Qatar rebrands its Media to meet new policy – Media serves as soft power

The new station is to be an Arabic-language news channel based in London and broadcasting across the Arab world. It is one of several new media ventures launched under the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who succeeded his father in June and is seeking to put his own stamp on the country’s vast soft power machine.

Media outlets serve as Qatar’s main soft power tool on the international stage, especially the Doha-based television network Al Jazeera. And since Al Jazeera has become somewhat of a political liability, Sheikh Tamim is carving a new way ahead, discarding Qatar’s old agenda for a new one, more in tune with GCC countries’ foreign policy.

“My view is that it’s the emir trying to be his own man,” said Andrew Hammond, a Middle East analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “He hasn’t really emerged from the shadow of his father.”