HE CEO of Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Thani bin Khaled Al-Thani described the media coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 locally and internationally as unique, and is worthy of Qatar's reputation and that of the World Cup, characterised by comprehensiveness and diversity, contributing greatly to the success of the tournament.
HE the QMC CEO said in an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) as the end of the tournament approaches that His Excellency extends his warmest congratulations to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022's impressive success, as well as to the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) for its fruitful efforts. His Excellency added that it is certain that Qatar's remarkable success in hosting the World Cup tournament has grabbed the attention of politicians and sports officials globally, who all confirm Qatar's fulfilment of all of its promises to organise an exceptional and unprecedented edition in the history of the tournament.
His Excellency noted the joint efforts of the many governmental bodies in the success of the tournament, as well as the decisive role played by local traditional and modern media. To exemplify this, His Excellency stated that the establishment of the Host Country Media Center (HCMC), in addition to the obtaining of about 6,900 media professionals the Host Country Media Accreditation, via the Qatar Media Portal, helped this tournament's coverage to be successful and distinct, providing the best working conditions for media representatives from all over the world, including FIFA accredited media representatives and broadcasters, reflecting well on the quality and efficiency of the media coverage of the football matches and the accompanying events in an adequate and professional manner.
HE QMC CEO said that Qatari broadcast, radio, press and electronic media professionals, Qataris and residents alike, as well as social media influencers, enjoy a sense of responsibility and a rational drive to reflect the true image of Qatar's hosting of this event.
His Excellency added that the global media coverage did not fall short of its local counterpart, as international sport channels set studios with exceptional standards in Doha, in order to cover the event. Furthermore, the world's top sports journalists and commentators came to Qatar to contribute with their news and analysis. His Excellency continued that TV channels, newspapers and social media networks from all corners of the World did not stop working round the clock, which is a beautiful and expected thing.
His Excellency also considered that the biased and smear campaigns did not find listening ears, nor did they convince anyone, especially that as more time passed, those lies faded away, allowing the truth to prevail.
His Excellency elaborated that the truth that remained, was exemplified by FIFA's President Gianni Infantino announcement yesterday that the FIFA Council unanimously praised Qatar's unique effort in making the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 the best edition in World Cup, whose matches were attended by 3.27 million fans so far, a number that exceeds the number of attendees in all 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia edition matches, in addition to the 2022 edition's lack of any riots or offences, rather providing a joyful and an amazing experience.
Regarding the unjustified media campaigns against Qatar’s hosting the World Cup by the media outlets of specific countries, HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Thani bin Khalid Al-Thani confirmed that Qatar was subjected to a coordinated fabrication attack, which His Highness the Amir highlighted. His Excellency remarked that this attack did not only target the State of Qatar, but it targeted an entire part of the world, namely the Arab region and the Middle East. HE the QMC CEO said that this offensive and distorted image that this campaign presented, only demonstrates an ignorance of reality and lack professionalism and impartiality, adding that at the end, what will remain in collective memory is the tournament’s legacy, whilst these smearing campaigns will be forgotten.
His Excellency pointed out that these malicious campaigns began the moment Qatar deservedly won the World Cup hosting bid in 2010 and continued with an increasing ferocity reaching their peak in recent years, prior to the World Cup’s kick off, with the aim of thwarting it.
His Excellency added that these campaigns intentionally ignored great Qatari achievements in the areas of labour market, human rights, expatriate workers, women, and people with special needs, and instead focused on matters that were either incorrect or had nothing to do with the culture of the region.
His Excellency indicated that the motives and starting points for these attacks stem from a feeling of superiority and a sense of being the centre, and in some cases falling victims to the Orientalist legacy that paints a distorted image of the region. HE QMC CEO considered that the issue is not related to geography, but to a conflict of ideas, beliefs and differences, as well as being a question of belief in the principle of cultural diversity, mutual respect, and refrain from the imposition of culture on other societies.
HE QMC CEO said that despite the desire of some that there arise issues in organisation and the level of preparation, yet Qatar has overcome all that, given that one of the important messages of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is interaction and love, regardless of differences, especially since sport is supposed to be a means of bringing people together and shortening distances.
His Excellency praised the ideal vibe, hospitality and welcome, security and safety that accompanied the World Cup, which had the greatest impact on changing many preconceptions and misconceptions among visitors and fans from Western countries, including women. His Excellency considered that one of the advantages of this media attack against Qatar and the World Cup and its distortion of everything Arab and Islamic, is that it has drawn the common interest of Arab countries and their media institutions to the need to reformulate media work to confront such a fierce campaign, especially since it has all the means to achieve this.
As for the coverage done by QMC’s various media outlets (TV and radio networks) of the matches and the accompanying cultural and entertainment events, HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Thani bin Khalid Al-Thani said that Qatar Media Corporation sought to provide all logistical services for the success of this national and international event. For months on end, there were non-stop meetings with all stakeholders to provide distinguished media coverage. With the launch of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 until today, the corporation covered the event with a comprehensive and lively coverage, in keeping with the national vision of the event as being a tournament for all Arabs and representing them well.
In a more precise terms, Alkass sports coverage on its two main channels amounted to 18 hours per day on (Alkass1) and 16 hours a day on (Alkass Extra), together with having 45 guests throughout the tournament, as well as allocating channels to broadcast the matches and the events accompanying the World Cup since its launch, in addition to allocating a channel dedicated to monitoring reactions on matches, by the most prominent players, coaches and fans.
As for Qatar TV, the daily broadcast hours reached 19 hours of continuous broadcasting, during which the TV presented a new set of programs. On this occasion, it also produced a number of documentaries and a number of songs that were and are still aired, giving an enthusiastic vibe to the screen. The last of which is the song "the land of the World Cup", which was produced by the corporation.
On the radio side, HE the CEO of the QMC said that Qatar's Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Urdu radio stations, in addition to Sout al Khaleej radio station, were all keen to ensure that the coverage of the global event was exceptional and varied in a special program session that takes into account different tastes and interests, reflecting both citizens and the residents, introducing visitors to Qatar, in terms of the customs, traditions and popular heritage, the most important monuments and tourist attractions, in addition to providing information and details of all the events accompanying the World Cup matches, enriched by live broadcast programs to keep the audiences aware of all updates.
Regarding the extent of the economic, cultural and social presence in the daily coverage of the World Cup on the channels and radios of Qatar Media Corporation, His Excellency indicated that the various channels and radios of the Corporation presented many economic, social and cultural programs and reports. For example, it is possible to give the example of "Hala Bikom" program on Qatar TV, which hosted a Qatari family consisting of father, mother and children, to practically shed light on the most important tourist, heritage and cultural sites in the country.
Regarding the level of interaction of the Qatari and Arab audiences with the digital platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) of the corporation, His Excellency said that he is pleased with the level of turnout on the social media platforms of Qatar Media Corporation, as these platforms witnessed many competitions, exclusive coverage, and directing content around the clock, as social media is a two-way conversation, allowing sports fans to interact and feel more connected to the teams and players.
It can be noted here that during the World Cup hosted by Brazil in 2014, for example, football fans tweeted 672 million times on Twitter platform, which is a record for the social network, according to data issued by the platform, and Brazil's defeat (1-7) against Germany was the most tweeted match, with an average of 618,000 tweets per minute (about 10,300 tweets per second). On the day of the launch of this edition of the World Cup Qatar 2022, there were more than 20,000 tweets per second, according to the platform, which is a record number of tweets from the World Cup Qatar 2022, which prompted us more to be present in real time to cover the details of the World Cup on all the social media platforms of the corporation.
His Excellency added that this momentary presence of the corporation was reflected in the interaction of the fans with the media, as the Qatari and Arab interaction with its digital platforms was great, for example, some reports on some digital platforms of Qatar TV, reached one million followers.
To conclude his statement with (QNA), His Excellency stressed that what is distinctive about this edition of the World Cup is that Qatar, although it has made every effort to hold a tournament at a high level of professionalism, has not deviated from its moral principles, as it has shown since the start of the tournament on Nov. 20 until now and it is clearly shown that Qatar was fully prepared and ready, and this was more evident in the design of the stadiums that were completed, and the atmosphere that marked this World Cup, which is being held for the first time in an Arab country.
