QNA marks 46 years of news accuracy, objectivity, credibility

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Qatar News Agency (QNA) today celebrates its 46th founding anniversary after being established by Amiri Decree No. 94 of 1975. Since its first day, QNA has been committed to accuracy, objectivity and credibility to establish its mark in the news field and provide a multimedia news service via its round-the-clock bulletins that are transmitted to the recipient as quickly as possible until it has become one of the most prominent Arab and international news agencies. QNA provides its media services in text, image, and video through its main newsletter, in both Arabic and English languages, 24 hours a day. The political leadership’s commitment to media and to ensuring QNA performs its role to the fullest, the news agency has witnessed continuous development in its structure over the past years. That development focused on cadres, equipment, and technologies that kept pace with the latest innovations in the field, whether technical, competencies, or at the news services level, which directly contributed to the improvement of its news bulletins in terms of content and coverage. In the context of QNA’s continuous developing process, a Social Media Unit was created in conjunction with the rebroadcasting of QNA’s Twitter accounts in Arabic and English on May 28, 2018. The Social Media Unit includes young Qatari cadres with previous experience in editing news, uploading videos and photos on social media platforms. The unit publishes photos, videos, and news on QNA’s Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram pages. It also edits short videos of the official missions and international participation of His Highness the Amir as well as the major events taking place in the country. The number of official news agencies dealing with the unit has increased as well as the number of followers of these pages, which strengthens QNA’s status and message among its local and international audiences. QNA has been keen to carry the banner of the official media by being an honest and reliable source of the development of Qatar and its citizen. The agency was a witness to the nation’s achievements, activities, events and initiatives in all fields and sectors internally and abroad. It also filled a great void for the Qatari written, audio, and visual media as it is the main source of reliable local news in adherence to its media mission and national role. Also, QNA contributed to the broadcasting and following-up of important and crucial events and issues on the Arab and international arenas with professionalism and objectivity. QNA stood by the just Arab, Islamic, and humanitarian causes, and was Qatar’s strong voice in supporting the truth in all forums, arenas and on all continents. QNA obtains its news from several sources, foremost among which are the official authorities, ministries, and institutions in the country, a network of correspondents in the major Arab and foreign capitals, and field journalists who cover the official and societal activities in the country, in addition to the news exchange agreements between QNA and several Arab and foreign news agencies. In achieving its media mission, QNA relies on distinguished editors, media professionals, translators, and correspondents, in addition to Arab and international news agencies so it transmits the most important news, including news in foreign languages that are translated into Arabic. QNA’s English bulletin targets a wide range of subscribers and it also feeds English-language press both inside and outside Qatar. QNA’s mission and tasks are to obtain reliable news from various internal and external sources, redistribute it and market it locally and internationally, analyse news and information, prepare comments and studies, according to what matters to local and global public opinion. It is also responsible for developing and implementing a strategy for foreign media, contributing to raising awareness in a way that helps promote and raise the level of the media profession in the country, providing training to media professionals and raising their professional level through continuous training and development programmes, promoting Qatar in the international arena, strengthening ties with various media agencies and personalities abroad, organising journalists’ visits to the country, following up the implementation of media agreements to which the state is a party, and preparing reports on the results, observations, and suggestions in this framework. QNA also exchanges, transfers services and co-operates with regional, Arab and international media bodies, conducting opinion polls and extracting local, Arab and international public perspectives —their classification, issuance, distribution and marketing — by issuing qualitative bulletins in different languages, as well as conducting press investigations to cover topics of interest to public opinion in the state and abroad, distributing and marketing them. It also works on preparing studies, research and specialised publications of interest to local, Arab and international public opinion, as well as issuing, distributing and marketing them, and providing news services that are illustrated and read, and works on publishing them in the media, in addition to participating in media exhibitions and press conferences, and media coverage of conferences and events inside the state and abroad. In 2014, the Amiri Decision No.(50) was issued organising QNA into a number of administrative units, including the Office of Director-General, and the Departments of Internal Audit, Planning and Quality, Legal Affairs, Public Relations and Communication, Shared Services, Data Analysis and Documentation, Editorial Management and Media Monitoring, News Administration, Foreign Media, and Technical Affairs. The specialisations of the news administration department include studying and evaluating the news issued from different media sources either in Arabic or other languages, reviewing the news before it is broadcast, ensuring its validity for publication, and specifying the channels to which the news will be broadcast, in accordance with the agency’s general policies. In addition to working on illustrated news items of the most important events in the media, in accordance with the agency’s policies, and issuing specialised and qualitative bulletins in all fields, or broadcasting them online via the agency’s news website, and determining the types of news and the entity to which the news will be directed. As for the Editorial Management and Media Monitoring Department, it specialises in many areas including accessing local, Arab and international newspapers and following up on published news, especially those related to the state and monitoring the news issued by radio and television stations, or that are broadcast by news agencies, compiling and analysing them, and referring them to the News Department. It also follows up on the various news sources and publications issued to provide the news material in the agency with high efficiency, in addition to working on various researches and studies, translating the news received in foreign languages, and re-editing them. The Public Relations and Communication Department specialties include issuing brochures and information programs aimed at introducing the agency’s role, activities and competencies, in co-ordination with the concerned administrative units, and organising conferences, seminars and exhibitions held by the agency. The Foreign Media Department specialises in following up with media institutions, whether inside the state or abroad, submitting reports in their regard to be referred to the competent authority, in addition to organising exhibitions and conferences and participating in them, as well as establishing an archive for media professionals, following up on their activities, granting licenses to them, and supervising the implementation of the agency’s media policy. MENAFN26052021000067011011ID1102146617