FIFA World Cup in Qatar imposes stringent restrictions on the media
The most recent reports indicate that television crews working in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup have been prohibited from conducting interviews with individuals inside their own houses. This restriction is likely to have a significant impact on the coverage provided by the media. You can find out more about this breaking news by reading the complete article. Yesterday evening, Qatar’s supreme committee denied putting “chilling” limits on the freedoms of the media and said, “Many regional and international media outlets have their headquarters in Qatar, and each year, hundreds of journalists report from Qatar freely and without interference.”
It stated that an earlier version of its film permit application terms that appeared on its website had been updated to relax the rules for broadcasters attending the World Cup. It stated specifically that it had removed a rule requiring broadcasters to “acknowledge and agree” that they would not produce reports that were “inappropriate or offensive to Qatari culture or Islamic principles.”
Even though the more recent rules state that filming is permitted throughout the entire state of Qatar, they still appear to impose stringent restrictions. One of these restrictions is that broadcasters must agree “not to capture film or photography at excluded locations” in order to be eligible for a permit. The terms of the permit say that shooting is not allowed in places like “residential premises, private companies, and industrial zones,” as well as “government, educational, health, and religious structures.”
The rules also say that broadcasters must “respect the privacy of individuals” and not film them or their properties without their “express prior approval”.Fifa said it was “working with the supreme committee and relevant organizations in Qatar to ensure the best possible working conditions for media attending the tournament, as well as ensuring that broadcasters continue to report freely without any restrictions.”
Jemimah Steinfeld, editor-in-chief at Index on Censorship, said the film permit conditions were a “definite cause for concern” and appeared to be “purposely ambiguous” so that broadcasters would “err on the side of caution”.She said her gut feeling was she felt they should not agree to such terms but said it was “extremely difficult terrain” to navigate. “The question is whether there might be stories that they can still do within the realms of that agreement, and is it more important that they do those stories? ” she said. “If the BBC is basically being shoved into a position where all they can cover is the glory of it, then that would be a bad outcome.”