, Human Rights Watch revealed
that despite removing prison sentences from the new law and replacing it
with fines, the Moroccan Penal Code is still enforced to punish many journal-
ists of nonviolent speech offenses, and keep the three red lines of Islam, mon-
archy, and territorial integrity. In other words, despite the changes in the
strategy, the red lines are kept red. Also, Benchenna, Ksikes, and Marchetti
(2017) have concluded after interviewing the top management of a range
of Moroccan media companies the following:
Since the early 2000s, control is exerted less and less by direct censure and
increasingly via economic suffocation of publications following an editorial
line displeasing to the political authorities. Advertisers (state and private compa-
nies close to the authorities) are directed to boycott them and not to carry their
publicity campaigns. The leaderships of three newspapers [Journal Hebdoma-
daire, Al Jarida Al Oula and Nichane] are convinced that their publications ‘dis-
appeared’because of this type of economic control. (12)
In sum, understanding the general state of the Moroccan media landscape
is very important before analysing the emergence of citizen journalism in
Morocco. There is a legal framework set up to crack down on any challenge
of the established red lines that preserve the status quo and also a set of
other soft tools to economically punish media producers. Also, access to infor-
mation is restricted, even for professional journalists with a legal status,
let alone citizen journalists unrecognised by the law (Fatafta 2018).
The rise of online media/journalism
15th November 1995 is the official date of the release of internet in Morocco.
This worldwide network has moved swiftly from a tool accessible only for few
people to become one of the most powerful sources of information that
reached more than 25 million users in 2019 (National Telecommunications
Regulatory Agency (ANRT) 2019). Consequently, printed newspapers fall
down gradually, especially with the rise of online newspapers in 2006. The
overwhelming success of this new medium has a history with a combination
of global and local conditions.
The beginning of online newspaper or blogs reporting news started in
2000 by few educated Moroccan users. Their websites were mainly basic,
and were created with their own personal effort. The number of internet
8H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
users was below 400,000 (International Telecommunication Union 2002).
Added to this, the infrastructure and the cost of internet were not helping
to increase the number online users, a fact which reduced the interest of
investors to fund online newspaper. Western online newspapers, at that
time, however, were big companies with professional staff(The Moroccan
Ministery of Communication 2013).
Regardless of all these challenges, web news and blogs gained some popu-
larity and impact. In 2007 an anonymous activist, known as Traguist’s sniper,
uploaded several videos on YouTube of ‘Gendarmerie Royal’Agents receiving
bribes. These videos were widely shared and discussed by bloggers and
online newspapers, while traditional newspaper were shy to show even
images of the ‘Gendarmerie Royal’Agents, a fact which provoked public
outrage. Shortly after, Moroccan authorities reacted by pursuing the man
who posted the video because he, according to them, put all the legal and
democratic reforms at risk.
The period between 2007 and 2008 was the beginning of many online
newspapers as business firms with substantial financial support, professional
journalists, and a business plan. For instance, Menara.ma can be regarded as
one of the first online platforms to recruit journalists to run an online news-
paper due to the investment of Itissalat Almaghreb (Moroccan Telecom)
being the first telecoms company in the market (The Moroccan Ministery of
Communication 2013). This important move can be linked to two main
factors. First, there was the introduction of big online advertisement providers
like Google AdSense, which helps websites to earn money from readers’clicks
on ads. Second, internet users emerged as a considerable public with 33% of
Moroccans having access to internet.
After 2011, online newspapers have become a game-changer in the Mor-
occan media environment. It has grown rapidly in numbers, with a wide
reach of millions of readers. This unprecedented success is due primarily to
two reasons. The first one is the decision of many leading journalists to
create their online platforms, a fact which has benefited the credibility of
the new medium. The second is the courage and ability of these electronic
newspapers to offer in-depth coverage of the 20 February movement,
which led the Arab spring in Morocco, against the absence of the mainstream
media (The Moroccan Ministery of Communication 2013). In this context, Hes-
press
4
is a clear example of a successful story of an online newspaper, not only
in Morocco but also in North Africa and the Middle East. In 2017 for instance,
Hespress counted about 5 million visits a month (We are social 2018).
In addition to Hespress, another Moroccan independent online newspaper
named Le desk was founded in 2015 by Ali Amar as an upper-middle-class
source of information, fact–checking and investigation. It uses mainly
French and adheres to values of accuracy and journalistic standards.
Indeed, being the first of its kind in Morocco and because of its focus and
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 9
orientation, this online newspaper succeeded to get the support of the Euro-
pean programme Ebticar-Media which supports innovative media projects in
the Arab world (Reporters without borders 2016). An excellent example of its
investigative trend was the case of a group of minors, from the small rural
town of Sidi Kamel in the communal providence of Sidi Kacem, accused of
zoophilia in 2017.
5
Most printed and online newspapers shared the story
which sparked a tense debate on social networks. Nonetheless, thanks to its
fact-checking, Le desk found that the case was fabricated and baseless (Filali
2017). Still, worth noting in this regard is the fact that despite its tendency
to check facts and investigate issues and cases, Le desk remains a business
organisation whose purpose is profit. Added to this, it is an elite media plat-
form for a narrowed audience; it is mainly addressed to people who are
able to pay monthly subscriptions and use only French. Therefore, this
media institution, along with its work and business model, cannot be
equated with the work of Najib Mokhtari, Othmane Safsafi, Mustapha
Fekkak, and Marwan Alaouie Mharzi, as the main sample of the study.
These active fact-checkers, as will be seen in the results and discussion sec-
tions, have different motivations, production processes and target audience.
In brief, the emergence of online newspaper and news platforms in the
Moroccan media landscape can be regarded as a revolution, because it pro-
vides to citizens an affordable, fast, and easy way to get informed. Besides,
it has made the available content more diverse and dethroned the main-
stream media sources of news. In parallel to these new developments of Mor-
occan media landscape, there was another revolution taking place, where
citizens themselves started providing news and sharing them on a large
scale on social media. This will be the concern of subsequent subsection.
Citizen journalism in Morocco
The case of Traguist’s sniper, and the subsequent scandals and corruption
cases have resulted in a growing breach of trust between Moroccans and pol-
itical institutions in general. Until now, technological advancement in com-
munication technologies in the country has paved the way for citizen
journalism to set the news agenda. In the same way, social networks have pro-
vided breaking news in several occasions, reaching out more than 16 million
users (We are social 2018). This new form of journalism has become an
efficient tool in the latest Moroccan social movements, and empowerment
for marginalised communities despite legal restrictions from the authorities.
Many activists and non-government organisations regard citizen journal-
ism as a breakthrough to the political deadlock. Thus, the production of pol-
itical content by citizens has been encouraged as a tool to gain political
influence. In 2007 for instance, Daba association
6
and the Moroccan National
Democratic Institute organised workshops to train a number of activists to
10 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
function as online opinion leaders and to use micro-publishing to encourage
political participation (Bouziane and Ibahrine 2011). The purpose of these
workshops was to use citizen journalism to maximise the effect of political
actions by sharing protests online and pushing more people to join
demonstrations.
Citizen Journalism in Morocco has empowered many marginalised voices
in mainstream media. Anyone, theoretically speaking, having access to inter-
net can have a voice and can form an online community. By way of illustration,
in 2007 legislative elections, a group of young internet users launched Selwa-
ne.TV
7
–an online TV channel to promote all political parties views. This
includes parties calling for boycotting elections, which is a censored rhetoric
on mainstream media (Bouziane and Ibahrine 2011). Also, the decreasing cost
of the mobile phones and their dimension from the point of sharing materials
such as videos and photographs in addition to the rapid proliferation of the
internet and social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
has allowed citizen and activists to produce their content and therefore
inspire others to join in virtually (Ennaji 2016).
Still, it is a utopian idea to believe that citizen journalism in Morocco can
easily change the current situation of media censorship. There are many
constraints that limit the possibility of citizen journalism to have a demo-
cratic function. First, there are real restrictions of the freedom of speech
regardless of constitutional guarantees (Benchemsi 2012). Second, citizen
journalists are not recognised under the press code, so they have no
legal protection, and many of them were arrested (Freedom House 2017).
Third, access to information is very limited, and the new law has very
restricted condition to ask for information with a long bureaucratic
process. Fourth, even if technologically speaking one can post whatever
s/he wants, self-censorship remains a real issue (Benchemsi 2012). On the
other side, there are legitimate concerns about citizen journalism itself
and its role in the rise of misinformation, low quality content and more
ethical violations (El Issawi 2016), not to mention the failure to meet the
standards of traditional journalism and the difficulties to verify citizens’
content (Sienkiewicz 2014).
Unlike the global trend of fact-checkers that was driven by professional
values to restore trust in journalism.
8
Fact-checkers in Morocco are citizen
journalists who are not affiliated to any media corporations. They are a
limited number of Moroccan youth who produce organised informative
content to the public to offer background information about a large variety
of issues in a fact-checking style. Exploring this new trend in online content
will help in developing a different perspective about the richness of citizen
journalism content in Morocco and will change people’s perceptions on the
Moroccan media landscape.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 11
Methodology
As stated above, the primary purpose of this research is to explore the emer-
ging phenomenon of fact-checking in Morocco. The focus is on the fact-
checkers’system of production, their motivations and the production
process practices. Therefore, the research questions may be stated as
follows: (i) How do fact-checking YouTube channels work and operate in
Morocco (e.g. practices, environment, media economy etc.)? (ii) What is the
creative side in this emerging new form of content? (iii) To what extent do
social media networks contribute to the creation of a digital public sphere
in Morocco? Specifically, the paper focuses on the case Najib Mokhtari,
Othmane Safsafi, and Mustapha Fekkak as the most prominent and recog-
nised fact-checkers in Morocco. In other words, this research employs a
case study research design and relies on interviews, observations, and
recorded data as main instruments of collecting data. Indeed, the fact-check-
ing content on YouTube in Morocco is still rare or marginalised. Interviews
with the three activists were conducted by Hamza Bailla, the first author of
the paper, in the frame of his master thesis paper on citizen journalism in
Morocco. For the case of Najib Mokhtari, he accepted a recorded face to
face interview in Rabat. Othmane Safsafiwas not in Morocco at the
moment but accepted to have a face to face online interview for reasons of
convenience and then helped to get in touch with Mustapha Fekkak. The
most challenging problem is that several failed attempts were made to get
in touch with Fekkak. This necessitated travelling to Casablanca to meet
him during a political debate which he moderated. He then agreed to make
an online voice conversation; however, he has answered just the first three
questions because he was busy.
In addition to the technique of interviewing, the three fact-chekers were
tracked online, through their posts on YouTube and other recorded interviews
they have made. In this respect, the paper has also made use of a journalistic
interview with Mustapha Fakak. The interview was broadcasted on MedRadio
channel on 21 December 2018 through its weekly episode ‘Fi Kafass Itiham’(in
the dock) which invites influential Moroccan figures in politics, media, art, and
sport. The interview was very beneficial to get more data on his content and
activism.
The three interviews were generally conducted in Moroccan Arabic variety,
except for Najib Mokhtari, who was comfortable to use English. The interviews
involved unstructured open-ended questions and focused on issues like the
genre of work in their YouTube channels, their choices and priorities, their col-
laborations and partnerships, their sources of information, their interaction
with each other and with their audience and followers, their funding strat-
egies and objectivity in their work, their techniques or standards of work
and the degree of their independence Before each interview, the participants
12 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
were provided with a general idea of the research. The three interviewees
accepted being recorded using a digital recorder. The interviews were con-
ducted in convenient times and locations and were carried out by minimising
interruptions.
Because qualitative research requires interpretation of the data being col-
lected as qualitative interpretations are not inherent in the interview text but
are constructed by the researcher, the interviews were transcribed, translated
to English and then coded using ATLAS.ti sorftware, which is a powerful tool
to analyse qualitative data. It has provided the possibility to create codes, clas-
sify them into themes, and move across interviews and codes more efficiently
to compare responses.
Results
Based on the in-depth interviews conducted, the three YouTubers confirmed
that only four activists can be classified as fact-checkers in Morocco, and
explained that they have an easily distinguished style of separating
between facts and opinions, provide background factual information, and
are transparent about their sources. These four ones are Najib Mokhtari,
Othmane Safsafi, Mustapha Fekkak (nicknamed Swinga), and Marwan
Alaouie Mharzi. However, only the first three ones have been interviewed
and therefore included in this study. As for Marwan Alaouie Mharzi, despite
the researchers’attempts to contact him, he was unreachable.
Presentation of the three interviewees
Najib Mokhtari is a 37 years old Moroccan engineer who makes videos of
popular science, and critical thinking in Moroccan variety. His videos are
aimed to a broad public; they explain issues using scientific methods. Mokh-
tar’s Channel on Youtube has more than 140,000 subscribers. Mokhtari also
maintains a large community on the different social media platforms.
Othamane Safsafiis a Moroccan PhD student who makes videos about
popular science and critical thinking. His videos are known for criticising
what is called ‘scientific miracles in the Quran’.
9
In 2007, he produced a suc-
cessful video about the Moroccan satellite, explaining the scientific details
of this project to the public.
Mustapha Fekkak, known by Mustapha Swinga, is a 31 years old famous
YouTuber in Morocco. He is also an artist, producer, and manager of Accoustic
Company. He is famous by his YouTube channel Aji Tafham which explains
topics related to sensitive social political economic issues and problems. In
his videos, Mustapha Fekkak uses a mix of investigation and humour to illus-
trate his message. He reached nearly half a million subscribers on his Youtube
channel, and many of his videos transgress a million views.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 13
Production motivations of the interviewees
Motivation is a crucial element in understanding this group of fact-checkers
and the reasons of their existence. Fact-checkers in Morocco have both
shared and personal interest in the content they produce. They aim to
share content based on science, present topic in a more objective style,
and fill the gap in the Moroccan media landscape without considerable
financial incentives.
All three interviewees have demonstrated a particular interest and dedica-
tion to the videos they produce. For example, Najib Mokhtari says in the
interview:
I have a notebook which contains a list of topics I want to cover. I also include
notes in the margins. The production of the content depends on my free time,
and the relevance of the topic. For example, the issue of sleeping
10
came out
when people started to debate it. So I went to my notes, and I quickly put
together an episode. Second, it can be no event, I just have a topic in mind,
and I decide to talk about it whenever I have time for that.
As it can be deduced from this quote, the interest in the content is an impor-
tant drive to produce fact-checking content. Mokhtari establishes a list of
topics that are both common and personal. Also, most of his videos are
about popular science. The same thing applies to Othmane Safsafi. In this
regard, he says:
…it depends on my mood, but generally it changes according to the time when
I have a video that I really like and I want to share with people, even when I know
that the topic is a little bit complicated, or a subject that won’t please everyone,
something that I like myself and I want to share it with people ….
For both fact-checkers Safsafiand Mokhtari, the personal interest is the
primary engine to make content based on a determined limited niche that
goes around popular science and critical thinking.
As for the case of Mustapha Fekkak, the common interest has a stronger
motivation to produce content compared to other fact-checkers. He has
answered the question about the priorities in choosing a topic by saying
that ‘Frankly, the choice of topics depends on the public choice, and my
wish is at the second rank. The first reason is the general vision that people
have to understand, depending on what I have understood …’. This idea is
represented in his channel Aji Tafham, which includes a large variety of
videos that discus and popularise sophisticated concepts in economy, legal
matters, taxation, society, and new policies, among others. This difference
in interests is projected in differences in goals and potential impacts.
The general goal of all the three fact-checkers is to present facts to the Mor-
occan public about many topics using a simple language, most of the times
Moroccan variety, and humour to entertain. For instance, Safsafisays:
14 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
Scientific popularization is entertainment. The difference between science and
popular science is entertainment, and I don’t want to go far from this cat-
egory of entertainment. The final goal is not to take a pen and paper and
to study, but it’s to relax. There are other videos that need more concen-
tration but at the end it’s not a course; it’s about to spend a moment in
the free time, and finally it’s entertainment, but it is another type of
entertainment.
Safsafiemphasises here the entertainment aspect of the content, which
cannot be a scientific course to teach. The aim is to reach the audience and
promote a scientific and critical mindset.
Apart from presenting facts, Aji Tafham project seeks to raise the awareness
of people about political and socio-economic problems. Choosing a topic like
the cost of fuel
11
in Morocco, Fekkak tried to give the audience tools through
which to understand the news and political reforms. To explain more, Fekkak
says:
So my objective is to explain to the public the basics of existence, and with these
bases, one can ask questions. This is my objective from my work. I try to help
viewers to ask the existential questions like what are you rights? What are
your obligations?
Explaining the basics is providing background information to the public. This
is an important technique to help them make sense of the news, ask the right
questions, and involve them in the public debate.
Feeling the obligation to make a positive difference in the Moroccan
society is another important motivation for all the three fact-checkers.
Indeed, producing this specific type of content is demanding because of
the lack of financial support or decent profit. Both Safsafiand Mokhtari
declare that they are self-funded. For instance, Safsafiputs it more clearly
when he says ‘this project is not for profit’. In other words, the nature of
the content they produce has a relatively limited audience if compared
with other types of content like celebrity gossip, sport, or comedy shows
that attract millions of views in Morocco.
The final and most important reason that pushes the interviewees to create
channels specialised in fact-checking or critical thinking is that there is a huge
gap in the Moroccan media environment, in both its mainstream and online
forms. To illustrate, Safsafireports the marginalisation and negligence of criti-
cal thinking content in Moroccan media:
In Morocco there is a lacuna in this regard. If we take comedy, people are doing
comedy on TV and others are doing it on internet. So people are watching
comedy on both platforms, on TV and on internet. Critical thinking is absent
entirely in mainstream media not only in Morocco but even in other places. In
Netflix, there is an interesting content. In French channels there are good scien-
tific documentaries; however in Morocco, this content is still marginalized in
mainstream media and on YouTube.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 15
In other words, popular science is not a very popular genre in the world in
general, but it is still represented, at least in the mainstream media. In
Morocco, this genre is still marginalised.
To sum up, the motivation of the fact-checkers to produce content or to
choose a topic is mainly personal, without neglecting the public interest
whenever it is possible. The exception is Mustapha Fekkak who gives more
weight to the preference of his online audience to set his priorities. Also,
the impact on the public makes them motivated too. This result is going to
have direct implication on the production process, interaction with the
public, and challenges of the Moroccan YouTube.
Production process of fact-checking content
The personal motivation to share fact-checking videos without any involve-
ment from other media organisations is having an impact on the creative
process of making online videos. Also, branding their channels as popular
science or investigation is setting the standards high. The accuracy of facts
and the clarity of the message is a priority. As a result, the process of
getting information is demanding and sometimes challenging, depending
on the possible influence of each video on the public.
The main goal of the whole group of fact-checkers is to simplify infor-
mation and make it easy to understand for the general audience. Thus, the
Moroccan fact-checkers make sure that the topic can be understood by the
unspecialised audience, and at the same time accurately explained without
losing its meaning. In this sense, Mokhtari says:
I do popular science; the content should be accessible to people and it should be
accurate, not misleading. So I try to balance, it’s a balance between the two. If
you simplify too much the scientific content, it can lose it truthfulness. You
may give vague sentences, and when you give accurate scientific sentences,
you are going to have something that people won’t understand.
It is a balance that has to be assessed all along the process of the production
of content. This can be a challenge in case of the existence of background
concepts that should be explained.
The public is expecting high standards and quality content from fact-
checkers. Accuracy is a top priority. Thus, the process of research can take a
long time, from days to months or even more than six months for complex
issues, depending on the nature of the subject and the availability of reliable
sources. Mokhtari puts it simply when discussing accuracy and objectivity:
…to change a concept which is already in people’s minds, …you need to avoid
as much as possible subjectivity and bias, because a person is going to catch you
from the smallest mistake, even if you say ten things that are objective and
factual …, some people will pick up that one and will drop the nine others,
16 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
so you really need to have high standards of objectivity. Otherwise, you can’t
end the conversation right way.
Any little problem in terms of accuracy of facts put the whole concept of
popular science and any potential impact at stake and drive the viewers to
severely criticise fallacious information in the production.
To make sure that the content published is correct, fact-checkers have
developed a number of steps to follow while researching for their videos.
Safsafiand Mokhtari generally start by checking Wikipedia, then looking for
the original primary sources in the reference section. In some cases, they
post questions in scientific forums to get answers from researchers, or to
directly contact experts by emails. To summarise the processes employed
by fact-checkers, Mokhtari states:
Google provides you with information. It’s the portal to information. So basically,
I use Google as a starting point, and Wikipedia is also an amazing tool, then I
check the sources of the sources, the primary level. When I review a topic on
Wikipedia, I look for its sources at the end of the page. Then I will go to the orig-
inal paper, just to make sure.
For Fekkak the process is slightly different because his channel Aji Tafham
covers issues of political, economic, and social nature. This is the reason why
he defines it as a mixture of art and investigation. To use his own words, he
says that ‘the work that I’m doing is related to the investigation, it’sa
mixture between research investigation and art’. For example, to prepare a
video about the problem of ‘teacher contractees’,
12
he started by checking
official websites, and governments documents to get an idea about the
official version of the problem, then he contacted the teachers to get infor-
mation about their side of the problem.
Because of the kind of topics presented in Aji Tafham, and the reluctance of
some officials to share information, Fekkak reports the difficulties he faces in
getting access to information:
Sometimes I get difficulties in getting access to information …and sometimes I
face closed doors, but other times, some people are helpful, especially those in
the government. From a programmatic perspective, if they don’t give me the
precise information, I may get it wrong, and the video will have a different
impact, so it’s better that they give me accurate information to work properly.
At the end if the information is correct, and the fact is dispatched, everyone
will benefit. (Interview with MedRadio, 2018 in Kifach TV 2018)
Getting access to reliable information about political, social, or economic
complex problems can be a baffling job in Morocco for fact-checkers to
achieve their professional aims. Still, Fekkak points out that there is openness
among government authorities to give him more information. He also insists
that there is a growing understanding of many authority officials who think
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 17
that these videos are important and beneficial to promote the correct and
official version of the story.
Objectivity of the fact-checkers
Having reliable references and accurate facts is highly essential for fact-check-
ers, but the other side of the coin is that there are different standards to which
the three participants pay attention. Objectivity is a recurrent theme during
the interview, and it’s an ambiguous term to define as each fact-checker
defines it differently. For example, Mokhtari thinks that ‘one needs to avoid
as much as possible subjectivity and bias’. Similarly, Safsafibelieves that bal-
ancing different views, when dealing with scientific facts is not objectivity, and
he explains this when he says:
What is objectivity for me is to start from what those people say and what the
scientists say about it. You have to include different opinions. But what I do, I
take the scientific opinion and I give it more than 99 per cent of the time in
my videos. This is objectivity.
It’s an interesting result to know that some fact-checkers will not present
different views unless they are reliable. This is mainly because a fact-
checker is not a reporter. However, showing only facts in popular science is
pure and simple, but problems raise in tackling and explaining political and
social issues discussed in Aji Tafham.
Mustapha Fekkak uses neutrality instead of objectivity to describe his pos-
ition while constructing his content. It’s something similar to journalistic tra-
ditions of providing the opposing views at the same time. In his interview
in MedRadio (2018), Fekkak says: ‘I try to be neutral in my videos. I try to
include the opinion of both the government and the people concerned [tea-
chers] ……I try to be neutral but it’sdifficult task indeed’(Interview with
MedRadio, 2018 in Kifach TV 2018). The strategy of being neutral and
keeping the same distance from all the parties is not an easy task, but it’s
safer if compared with taking sides. This point is going to be discussed
further in the discussion section.
Fact-checkers’Messages Format
Apart from the content, the form is also vital for the three fact-checkers. They
care about delivering the message clearly to the public, with a touch of
humour to make videos appealing to the general public. Social networks
are a competitive environment where it is not easy to get visible. In this
case, Mokhtari focuses on the sound quality and the soundtrack:
For the form, the priority number one is the sound. For my content, the sound
must be clear, audible, and articulated, even for some shots. I can take it using a
18 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
mobile phone, or certain low quality images, but for the sound you cannot
scarify it …The sound is the first thing for the verbal content, then for the
image. If I have time, I create animations for the videos. Some videos that are
more cinematic than others ….
Sound is an essential part in conveying a message clearly. Alternatively,
visual elements can be overlooked because of time constraints and lack
of funding. It’s worth noting that for the case of Safsafiand Mokhtari,
they are producing this kind of content in their free time without any
sort of professional help.
At the same time, visual animations in Aji Tafham channel can be regarded
as more sophisticated, due to the investment in time, money, and effort to
produce high quality artistic product. Mustapha Fekkak has moved the pro-
duction process to another higher professional level, with a team which
works at different levels of production and research. In this context, Safsafi
says in the interview ‘I hope to make something like the ones of Swinga (Mus-
tapha Fekkak) animation, and to add something like storytelling and shooting
outdoor’.
Overall, the answers from the interviewees confirm that the process of
bringing forth fact-checking content is constructed following different
steps. First, it begins with exhaustive research to gather and to check the accu-
racy of facts that can be challenging for some political topics. Second, it devel-
ops by creating videos with the available resources, depending on the
circumstances of every one of them. Third, it finishes by interacting with
the audience and ‘That’s where the magic happens!’insists Mokhtari.
Interaction of the fact-checkers with the public
Social networks sites (SNS) (facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others) are
becoming established information platforms to get informed about
different topics. Typically, the interviewees believe that the hyper connectivity
of people to SNS has made of them an alternative to mainstream media. SNS
are not only a simple tool that help content producer share their content, but
they are also a space where they can get feedback, learn from their audience,
and interact with each other. Nevertheless, this relationship can have its ups
and downs as well as challenges in an online toxic environment.
Connecting with people online and sharing knowledge with social network
users is putting YouTubers in binary opposition with mainstream media. Mor-
occan TV channels ‘just broadcast news to people’as Mokhtari puts it. Besides,
the discussions with the public are breaking the hierarchy of traditional media
institutions. To illustrate, Safsaficomments on the reasons to interact with the
public:
I think there are two approaches: social media as opposed to mainstream media.
Moroccan channels provide people with information and even when you zip
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 19
channels, you find the same story as opposed to social media where you get into
discussions and learn from others. That’s what makes it different from the struc-
ture of TV.
SNS are about networking and keeping in touch with the audience. However,
like any social interaction, online or offline, there are many rules fact-checkers
should stick to. One of them is that a fact-checker cannot publish or post on
the internet and then sign out. More than this and for the sake of materialising
common interests, standards and styles, fact-checkers keep in touch and rely
on each other to adjust and verify their creation. Sometimes this relationship
results in collaborative work. For instance, Safsafiand Fekkak have have pro-
duced collaborative popular science content in French. Recently, they have
produced their first video together on the presence of giant people in
history and explained why it is scientifically impossible to have them.
After posting any content, the three participants admit that they pay close
attention to the feedback of their public; it’s not just having a quick look at the
comment section, but in fact it’s a long demanding process of learning from
justified criticism, feedback, answering questions, and getting suggestions for
other topics to be covered lately. To comment on this idea, Mokhtari reports
the following:
…I seek mainly the feedback from friends, whom I trust, it’s more important.
Those friends you know, if there is something wrong or good, they will be
honest to tell. But the feedback on social networks is usually just a gut-
feeling. Sometimes that gut-feeling is also saying something. Therefore, you
need to pick up the signals and listen to what the gut-feeling is saying. When
you have something emotional in the video, they either attack or praise you.
So, I take it as an emotional response. If someone has critical feedback,
though negative, I take it.
For emotional comments or personal attacks, they all report that they neglect
them in most of the times. Moreover, it’s interesting to report that the scien-
tific mindset of Moktari and Safsafiis not only demonstrated in the content
they develop, but also in their interaction with their fans and audience.
They try as much as possible to ensure a discussion based on scientific facts
and the principles of critical thinking. For instance, Safsafisays: ‘I try most of
the time to avoid the power argument, even in topics that are in my expertise.
I say what scientists say, and this is not a powerful argument, it’s a fact …’.
From this quote, one can understand the critical thinking dimension
adopted while discussing with the public, and the strong intention to avoid
authority or power argument to stop criticism or to end dialogue.
Even though fact-checkers try their best to make their content accessible
and straightforward for almost everyone, their audience shares specific
characteristics. Safsafiand Mokhtari have a community based on youth,
aged between 17 and 40, two-thirds of whom are male. They are interested
20 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
in science and are curious. Still, there is a drawback in having a more homo-
geneous community which has a scientific background. To clarify, Safsafi
points out:
The objective of producing these videos is to influence those people who have
never been interested in this and to attract them, but it’s always very challen-
ging. The majority of people who follow my videos are those who are interested
in science and like popular science.
Attracting people outside the niche of popular science is a challenging task,
but picking up a topic that is interesting to the public in a raging debate
online has helped to attract more people with different interests, and ‘avoid
being enclosed with those who think like you’Safsafiadds.
An important question raised in the interviews targeted the participants’
ability to keep the trust of the public. Fact-checkers maintain a set of stan-
dards that have been presented earlier. This includes maintaining transpar-
ency, posting sources below any video, and posting corrections of mistakes
or any inaccuracies. They can go even further to explain controversies that
undermine their trust in the eyes of their followers.
Based on these ethical testimonies declared by the three participants, one
can assume that Moroccan fact-checkers have a strong relationship with their
communities; they have a number of followers who follow their content and
their news; they pay great attention to their audience feedback, criticism, their
expectations, and develop a thick skin against emotional or ideological
attacks. Also, they are more transparent in referring to their resources and
showing their mistakes. Social networks are offering a different communi-
cation approach, where one cannot just publish and go away, one need to
play by the rules.
Business model of the three fact-checkers
If one is puzzled about the level of independence of a media institution, and
how it can survive in the long term, its business model can be the answer.
Media production is only possible thanks to a form of funding, and changes
in the funding scheme are often a game-changer for the media industry as
a whole, including the level of independence. There are two major business
models on which Moroccan fact-checkers rely. For Safsafiand Mokhtari,
they are mainly self-funded, but Fekkak earn money indirectly from his
online media presence.
As described earlier in the process of production, Safsafiand Mokhtari are
self-funded, they pay from their money to cover the expenses of producing
fact-checking content, and even the money they get from online advertising
systems like Google Adsense, or crowd-sourcing is, in most cases, insignificant.
Mokhtari explains the question of funding:
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 21
It’s mostly self-funded. I use my money to buy the equipment and anything
needed for the show. My time is not paid. I have two channels one of them is
ridiculous. I have earned something around 1600 Dhs [Around 150 US dollars]
since day one. Since 2015, I made 1600 Dhs. And the other one which is a
little more serious, I use crowdfunding, so there is a website called Patreon,
where people can give a donation based on every video I release …so every
time I release a video I get the sum of the contribution of all those people,
right now it’s about 3500 Dhs [Around 350 US dollars], it fluctuates. So far it
has covered only a third of the money to buy the equipment. It’s highly under-
funded projects.
On the one hand, self-funding is a problem that may threaten the existence
of this type of content and limits improvements. On the other hand, it can be a
blessing because it makes them more independent in the choosing topics,
resisting the pressure of the market to talk about a specific topic, and discuss-
ing an issue just because they believe it is worth sharing. Safsafiexplains his
level of independence:
I feel independent. Nobody has pressure on me. Even for partnerships, I receive
offers to make videos about certain things and I refuse. And it doesn’t mean that
I will never make a partnership with someone. If I don’t like the topic, and the
product is in line with what I believe. It’s part of one’s principles.
Even if Safsafihas refused propositions of partnerships, he does not rule out
possible partnerships in the future. As for Fekkak, he has developed an unpre-
cedented business model in the web. After the success of his first video, he
decided to create a company to produce ads using animation to fund Aji
Tafham videos from his company’s profit. This strategy allows him to have a
team and create high quality content delivered for free to the public. He
declares a full separation between his project Aji Tafham, and his for-profit
activities, and he said it clearly in an interview in MedRadio episode ‘I don’t
sell my opinions’.
In 2018, he released a video about oil prices in Morocco, which explains in
details the cost of refined product and how to calculate it. The video has been
a success as it has reached more than a million views and was widely shared.
Added to this, it has been useful in making a political impact by provoking a
lot of reactions and public debates. In his interview with MedRadio, Fekkak has
evaluated the impact made by the video
The parliamentary report about the problem of oil prices in Morocco was
blocked but one week after releasing the video, the investigation report was
released. It not only the video which made the pressure, but the boycott also
and the whole context have caused the release of the blocked report. Interest-
ingly the report came up with almost the same results of the video. (Interview
with MedRadio, 2018 in Kifach TV 2018)
It was clear that the video made people question the unjustified high cost of
fuel, and Lhoussin Daoudi, the then minister of Governance and budget,
22 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
implicitly criticised the video in one of his interviews with MedRadio episode
‘Fi Kafass Itiham’. The minister accused the video of being inaccurate.
However, these accusations were belied by the parliamentary report as it
came with almost the same results and conclusions on the issue, and it
drew attention to many deficiencies and excessive cost of energy in Morocco.
Interestingly, when Accoustic, the company directed by Fekkak, made an
ad for an oil company using a similar voice of Fekkak, his credibility was put
into question. To solve and clarify this issue, Fekkak has clearly declared
that it was a mistake in the interview, and has insisted on the fact that it
was not his voice, and that there is firm separation between Aji Tafham
project and his company activities.
To sum up, fact-checking is a very demanding type of content. The audi-
ence is looking for accurate answers to make sense of the world around
them, and to have the required background information to debate. Fulfilling
all these requirements requires a lot of money. Aji Tafham is enjoying the
support of Accoustic company. Nevertheless, Safsafiand Moktari are still
looking for a more viable business model to support this type of content
without losing their independence.
Discussion
Analysing the three interviews and observing the detailed information
reported on this group of young fact-checkers make the present study
confident enough to assume that the accurate way to define their role in Mor-
occan society is that of a new form of activism and citizen journalism. They are
‘fact’activists; they hold a strong belief in the importance of facts in any
societal debate, and they defend the scientific fact threatened by misinforma-
tion in mainstream media, social media, ideological differences and biases.
This fact-checking or activism in Morocco is led by a group of young of four
YouTubers who have no journalistic affiliation unlike global media market
which is adopted by leading journalistic institutions (Graves, Nyhan, and
Reifler 2016), and is driven by professional journalistic values of accuracy
and objectivity rather than market forces. But the findings of this study
suggest that they share the same values of promoting facts in compliance
with the principles embraced by professional fact-checkers all over the world.
Still, despite the fact that there is a common ground between the fact-
checking in professional journalism and citizen journalism context, motivation
remains a major difference. Journalists feel that their status in society is at risk,
as the trust of the public is at its lowest level. They are always attacked from
politicians and their audiences. So a group of them started to revive their jour-
nalistic traditions of being a watchdog (Graves, Nyhan, and Reifler 2016).
Nevertheless, this group of Moroccan fact-checkers tries to promote scientific
and critical thinking itself.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 23
Moroccan fact-checkers fill a gap within the Moroccan media landscape;
they believe that fact-checking content, critical thinking, and popular
science are marginalised by both the mainstream media and social media.
Consequently, promoting a fact-based and verified content, or critical think-
ing is giving the general public tools to think by themselves, and to
empower them by providing background information that helps the audience
make sense of the news away from politicised toxic discussions.
The use of Moroccan Arabic variety is an essential element of empo werment.
Indeed, the fact that it gives access to high quality scientific or investigative
content makes it an efficient communication strategy, and a key reason for
their success. This remark is directly in line with previous studies about the
rise of online news in Morocco, where Hespress was the leader in using stan-
dard Arabic to appeal to the Moroccan educated middle class. Thus, using Mor-
occan Arabic variety enlarges the audience of online content, and improves the
understanding of what was regarded as sophisticated for the general public.
The four YouTubers recognise one another; they maintain a relationship
based on their common goal. One can call it a movement against misinforma-
tion, and other types of ideologically biased ideas promoted as scientific
‘facts’. Safsafiand Mokhtari produced many videos about the flawed reason-
ing of what is called the ‘scientific miracles in the Quran. They explained in
details how this kind of thinking, which claims that every scientific discovery
is already in the Quran, and how it is harmful to religion itself and is against
the scientific method. Therefore, they report being criticised emotionally
after talking about these topics; they explained experiencing hatred from
extremist pages on Facebook directed against them. In her article ‘Outrage
After Extremists Advocate for Murder of 3 Moroccan Influencers’published
in Morocco World News on 31 May 2000, Kristen Gianaris confirmed this by
reporting that a religious Facebook page called ‘Center of Innocence’publicly
incited for violence against Othamane Safsafi, Najib Mokhtari and Marouan
Mharzi. According to her, the administrator of the Facebook page posted a
photo of the three influencers and wrote that their scientific work is against
the principles of Islam and worthy of execution. This group of Moroccan You-
Tubers is by no means against religion as a faith or Islam, but they are clearly
against any manipulation of the public by religious leaders using science.
Fact-checkers struggle for a fact-based debate, but this can put them
against the most powerful politicians, especially when relying on pragmatic
strategies. The official version is promoted as the absolute fact without
explaining the details or giving background information to the public. To
clarify, Aji Tafham channel tries to explain and draw a big picture of several
political, social, and economic complex problems. Fekkak opts for neutrality
as a long term and safer strategy to present his content; he tries to give
voice to all concerned parties involved in a topic. Two reasons may explain
this. First, it is reliable because it helps him maintain better relationships
24 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
with all parties, which can be helpful to get access to information. Second, it
helps avoid being accused of fact-checking what cannot be checked, alike the
criticism directed against professional fact-checkers in the world, as explained
in the review of literature by Uscinski and Butler (2013). Judging information
as accurate or not, false or right is not evident in topics like policymaking or
social problems.
Another promising finding is that although access to information is very
challenging in Morocco, and there is a bureaucratic structure which puts a
lot of restrictions, there are hints that media capital acquired in the social
media can ease the way a little bit. In this sense, Fekkak has declared that
he faces many problems, and closed doors in the process of research. At
the same time, he feels more open to help him get the information he
needs. This is mainly due to the potential impact of his videos on the
course of actions, which Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic capital’. This paper sub-
scribes to John Thomson’sdefinition which extended this concept to the
‘capacity to intervene in the course of events, to influence the actions of
others and indeed to create events, by means of the production and trans-
mission of symbolic forms’(Couldry 2003). Thus, the more influence a fact-
checker has, the easier it is to get information.
A similar pattern of results can be understood from the pressure exerted on
the three fact-checkers, especially Fekkak, from his followers or marginalised
groups to discuss a topic. For instance, if one takes the problem of teacher
contractees in Morocco,
13
the ministry of education has had access to main-
stream media to convey its point of view, but for the teachers it has been hard
to get a similar access. For that reason, teacher contractees have resorted to
online influencers like Fekkak, to change the balance of power in their favour.
The interviewees have received no financial benefits from the content they
produce, which is similar to Bourdieu’s description of small-scale production of
content.
14
They have less economic capital, but onthe other side, they are acquir-
ing a growing symbolic and media capital that enable them to intervene in key
moments of national debates. In the case of Fekkak, he has managed to effec-
tively convert his media capital into economic capital; he has succeeded to set
up his company and to get indirect financial support from his media presence
online and symbolic capital. Now, he is famous for his videos on Aji Tafham
YouTube channel, and his company offers content production services using
his style of combining humour and investigation. Economic capital, like
financial support, is important in pushing for more objectivity in the Moroccan
public sphere. Nevertheless, Moroccan fact-checkers avoid getting the money
that may threaten their credibility, independence, and public trust.
The standards of the three fact-checkers’content are remarkable in the Mor-
occan media landscape,known by the dominance of opinioned news and biased
rhetoric in professional journalism. The process of gaining trust of their public
starts from the first step in their process of producing their content. They try
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 25
their best to set the example and provide accurate facts by engaging in a long
process of research that may take up to six months. In addition, they try to sim-
plify it as much as possible using Moroccan Arabic variety to make their message
clear for all Moroccans. All this hard work and self-reliance prevent them from
producing a lot of videos. They sit and wait to have the right conditions, which
can be a combination of personal and public interest.
In addition to their unique content standards, there is a sense of engage-
ment in their work; they have formed an online public sphere where content
is discussed with their audience. They are skilful in understanding the public
response, learning from constructive responses, and explaining their point of
views. It’s becoming a convention to discuss the content of their videos with
their public. The details of their interaction with the public can be very helpful
for public relations research in Morocco, or anyone who want to increase his/
her online presence. Their communication strategy is fundamentally based on
the respect of the public opinion.
Habermas (1991) believes that commercial forces
15
dominate the public
sphere in the contemporary media landscape, and big media corporations are
setting the agenda for people depending on their interests. As a result, with
the rise of social networks, Kellner (2014) seized the opportunity to expand
Habermas’s public sphere
16
by including the new global technologies which
all individual to express their views, discuss issues of public interest, and partici-
pate in social changes. However, he failed to theorise more about the structure
surrounding this new environment. Bourdieu (1996)insteadofblamingthe
growing impact of the economic power in the degradation of the public
sphere, he puts theeconomic field as part of the game. Acquiring more economic
capital is a key element in being successful online. The three fact-checkers have
expressed how enough funding can sustain their works and improve the quality
of their videos. Besides, the most influential one of the four fact-checkers in
Morocco is Mustapha Fekkak, who has succeeded to find an innovative business
model to ensure a sustainable funding for his project Aji Tafham.
The Fact-checking trend is evolving in Morocco. It aims to have more
influence on the course of events and change the national media landscape.
Nevertheless, this is usually done by considering the financial challenges.
Fekkak started recently shooting videos to explain his message, instead of
crafting sophisticated animations to reduce the cost and to release videos
in moments of heated debate. If he uploads a video after the fading of the
public discussion, which is often a few days, it will get limited exposure.
The results cast a new light on the importance of symbolic capital in making an
impact on the public sphere (Kellner 2014). Accordingly, Habermas (1991)
believes in the power of arguments as powerful tools. However, reaching out
to people with more symbolic power is an essential step in fighting for any
cause or working for social change. For instance, posting content on social net-
works is facing many restrictions, and can barely reach more than friends and
26 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
family. But if a movement can get the support of influencers online, it can reach
more public and the argument can be picked up by journalists and may stay
longer within the agenda for public debate. It can be illustrated like intercon-
nected gears; if a cause is selected by more influencers with high symbolic
capital, more people from the public will get engaged in the social debate,
and it may influence journalists too to cover more the topic. Therefore, the
issue will get more media capital (Figure 1).
The process, as described in the figure above, is not always smooth or suc-
cessful. But it is an alternative path that proved to be useful in making social
change on several occasions. Taking into account the situation of journalism
in Morocco, and how it is highly politicised, many social movements find their
way to get through to the public agenda by gaining the support of fact-check-
ers like Fekkak. Aji Tafham video about oil prices has put the problem of the
excessive cost of energy again in the spotlight and accelerated the release of
the parliamentary report which drew attention to many deficiencies.
When comparing the results to those of older studies, it must be pointed out
that Fact-checkers go beyond the traditional classification of citizen journalism. It
is not accurate to claim that citizen journalists are either promoting hegemonic
propaganda or alternative discourse, as described by El Issawi (2016). Fact-
checking as new online media trend, is siding with facts, and sharing news
that can be in favour of the state or social movements calling for change.
Figure 1. Social movements, public debate and influencers.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 27
Citizen journalists are always criticised for being biased, emotional, and
inaccurate. The fact-checking trend in the Moroccan web can filter the inac-
curacies of citizen journalists. It is not always professional journalists who
can serve as intermediaries between information and the public, but there
are different intermediaries in the contemporary media. Fact-checkers can
play the role of an ‘intermediary layer’as called by Sienkiewicz (2014). In
moments of uncertainty and social unrest, factual content is crucial to help
people make sense of the news.
From the ideas provided by the factcheckers in the interviews, we can
assume that the online public sphere in Morocco is a terrain for a tense struggle
between different fields or actors and stakeholders as described by Pierre Bour-
dieu in his book The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of theLiterary Field (1996).
The education field can be demonstrated in the lack of critical discussion and the
dominance of emotional responses. The religious field is fighting hard to claim
the ‘scientific truth’as part of faith, and the economic field is mainly supporting
mass-scale production, where many groups are feeling marginalised. In addition
to the challenges of the online public sphere, there is a growing belief in the
importance of media capital and symbolic capital as important assets that can
be decisive in fighting for a cause or seeking an impact on the public. This is
now possible outside mainstream media by engagement with people in
social networks, and contacting influencers in different platforms for support.
Also, media capital can helpcontent producers build networks and connections
and trust to gain access to information. These results are a considerable contri-
bution to fill a gap within the literature, and give original insights to professional
journalists, public relations practitioners, and policymaker.
In a nutshell, it seems like Habermas public sphere is revived in these online
communities, with the potential effect of discussions based on facts, and
freedom of speech. Yet, taking into consideration the level of education of
online users, financial challenges and the interference of religion in any dis-
cussion make Habermas public sphere still out of reach. Fact-checkers have
reported being surrounded by people with the same mindset: people who
already think critical due to their scientific or educational background. Hence-
forth, the impact of these kinds of videos on different types of publics and
backgrounds should be assessed in a separate quantitative study.
Conclusion
What distinguished this study is its endeavour to handle a new type of media
content, called fact-checking, which focuses on facts’verification and popular-
isation as a symbolic capital. Fact-checkers in Morocco are setting an example
in explaining complex issues to online users. The idea that social media in
Morocco are only delivering biased information or fake news should be
reviewed with a more nuanced assessment of this new environment, by
28 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
taking into consideration the motivations, the production process, and the
emerging debates within social networks.
Worth concluding and emphasising also is that the three Moroccan fact-
checkers have demonstrated commitment to a more interactive and commu-
nicative approach where they engage with the public, and avoid using the
setting of producer versus audience. This reflects a kind of respect for the
public, a contribution to online debates, and move towards more transpar-
ency and engagement in redressing and correcting the chaotic situation in
social and mainstream media.
Notes
1. Mustapha Fekkak has 633,000 subscribers; Najib Mokhtari, 206,000 subscribers;
and Othmane Safsafi, 106,000 subscribers.
2. This idea of symbolic power has its origins in Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological
theory. It is the fourth concept dealt with along with cultural, economic, and
social capital. It refers to reputation and position an individual or organisation
can create or have in a specific context or location. For instance, a business
organisation symbolic capital is associated with its ability to make a good
quality service or product and therefore, in return raise its profit.
3. User Generated Content means internet users generate their own content and
share it with communities of their choosing (Wirtén and Ryman 2009).
4. Hespress is an Arabic online newspaper launched in the Moroccan online media
context dominated by French, which gives it a linguistic advantage over other
online newspapers. Hespress was founded by Mohamed Amin Kanouni and
Hassan Kanouni in February 2007. They both worked before with an Egyptian
company called ‘egyxp’to build a website in Arabic, because Moroccan compa-
nies didn’t have the know-how at that time. However, the institutional structure
of Hespress is different from traditional newspapers. It’s more open to freelance
journalists and other partners to post articles on the website. Hespress has no
editorial board that strictly limits the general direction of publications. Thus,
one can find a large variety of opinions, topics and backgrounds in published
articles, which helps it promote itself as ‘credible’source of news. In brief, the
rise of Hespress is due to the use of Arabic at an early stage, the effective insti-
tutional structure, and the professional adoption of web technologies.
5. Fifteen children and teenagers allegedly sexually assaulted a donkey in the small
rural town of Sidi Kamel in the communal providence of Sidi Kacem- middle of
Morocco.
6. ‘DABA 2007’is a Moroccan non-profit organisation created in 2006 by Nourdine
Ayouch to promote more participation in politics (L’Economiste 2006).
7. Selwane.TV is a YouTube channel founded by Abdellatif Jelzime to share videos
of all political parties, including those boycotting the elections.
8. A randomised field experiment, conducted during 2014 US elections, proves
that professional values and journalists’status concerns are the primary
drivers for the fact-checking trend (Graves, Nyhan, and Reifler 2016).
9. ‘Scientific miracles in the Quran’also called Ijaz in Arabic is a biased mainstream
interpretation of Islamic religious texts which claims that the Quran contains
‘scientific facts’before being discovered by scientists.
THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES 29
10. The Moroccan government decision to adopt permanently the GMT + 1 has
stirred a national debate and caused outrage in Moroccan social media
because of its repercussions on the health and sleeping habits of Moroccans
11. In 2018, an online campaign has called for the boycott Afriquia brand after oil
prices fell globally, while locale prices are still high.
12. In 2019 a national movement called ‘The Forcibly Contracted Teachers’launched
a number of strikes and protests. Thousands of teachers protested against the
government policy to hire teachers under annually renewable contracts every
year since 2016.
13. In July 2015, the Moroccan cabinet council approved two decrees of the Ministry
of National Education regarding teacher trainees in provincial centres for the
professions of education and training, the most important of which separates
training from recruitment. In other words, the new decree stipulates that the
state disengages from guaranteeing jobs to teacher trainees at these state
centres of training. The aim of this decision is to provide abundant and cheap
labour to the schools and institutions of the private sector which are notorious
for exploitation and harsh working conditions. This pushed teacher trainees to
mobilise to dismantle the two decrees and defend the ‘Moroccan Public School’.
14. Small-production is defined by Bourdieu (1996)as‘Art of art’s sake’(124); he
gives as an example the works of Emile zola ‘“J’accuse”[a published letter to
expose antisemitism within the French system] is the outcome and the fulfil-
ment of a collective process of emancipation that is progressively carried out
in the field of cultural production: as a prophetic rupture with the established
order, it reasserts against all reasons of state the irreducibility of the values of
truth and justice and …the independence of the guardians of these values
from the norms of politics and from the constraints of economic life’(129).
15. When ‘culture became a commodity not only in form but also in content’(Haber-
mas 1991, 166).
16. The concept of public sphere owes much of its academic popularity to Jürgen
Habermas and the publication of his pioneer book The Structural Transformation
of the Public Sphere (1989). In this book, Habermas argues that the public sphere
is ‘made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the
needs of society with the state’(176). Later in his book Between Facts and Norms:
Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (1996), Habermas
explains that this public sphere ‘is reproduced through communicative action
for which the mastery of normal language suffices; it is tailored to the general
comprehensibility of everyday communicative practices’(360). In clear terms,
for Habermas public sphere is formed when citizens, of any state, are able to
enjoy fundamental freedoms of thought, opinion and expression.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments
and suggestions on the manuscript. The authors are also grateful to Prof. Fatima Sadiqi
from Fez University for her feedback and comments on the first draft of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
30 H. BAILLA AND M. YACHOULTI
ORCID
Mohammed Yachoulti http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3982-0781
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