Qatar: The media strikes back

The initial reaction of Qatari-funded Arabic language media was somewhat measured when Doha’s spat with its three major Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC-3) partner/adversaries first surfaced. Their emphasis was that Qatar New Agency had been hacked and that the controversial items that had been published on QNA were clearly not Doha’s official position. News items and comments emanating from channels like Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Araby TV, as well as Qatari print newspapers, expressed surprise that rival media outlets like the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya or UAE-controlled Sky News Arabia were still running stories that did not take into account Doha’s clarifications.