Unveiling the Tactics: Moroccan Journalists' Approach to News Reporting and Data Authentication during Breaking News

Within this rapidly evolving media environment, social media has emerged as a central ecosystem for navigating news and information. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube hold an integral part of the global information market, revolutionising various aspects of society, including journalism. This study strives to dissect the challenges and opportunities that social media offers journalists, particularly in information-gathering, fact- checking, and content verification. With a focus on Moroccan journalists, the specific aim of this study is to explore the strategies employed by Moroccan journalists for content gathering and verification. Drawing on previous studies examining the use of online sources in news gathering and reporting, this study is based on a qualitative data collection procedure, focusing primarily on interviews with 21 Moroccan journalists to elicit their perceptions of and attitudes toward news, information gathering, and online information verification. This study reveals that Moroccan journalists express positive attitudes when it comes to using social media but they assert the importance of critical media skills when scrutinizing the reliability of data on social media. The participants acknowledge the diversity and plurality of perspectives, voices, and narratives that social media provides, but they also recognize the potential risk social media raises when it comes to manipulation and spreading misinformation. Key Words: disinformation; information; journalism; Morocco; newsgathering; social media.