Qatar Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
November 2, 2011
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Middle East and North Africa MSI in 2005.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download the Complete Qatar MSI Chapter (PDF): 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2005
MSI Qatar - 2009 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.84
Several dramatic and controversial developments affected Qatar's media sector in 2009. The government announced that it will unveil its first media law in 30 years by the end of 2010, to replace the outdated Press and Publications Law. For the last several decades, this law has restricted procedures on the establishment of newspapers and stipulated criminal penalties and prison sentences for libel and slander. The media community is not optimistic that the new law will work in its favor, though, as preliminary statements surrounding the draft of the new law hint toward greater regulation.
Another event that shook the media community was the resignation, under duress, of Robert Ménard, director-general of Doha Center for Media Freedom. Qatar's journalists have long suffered from the absence of a professional association to protect their rights, and Ménard ran afoul of the authorities by highlighting the need for an independent body to defend journalists. He claimed that Qatari authorities had "suffocated" the organization, and he protested the country's refusal to reform the "obsolete" and "repressive" laws governing the media that made it impossible for the organization to criticize any other country for imposing restrictions on media freedom.
Although the influential Arabic-language news television network Al Jazeera has raised Qatar's media profile, journalism in the country still has many hurdles to overcome. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press in accordance with the law, but the government limits these rights in practice. The state owns all broadcasting outlets, and most print outlets have close ties to the government. In response, journalists and publishers continue to self-censor due to political and economic pressures when reporting on government policies or material deemed hostile to Islam, the ruling family, and relations with neighboring states.
The growth of the Internet and new media is providing an alternative platform. Most news outlets have associated websites, and there were 430,000 Internet users by the end of 2009. But, the authorities continue to filter political criticism, material deemed offensive to Islam, pornographic content, and online privacy resources.
