Media in Qatar

Public participation is highly vital to build societies or communities in any
part of the world. However, since media has its great impact on the process of
formation, the power of the government is considered as the barrier between the public’s voice and media itself. In Qatar, the government controls what news can be released to the public and what should be kept in or unrevealed. Therefore, the urge for democracy is highly demanded by those who seek improvements in the country. If democracy was available for the public to grasp, the fear of criticizing the government will be defeated, because with highlighting flaws come corrections and understandings.



Al-Jazeera, which is one of the well-known news channels around the world, takes its own share of reporting about chaos taking place in other countries. But what about the low-profiled crisis that are taking place in Qatar? I believe no one had witnessed a report that addresses a certain issue in the country on Al-Jazeera channel. Lets imagine what could happen if the public broke the media restrictions set by the government. Aside from democracy, institutional autonomy will be brought to bare righteous control, the power of traditional hierarchy will be reduced in publications, where people will be encouraged to initiate their own local publications. Also, the scope or opinions of non-governmental organizations will escalate to a more flexible level, and the chance for public deliberation in decision-making will actually come to reality. In regard of the 2022 bid, the country simply decided to participate in winning the bid without giving the public a chance to express their opinions about this step. I have personally spoken to some Qataris who
have written articles that opposed the bid, but they failed to have their articles
published in newspapers. Indeed, it is unfortunate, but many people are aware of the issue that I talked about in this piece. If some individuals rebelled, they will have to suffer some consequences that might affect their careers and finances. Hopefully, people will someday stop worrying about freely expressing how they truly feel about the decisions taken by the government and witness the changes they wish to see in the country.