Mass media in Qatar
Open-knowledge reference entry
The mass media in Qatar relays information and data in Qatar by means of television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines and the internet. Qatar has established itself as a leading regional figure in mass media over the past decade. Al Jazeera, a global news network which was established in 1996, has become the foundation of the media sector. The country uses media to brand itself and raise its international profile as well as project its soft power.
Despite Al Jazeera being considered to be one of the Middle East's most open media outlets, Qatari authorities enforce stringent restrictions on freedom of local media, including censoring internet services and outlawing criticism of the ruling family. According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2026 journalists continue to face a "draconian system of censorship".
Print media
Newspapers
There are currently seven newspapers in circulation in Qatar, four published in Arabic and three in English, all of which practice significant self-censorship. Qatar's first weekly newspaper, Gulf News, appeared in 1969. Al Arab was the first post-independence newspaper to appear in Qatar, in 1972. Gulf Times was the first English newspaper in Qatar until the arrival of The Peninsula in 1996.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mass media in Qatar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.