Qatar, the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup, has faced an unprecedented campaign of criticism since it was awarded hosting the tournament in 2010. The criticism ascended to calls for a boycott of the tournament by some countries. This campaign has also had an impact on the proliferation of misinformation before the start of the World Cup.
With the opening ceremony approaching, misleading and selective claims regarding World Cup Qatar 2022 are on the rise. This blog sums up some of the widely shared misconceptions published by Western media about FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
An Inaccurate Banner Protesting Qatar’s 2022 World Cup
In an organised effort to protest the Qatar World Cup, which will begin on November 20, fans of Hertha BSC and FC Bayern Munich displayed banners protesting Qatar World Cup’s Organization. The large banner reads: “15.000 dead for 5.760 minutes of football. Shame on you!”
Western media recklessly shared images of the banner in news reports without clarifying whether this statement is true or false.
The death toll of 15,000, which was misleadingly written on the banner, originated from an Amnesty International report. Citing official data released by the Qatari government, the report originally stated that this number represents the total deaths of all non-Qataris of all ages and occupations between 2010 and 2019.
A Misleading Headline in an Article by The Guardian
In February 2021, The Guardian published one of the most famous headlines targeting Qatar. “Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded,” the headline reads.
The article claimed that more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the bid to host the World Cup 10 years ago.
Mark Owen Jones, an Associate Professor of Middle Eastern studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, wrote a Twitter thread explaining how the headline was misleading. According to Jones, although The Guardian had modified the article’s headline to indicate that the deaths occurred over a ten-year period, it continued to imply that these deaths were linked to the World Cup.
Jones emphasized that using the number of “6,500 deaths” without clarifying the diverse causes of death is a form of misinformation.
Jones gave a hypothetical example of monitoring the number of deaths in the U.K. at the beginning of the spread of Covid-19, which amounted to 100,000 deaths. Jones explains that that it can be said that all deaths are related to the pandemic, but the actual deaths caused by the virus itself might not exceed 1% of the original number.
Jones explained that more than 400,000 tweets containing the same information were shared after the article was published by The Guardian in February 2021. It is therefore clear that the headline was interpreted in a way that insinuated that all the deaths occurred in the World Cup preparation sites.
Jones emphasized that many press reports on Qatar and the World Cup were greatly affected by similar statistics. He added that the poor press coverage of other Middle Eastern countries contributed to painting an incorrect and negative picture of the region.
The Qatari Government Communications Office responded to The Guardian's article at the time, in a statement asserting:
“The health and wellbeing of everyone in Qatar is of the utmost importance to the government. Every lost life is a tragedy, and no effort is spared in trying to prevent every death in our country.
More than 1.4 million expatriates from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal live in Qatar. This includes students, seniors, and workers employed across a range of industries. Millions more have lived in Qatar during the last 10 years and returned home. All have contributed to Qatar’s economy and sent home remittances that support their families and home nations.
Unfortunately, of the millions of residents from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal who have lived in Qatar from 2011 to 2019, a very small percentage have sadly passed away. Although each loss of life is upsetting, the mortality rate among these communities is within the expected range for the size and demographics of the population.”
Conflicted Narratives Regarding the Alleged Arrest of a British LGBTQ Activist in Qatar
In October, it was reported that the British LGBTQ rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, held a one-man protest outside the National Museum of Qatar. According to news articles, Tatchell held a placard that reads: “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to conversion,” with the hashtag “#QatarAntiGay.”
Tatchell had announced that he was arrested by the Qatari authorities because of the protest. The Qatari government officials said that claims of an arrest were “completely false.” The incident ignited an uproar online.
In fact, Tatchell was not escorted to a police station, and he was not charged with anything. The activist later commented about the police questioning him to LBC stating that: “They were polite, they didn’t threaten me.” Tatchell adds, “It wasn’t a harsh interrogation under heavy lights or anything.”
Doha News also spoke to the activist shortly after he was approached by police officers, and confirmed he was not detained or arrested, but was questioned on the spot.
British media’s Coverage of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
Since Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, British newspapers such as The Guardian, The Times, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, and Metro have mentioned the word “Qatar” 1,735 times in their headlines. According to an analysis by Mark Owen Jones, 40% (685) of those articles are about hosting the World Cup.
In his analysis, Jones reveals that all 1735 headlines containing the word "Qatar," are linked to the phrase “World Cup." These figures indicate the British media gave importance to Qatar mainly because it is hosting the World Cup.
Apart from key terms such as "Qatar," "FIFA," and "World Cup," the most common term associated with Qatar was "workers," referring to the conditions faced by mostly construction workers building infrastructure in Qatar.
The timeline of articles also reveals some interesting facts. In 2017, the Gulf crisis dominated reports on Qatar. This has reduced the total percentage of articles about the World Cup to just 9%. Out of approximately 685 articles about the World Cup by the British media, about 66% (454) were negative, 29% (201) were neutral, and nearly 5% (33) were positive.
The analysis also examined the British press coverage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Nearly 3% of all articles about Russia, since it had won the bid to host the World Cup till the event took place, revolved around the World Cup. 40% of the article were about Qatar hosting the World Cup.
The analysis also revealed that Western media’s coverage of Russia was generally negative. This is due to several incidents and events, such as reports of massive violations, Russia's downing the Malaysian airliner over Ukrainian territory in 2014, the illegal annexation and invasion of Crimea, the bombing of Syria, and many more. Gay rights cases, the nerve agent poisoning of U.K. residents known as Skripal poisoning, and other cases all happened before the 2018 World Cup and were covered extensively.
However, these issues were unlikely to be mentioned in a headline linked to World Cup in Russia. The most common topic that was linked to the World Cup and calls for a boycott was the Skripal poisoning case. On the other hand, Ukraine was only mentioned about three times in conjunction with the 2018 World Cup.
Given Russia's actions before the 2018 World Cup and Qatar's current situation, it appears that Western media portrays small and less powerful countries negatively.
This was also shown, in studies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The South African government blamed the British media’s negative coverage for the low numbers of foreign visitors.
When it comes to the Middle East, many studies have found that Western media tends to portray Muslims and Arabs negatively. In light of the above-mentioned data, it becomes clear that Western media’s selective coverage shows racist bias and prejudice against Gulf countries.
Researchers even point out that there is an undeniable racism towards Qatar, and towards Arabs and Muslims in general. The extreme right, in particular, was unhappy that an Arab Muslim country will host an event as grand as the World Cup.
Qatar Criticizes the Media Campaign Targeting It
Qatari officials have previously stated that, "It is very difficult for some to understand that an Arab Islamic country is holding this tournament, as if this right cannot be held by an Arab country."
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also spoke up against the campaign that has been targeting Qatar.
“We initially dealt with the matter in good faith, and even considered that some criticism was positive and useful, helping us to develop aspects of ours that need to be developed,” the Emir told Qatar’s legislative council. “But it soon became clear to us that the campaign continues, expands and includes fabrication and double standards, until it reached a level of ferocity that unfortunately made many question the real reasons and motives behind this campaign,” the Emir added.
Translated by Ouissal Harize
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