The Portrayal of Sub-Saharan Migrants in the Moroccan Daily Press: The Cases of Aujourd’hui le Maroc and Assabah

The objective of this study is to analyse Arabic and French news articles published in the two Moroccan daily newspapers, Aujourd’hui le Maroc and Assabah , from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018, using content analysis. The study addresses three research questions: (1) how does Moroccan media portray sub-Saharan migrants both textually and visually? (2) What type of narratives does Moroccan mainstream media circulate about sub-Saharan migrants? (3) How are sub-Saharan migrants framed by the two newspapers? The study is based on mass communication framing theory. Twenty-five articles were selected for the textual analysis and 12 headline images were chosen for the visual analysis. The content analysis findings revealed five frames: administration, border security, criminality, economic-social integration, and vulnerability and victimisation.