Covid-19 Crisis Communication Management in Morocco: Investigating Male and Female Publics’ Perceptions and Assessments of Moroccan Public Authorities’ Crisis Response Strategies

Abstract

The present research paper examines how Moroccan political public authorities’ communication strategies influence Moroccan male and female publics’ feedback, and the perception of government’s crisis response strategies in light of a new atmosphere, a new condition at the pandemic time of the coronavirus Covid-19. The data is collected from 132 Moroccan internet users via online survey. It was conducted between May and June, 2020, after the declaration of the state of emergency, the present study gathered concrete information and viewpoints regarding Moroccan male and female internet users’ feedback about political leaders’ communication strategies, trust in different sources and media channels, and perception of the Moroccan political leaders’ crisis communication management. The findings of the study have revealed that younger male and female publics, who got news from social media, had negative views of authority messages, and expressed more negative opinions of the government’s crisis response and communication strategies as weeks went by. Therefore, trust in public authorities’ decreased as the crisis evolves. Other age group, 60 years or older of the respondents get information about the crisis from institutional political sources and mainstream news media, which have been more aligned with authorities’ information at the start of the health crisis. In addition, women have used multiple media platforms, but they have less direct access to information than do men. While some progress has been made in women’s political use of information and news consumption during the outbreak on social media, on the overall, the participation of women in both feedback and news consumption is still very limited in Morocco.