A fortune’s coming dwelling: how British PR companies gained large representing Qatar | World Cup 2022

When British journalists had been writing concerning the therapy of migrant employees constructing World Cup stadiums, they could have anticipated to obtain a cellphone name from a Qatari primarily based in Doha, pushing again on their accusations. As an alternative, newspapers discovered themselves being contacted by Britons similar to George Pascoe‑Watson, a former political editor of the Solar, difficult the premise of their story and providing a extra pro-Qatari viewpoint.

Pascoe-Watson is a senior associate at Portland, a high-end London-based public relations and lobbying firm based by Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair. It’s one in all many British‑primarily based companies who benefited from spinning on behalf of the Qatari authorities earlier than the World Cup, pushing the Gulf nation’s case within the media, and arguing towards destructive protection.

As a result of whereas England as soon as once more failed to win the World Cup, London’s lobbyists and attorneys engaged on the competitors have accomplished their greatest to make sure a fortune’s coming dwelling.

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“There’s been a really effectively‑organised and well-resourced marketing campaign in place,” stated Nicholas McGeehan, a longtime campaigner on migrant workers’ rights in the region. “Arguments have been constructed very successfully to deflect consideration from honest and proportionate criticism.”

One of many causes for the heavy presence of British PR representatives is that criticism of Qatar’s bid – whether or not the alleged corruption (denied by Qatar) concerned in securing the internet hosting rights, the therapy of migrant employees, or its lack of LGBTQ+ rights – has been led by UK newspapers such because the Guardian and the Sunday Instances. Whereas German and Scandinavian information retailers have additionally investigated these points, it’s the English-language media that are simpler to learn world wide.

Portland declined to touch upon the character of its work in Qatar, though it has an workplace in Doha and has been engaged on numerous Qatari-related contracts since a minimum of 2014. Early challenges included coping with the detention of a BBC journalist within the nation and serving to to arrange a weblog that criticised opponents of the country hosting the tournament. However as time progressed, journalists reporting on the World Cup preparations stated the efforts to enhance Qatar’s picture within the British press turned smarter and extra delicate.

Particularly, they obtain pushback from representatives of Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary basic of the World Cup’s organising committee. He’s a Qatari nationwide who attended sixth-form faculty in Scunthorpe earlier than finding out regulation on the College of Sheffield and is alleged to take British criticism personally. One British reporter who has handled Thawadi claimed: “He’s completely satisfied that he’s this liberal man who actually cares about employees’ rights and situations. He’s mortified that the world would consider him as simply one other uncaring Qatari. He telephones his PR folks in fury every time there’s a destructive headline about what’s taking place in Qatar being all the way down to him. And he could also be much less worse than the overwhelming majority of the Qatari elite, as a result of they don’t care about migrant employees.”

With UK newspapers typically importing their tales to their web sites round midnight, newsdesks turned used to Qataris on a special time zone waking up within the early hours of the morning and demanding alterations.

One Briton who performed an essential position within the World Cup press operation is Richard Conway, who as a BBC Sport correspondent in 2018 produced an upbeat report on the preparations for the Qatar World Cup while riding a camel across the desert. A couple of months later he left journalism to type his personal PR company and has been working completely on the Qatar World Cup for a number of years. Journalists who’ve handled him say he has adopted a hands-off method, performing as an off-the-cuff conduit and enabling conversations by inviting critics of the World Cup and distinguished newspaper journalists to off-the-record conferences with senior Qatari officers at London motels.

Many Britons additionally work for the Qatari division of Teneo Blue Rubicon, a PR company that has labored arduous to advertise the nation, whereas journalists who’ve written critically concerning the nation have additionally obtained authorized letters from the regulation agency Carter Ruck. Neither firm returned a request for touch upon the character of their work within the nation.

One of many gripes amongst Qatari officers is that they’ve obtained criticism for adopting related ways to regional rivals similar to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Guardian has beforehand reported on extravagantly funded events held in London the place MPs and former footballers obtained massive charges from an unknown supply, all with the intention of constructing opposition to the Qatar World Cup. The organiser of that occasion additionally approached the previous Conservative election chief Sir Lynton Crosby – whose firm already carried out work for Saudi Arabia – and discussed a £5.5m influence campaign to strip Qatar of the appropriate to host the World Cup.

These nations additionally spent tens of hundreds of thousands of kilos on lobbying campaigners aimed toward western politicians and media retailers, with Qatar feeling they’d the appropriate to combat hearth with hearth.

Regardless of this, there’s little doubt amongst Qatar’s critics that the choice to host the World Cup has in the end remodeled the nation’s world standing within the media. Low expectations and moral considerations had been in the end dialled down in media protection because the soccer started. Paid influencers have flooded TikTok with upbeat tales from Doha.

And based on McGeehan, who now runs the FairSquare NGO, some of the efficient ways in the course of the event has been to argue that criticism of Qatar is Orientalism, or anti-Arab: “ PR particular person understands how that’s going to play effectively with specific audiences who’re delicate to expenses like that. It led to individuals who would usually be thought of as allies on this to primarily interact within the counter-debate, quite than the controversy what the problems are.”