Advancing Freedom of Expression

Pioneering Efforts in Serving Freedom of Speech

In 1994, Dr. Hamad was appointed Minister of Information, and received clear instructions to expand media freedom in Qatar, eventually allowing the abolition of censorship. At that time, satellite channels were not widely known, and radio played the primary role, and to some extent terrestrial television stations.

The leadership asked him to propose a radio program that would achieve the greatest degree of freedom from the topics and personalities participating in it, and to be a model to be followed after that. A model was prepared that developed until it reached an unprecedented level of freedom.

It was the program (Issues and Opinions) from Qatar Radio, which was a qualitative leap that everyone took notice of and brought joy to those who loved freedom of speech, but they found those who fought it and sought to stop it. Dr. Hamad was calling on everyone to accept freedom of the press as it is the inevitable language of the age.

In 1994, an intense media war took place between Qatar and Saudi Arabia regarding the political situation in Yemen. The Qatari media supported the unity of Yemen while the Saudi media encouraged secession. The Qatari media represented Qatari TV and Qatari Radio, while the Saudi media represented MBC, which was the first international satellite station.

This made the leadership in the State of Qatar realize that the world had changed, and that the Qatari media must be developed to achieve the desired role. This was one of the precursors to the birth of Al Jazeera, and on November 2, 1995, Al Jazeera was born.