Journalists Contribute to Qatar’s Democratic Growth

Effective and ethical reporting is vital to a meaningful election, and efforts continue to be made to help ensure that the Qatari press will be ready when national, Parliamentary elections are eventually inaugurated in Qatar.  Meanwhile, journalists in Qatar can combine expanded knowledge of democratic processes, greater cognizance of ethical standards, and improved methodology to generate investigative and substantive reporting that will contribute to the civic engagement and political awareness of all Qataris. 

With these aims in mind, Qatari and expatriate journalists took part in a series of professional workshops on campaign and election coverage, and government and investigative reporting.  Supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Local Grants program, journalism professors Martha and Brian Steffens from the University of Missouri, in conjunction with Qatar's pioneer media institute Darinfo/Dar Al Sharq, conducted the latest workshop in January 2008 for 65 enthusiastic journalists. Participants developed strategies for covering eventual Shura Council elections, and fulfilling the role of the press in helping the public understand democratic development and processes.  In conjunction with this same program, Steffens had in 2007 led a workshop for journalists in preparation for the Municipal Council elections; which concluded with the journalists’ outlining a code of conduct for election coverage.

In addition to training on voter registration, campaigns, voting, taking office, and dealing with rumors, participating journalists have been trained on interviewing techniques, analyzing data, and elections rules. The journalists also examined techniques and standards for using anonymous comments while ensuring the credibility of the story, and discussed needs and concerns for pushing the envelope of self-censorship - including the special considerations that non-citizen journalists might have.

At the end of the training, journalists requested similar future training and were eager to apply new professional techniques in their future election coverage and daily writings, according to Professor Steffens.  "The workshop led by Professor Steffens and her husband Brian represents a major step in the preparation for coverage of the Shura elections”, Darinfo Director Yahya Adam told the Peninsula.

The event was covered in the Peninsula January 9, January 27, January 28, and January 30.