News Exercise #87

Even the most liberal Islamic state, Qatar, seems to have human rights concerns. FIFA requires media freedom in order to host the World Cup, so the BBC have tested this…

Questions:
1) Why were the BBC in Qatar?
The Qatar government had invited them to see the accommodation they had set up for migrant workers.
2) What did the reporter call the people who had been assigned to accompany him?
He called them “PR minders”. A “minder” can be a bodyguard, but also a supervisor.
3) What happened to the BBC team?
Eight cars belonging to the state security service drove them off the road and arrested them. They were treated like spies and were interrogated separately.Their cameras were seized. They were cut off from the outside world, and were not allowed to make any calls for two nights in a filthy prison.
4) According to the Amnesty International worker, what is the Qatar government trying to do here, and what does he think they should be doing?
He says they are trying to intimidate the media into not reporting on the migrant worker abuse. He says instead, they should simply stop the abuse.