Qatar Today

I spotted this magazine while shopping in Food Palace this morning, and bought it along with the nappies and baby milk. I have to admit I expected it to be as bad as the Qatar Business magazine, which I occasionally buy to keep up with things, and which has yet to discover paragraphs let alone decent writing.

However, a glance at the articles revealed both a writing style which is readable and proper use of paragraphs.

Content in the first section of the magazine focuses on Qatar news – not particularly interesting, to be honest, but then they don’t have a lot to work with. It then goes on to look at regional and world issues. There’s a distinct but not exclusive focus on business news.

The magazine then has some features (far too long for me to bother reading) and some shorter articles: The Manager Effect, Mastering the art of Communication, Quest for our roots and so on.

What I liked, though, is that the magazine has not adopted the standard sycophantic style of some other publications here. That’s despite the cover title (“A vote for democracy”) which at first I thought would a sugar coated description of Qatar’s “democracy”.

In fact, in addition to emphasising the “half-hearted” nature of the debate concerning democracy, the magazine goes on to criticise the lack of press freedom in Qatar asking:

“Though official censorship has been lifted, has the pen really been uncapped?”

Overall, the magazine wouldn’t replace an international publication, but at QR10 it’s a bargain for anyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening locally.

Right, I’m off to change the baby’s nappy. I forget to get baby wipes, but luckily I have a copy of Qatar Business which should be up to the job...

Also see:

Qatar Media & Newspapers

Qatar Books

Qatar Visitor e-store (U.S.)

Qatar Visitor E-store (U.K.)

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Qatar Doha Middle East magazines