Doha, May 24 (QNA) - Qatar News Agency (QNA) will celebrate its 47th anniversary on Wednesday, after it was established with Amiri decision no. 94 for 1975.
The agencys success wouldnt have been possible without the support of HH the Amir, the government, and embracing an environment that encourages the freedom of press, in addition to the relentless commitment of QNAs workers and leaders to informing the public.
The News Department in the Qatar News Agency consists of a mosaic of dedicated sections and units. To start with, there's the Arabic Editorial Section, then there is the Foreign Editorial Section that includes the English Editorial Unit which is responsible for translating news, reports, tweets, and interviews from English to Arabic, and vice versa. Furthermore, the Unit is responsible for covering important events that take place in the country, via an English editor on the ground. In addition, the English Unit monitors local and international websites in order to prepare reports and collect news to be disseminated in Arabic.
On the other hand, a study is underway looking into the establishment of a French Editorial Division emanating from Qatar News Agencys commitment to expand its operations.
The Economic Section is responsible for providing coverage of all economic events and activities in Qatar.
The Local Unit, on the other hand, covers political, social, health, educational, labor, and other events and conferences, in addition to conducting reports, and exclusive interviews with ministers and officials in the country, but also with guests of Qatar, foreign ambassadors, and Qatari ambassadors abroad.
The Cultural Section follows all kinds of happenings on the cultural scene in Qatar, performing interviews with officials in local, cultural, and artistic centers and administrations. The Section further covers all conferences and festivals, in addition to cultural, literary, artistic and scientific seminars. Moreover, the Cultural Section is responsible for monitoring the most important news agencies, and websites be it Arab or Foreign, plus websites of international organization dedicated to culture.
The Sports Section focuses on sports events, championships, and competition inside and outside Qatar.
The State of Qatar has proven itself during the past period its leadership in the Middle East region. Qatar has secured its title as an Arab and International sports capital, through its hosting and organizing of a various number of championships, events, and activities that asserts day after day the unique international standing that Doha has gotten to in the region, especially as it prepares for hosting the World Cup Championship.
QNA also relies on a network of correspondents all over the Arab world and in various capitals across the globe. They conduct interviews with important officials, in addition to covering Qatars participation in various international events.
The Research Department is responsible for writing reports on various political and economic topics. They also complement the coverage of official visits made by HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and the visits of other world leaders to Qatar. The departments reports also follow up on major events in the country and the most important and prominent Arab issues and events and international crises.
Regarding the Editorial Photography Section, it deals with the press coverage of all state institutions and activities, including conferences, exhibitions, and meetings with important personalities, it also takes photos of conferences, exhibitions, dialogues and important meetings with Qatari officials or guests from outside the country at their various levels, and covers the official tasks of a number of senior officials that were assigned to it from participation, visits, or attendance of regional and international conferences and meetings. This section also works on a documentation project for the important and cultural landmarks of Qatar, including documenting and photographing (Stadiums - Lusail City - Gardens - Heart of Doha - Qatar Rail and others).
In Nov. 28, Qatar News Agency (QNA) launched its website www.qna.org.qa with its new look as part of its development plan to become more interactive and keep pace with technological developments and to reach the largest number of browsers and users. In March, 27, QNA launched its new electronic application (QNA News2) for smart phones, as part of QNA's efforts, to highlight all political, economic, social, cultural and sports activities in the country, and to keep pace with the developments of regional and international events.
Arabic Editorial Section in QNA is constantly keen, through its entire press crew, to raise its performance professionally, to diversify its news and reports, and to develop media work within the section by implementing plans that focus on improving the image of the press content of the news and its ease of access to the recipient.
In the context of continuous development, the News Department continued to work on developing "Twitter" and "Instagram", in addition to "Telegram" and "Facebook", as well as preparing short videos about the visits and meetings of HH the Amir, and the infographics were added (a clipped compound of information" and graphics) to Twitter, Instagram and the agency's website, and adding video service to the agency's press interviews and coverage of events taking place in the country.
QNA's Digital Content section keeps pace with important news and events in Qatar and abroad through designs that highlight the most important thing in the news in an attractive visual style, and focus on shortening the information and highlighting the main axes according to a vision that combines the beauty of the visual aspect and the accuracy of information, it also covers festivals and events organized in the country and prepares videos that include QNA's exclusive statements.
As for the social media unit at the Arabic Editorial section, it continued to develop the services it provides through Twitter, Instagram and Telegram apps. A special twitter account for sports was created that includes all sports events published on the agency's bulletin and other important news prepared by the unit's editor, and the publication of agency news on the "Facebook" application was activated. The posts of QNA's news on Facebook account has also been activated, and the post of breaking news has also been activated. The unit has developed its digital services by making more infographics, which were previously limited to the weather, the Cabinet and the Stock Exchange, nowadays it includes infographics for economic, sports and political news, and the video service has also developed after it was limited to the videos of HH the Amir, it now includes coverage of local events, and more hashtags are attached to the news, whether sports or public, according to the events, as well as the publication of the Cabinet's infographic on the "Telegram" application.
As the Qatar News Agency (QNA) enters today a new year, its commitment to accuracy and development is firm and unchanging to continue providing its media services in word, image and video through its main newsletter, in Arabic and English 24 hours a day.
Over the past years, there has been a continuous development in its structure, cadres, devices, and technologies that kept pace with the latest developments in the means of communication to catch up with everything new and developed, whether at the technical level or at the level of competencies or news services, which directly contributed to the advancement of its publications in terms of form and content, and the volume of coverage locally and globally.
The Qatar News Agency has accompanied over the past years, the comprehensive renaissance process in Qatar, and the various important political and economic events that the country is witnessing, and what these events reflect on the growing role of the State of Qatar in regional, Arab, and international forums.
QNA was also keen to carry the banner of the official media and was the honest and faithful mirror for the development and building of Qatar, the nation, and the citizen, it was a witness to the nation's achievements, events, activities and initiatives in all fields and sectors, both internally and externally, it also filled a huge void for the Qatari written, audio and video media as the main source of reliable local news, in compliance with its media mission and national role, contributed to the professional and objective reporting and follow-up of important and hot events and issues on the Arab and international arenas, and it stood firmly on the side of the just Arab, Islamic and humanitarian issues, and was the victorious strong voice of Qatar for truth in all forums, fields and continents.
The agency obtains its news from several sources, foremost of which are the official bodies, ministries and institutions in the country, accredited correspondents in the most important Arab and foreign capitals, and field journalists who follow up on official and community activities in the country, in addition to the news exchange agreements between the Qatar News Agency and a number of Arab and foreign news agencies.
To perform its media mission, QNA relies on distinguished competencies of editors, media professionals, translators, and correspondents, in addition to Arab and international news agencies, transmitting the most important news, including news in foreign languages that are translated into Arabic. Issued in English, whether inside or outside Qatar.
The agencys mission and tasks are to obtain reliable news from various internal and external sources, redistribute and market it locally and globally, analyze news and information, prepare comments and studies of what concerns local, Arab and international public opinion, and issue, distribute and market them, it also undertakes, in particular, the development and implementation of a strategy for the external media, and contribution to spreading media awareness, which helps in strengthening and raising the level of the media message in the country, rehabilitating and training media workers, and raising their professional level through continuous training and development programs, introducing Qatar to the media on the Arab and international arenas, consolidating and documenting relations with various media agencies and personalities abroad, organizing media visits to the country, following up on the implementation of media agreements to which the State is a party, and preparing reports with the results, observations and suggestions necessary in this framework.
The Qatar News Agency (QNA) also undertakes the exchange and transfer of services and cooperation with local, Arab and international media, conducting opinion polls, extracting local, Arab and international public opinion trends, classifying, issuing, distributing and marketing them, by issuing qualitative bulletins in different languages, as well as carrying out press investigations to cover topics of interest to public opinion at home and abroad, distributing and marketing them, photographing local and international events, preparing them for distribution and documentation, and marketing them, and preparing studies, research and specialized publications of interest to local, Arab and international public opinion, issuing, distributing and marketing them, providing illustrated and readable news services, preparing media materials that include the most important state news, publish them in the media, participating in media exhibitions, press conferences, and media coverage of conferences and events inside and outside.
In 2014, Amiri Decision No. (50) was issued to organize the Qatar News Agency, which consists of a number of administrative units: the Office of the Director-General, the Internal Audit Department, the Planning and Quality Department, the Legal Affairs Department, the Public Relations and Communication Department, and the Shared Services Department, the Data Analysis and Documentation Department, the Editorial and Media Monitoring Department, the News Department, the External Information Affairs Department, and the Technical Affairs Department. (QNA)