Outline
Coverage of Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup and the issues of bribery
- The World Cup’s attacks on Qatar.
- Possibilities of improvements.
During the last decade, almost all countries in the Middle East have undergone a number of discussions based on the controversies about the ideas of human rights, gender differences, working and living conditions, high standards, etc. Media continues covering various aspects of the countries’ lives and introduces new approaches and explanations of the events that are occurring there. One of the latest news items that has been recently discussed is the fact that Qatar won the right to host the World Cup in 2022 (Martin, 2015).
In a short period of time, a number of media sources put the decision under serious question. Some people could not understand the reasons for why Qatar, the country with a poor and limited football history, got the rights to host such a significant football event as the World Cup. Some people believe that there was a case of bribery and analyze the issue of 2015 FIFA corruption that helps to enrich people involved in international soccer (Rowe, 2016).
And, some people are still eager to know more about this event and the changes and challenges that are waiting for the country. Media coverage of Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022 proves how crucial the impact of media could be. It is hard to predict the outcomes of media coverage and how the information could be accepted. People use the information from various sources in a number of ways. At the same time, they want to stay unbiased and confident that their opinions are independent and well-grounded.
Further, they cannot even realize how influential media actually is. Looking at the issue of the 2022 World Cup, it is hard to comprehend why so many discussions touch Qatar as the only country with its human rights violations, workers abuses (Rossingh, 2016), or even gender inequality. For example, in Russia, which is also one of the hosting countries in the nearest future, there are many cases workers’ rights violations and misunderstandings (Martin, 2015). Still, not much attention is paid to the conditions under which that country was chosen as one of the FIFA hosts.
The World Cup’s attacks on Qatar
There are many explanations of the media attacks Qatar experienced during the last several months. First, the evident fact that cannot be neglected is the number of times the country participates in such types of events. The Middle East (Qatar in particular) is one of the youngest participants in the World Cup. People know a little about this country, and media wants to participate in the discussions. Still, the nature of such discussions is doubtful indeed, and the line the events are offered to people can hardly be called as credible. There is one source that creates an opinion. There is another source that analyzes the previous opinion.
Finally, there are more sources the authors of which have never visited Qatar but are eager to share their opinions on this country and its opportunities. Therefore, the majority of media attacks on Qatar as a host of the World Cup could be identified as poor attempts to learn more about a new country but not as dangerous threats to the country’s well-being. Unfortunately, media covers the economic issues of the country and compares the same issues of other countries to clarify the differences and weaknesses of both.
The relations between the global media and the sports industry are not economic only. Ginesta (2013) underlines the role of a sociological dimension of the event and its importance for the government as a chance to attract more sports events to the country. As a result, people can get various images of the same country from different sources, but they cannot be confident if the images are of value. The only correct decision that could be chosen is the attention to the information offered by official sources and mentioned in the governmental documents.
Possibilities of improvements
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned facts and ideas, it is possible to say that the majority of media attacks on Qatar can be defined as powerful opportunities for the country to introduce its strengths and abilities. There is no need to ask for the answers to such questions as to why media pays no attention to Russia as a host of the Cup or why Qatar’s working conditions and attitudes on human rights are under numerous discussions.
Qatar can do a lot to improve its image in the media and prove that the majority of negative opinions are false. For example, The Qatar government set a number of goals that should prepare the country for the event, such as the integration of Qatari culture into hosting plans, adaptation of high environmental standards, and the delivery of various resources to the tournaments (“About us,” n.d.). Qatar is ready to take responsibility for every aspect of the event (“Delivery & legacy.” n.d.).
The country and its government focus on quality and safety issues of stadiums and other infrastructure in order to deliver the best services and opportunities for all stakeholders (Churchill, 2014). Still, the main task of the country is to provide the media with the necessary amount of information that can be offered to ordinary people. Qatar is a powerful state with a number of opportunities that cannot be available to many European countries. The values of the Middle East continue gaining popularity and power in a short period. Therefore, media should be ready to accept the fact that Qatar has opportunities to create new high standards in the World Cup that can be unreachable for a number of European countries.
References
About us. (n.d.). Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. Web.
Churchill, N. (2014). From stadiums to the world expo, here’s why the emirates are better suited for FIFA 2022. EdGarDaily. Web.
Delivery & legacy. (n.d.). Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. Web.
Ginesta, X. & Eugenio, J.D.S. (2013). The use of football as a country branding strategy. Case Study: Qatar and the Catalan sports press. Communication & Sport, 2, 225-241. Web.
Martin, J.D. (2015). Opinion: Coverage of Qatar’s world cup mirrors some foreign prejudices. Doha News. Web.
Rossingh, D. (2016). Qatar world cup 2022: FIFA ignoring migrant workers abuses, says amnesty. CNN. Web.
Rowe, D. (2016). Sports journalism and the FIFA scandal: Personalization, co-optation, and investigation. Communication & Sport, 1-19. Web.