DOHA: The Doha Center for Media Freedom (DCMF) in collaboration with the Qatar University is conducting a study on the Qatari media.
The research aims to study the extent to which Qatar’s media environment ensures freedom of expression, plurality and diversity of media using Unesco’s Media Development Indicators (MDIs). The MDI methodology was endorsed in 2008 by the Intergovernmental Council of Unesco’s International Programme for the Development of Communication.
The MDI framework covers all aspects of the media environment and is structured around five categories: Regulation; Plurality and diversity of the media; Media as a platform for democratic discourse; Professional capacity building; and Infrastructural capacity.
MDI assessments have been conducted in Arab countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia but it will be the first of its kind in the GCC region.
“Unfortunately, the local media in Qatar has not received enough attention from researchers around the world like Aljazeera network did,” said Roos Meertens, Senior Coordinator of the Research Department at DCMF.
Dr Mahmoud M Galander, Associate Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Mass Communication at Qatar University said, “Qatar is emerging as one of the most vibrant countries in the region; and as the prominence of Qatar in international politics is on the rise, it becomes important to monitor and evaluate the state and performance of its media in such a period.”
The Peninsula
