Tweets About Qatar Around the World–Who's Setting the Agenda?

Shahan Ali Memon, Rohith Krishnan Pillai, Ingmar Weber, Yelena Mejova, Susan Dun

Abstract: After winning the bid for the FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar albeit a small country in both size and population, has spurred significant international interest not just in the professional media but also on social media. Many international press agencies have closely monitored Qatar, typically reporting many points of contention. In the media in countries like the US and the UK, the discussion, which tends to focus on the preparation for the 2022 World Cup, is generally led by a few major players including the Guardian, and the Washington Post. Most of the recent coverage related to Qatar in public news channels and media portrays Qatar in a negative light, especially focusing on issues regarding migrant workers and allegations regarding improprieties in the FIFA bid. This recent trend in “Qatar bashing” in the media is damaging to the image of Qatar internationally. However, looking beyond professional news coverage, these topics appear to have also entered public discussions through social media such as Twitter. Topics such as migrant workers' deaths, and recent controversies in the World Cup bid are being discussed by the general public around the world in such social media platforms.