Sports, media and World Cup in focus at QU seminar

With a funding from Qatar National Research Fund obtained by Dr Moez Ben Messaoud, the mass communication department at Qatar University's (QU) College of Arts and Sciences organised a two-day international scientific conference on 'Media, Sports and Marketing Mechanisms of Qatar 2022: Challenges and Potentials'.

The conference, co-ordinated by Dr Messaoud, associate professor of strategic communication in the department of media, brought together a number of Arab and non-Arab intellectuals and professionals working in the media, marketing and advertising sector. Participants presented their perceptions regarding the promotion and marketing mechanisms of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and highlighted its impact on Qatar's image and the ability to promote it as a tourist destination and a cultural capital.The event discussed the importance of international sporting events in promoting the image of Qatar as a World Cup organising country and consolidating its national and regional identity rooted in its Arab and Islamic affiliation. The recommendations will serve the World Cup 2022 communication and marketing activity, QU said in a statement.Dr Jamel Zran from Manouba University, Tunisia, asserted that sports, like communication, is a social phenomenon that is strongly present in all societies and constantly transforming, which makes it a scientific topic that interferes in its multidisciplinary interpretation. The relationship between communication and sports is a structural one, Zran said.Dr Abdellatif Ben Sfiaa, director of the Higher Institute of Information and Communication, Rabat, Morocco, focused on a presentation titled 'International Sports Events and Betting on the Media: Qatar 2022 and Managing Media Performance', dealing with the importance of the Olympic Games, world and continental championships, and the role of the media in managing their potentials.Dr Noureddine Miladi, professor of mass communication at QU, indicated in his presentation, 'Media, Sports and the Formation of National Identity', that some media and communication scholars believe that identity, in the modern nation-state, is no longer formed through traditional means only. The nation's image is rather built through national institutions such as museums, educational systems and the media, he said.In a presentation titled 'Sports and football as catalysts for building local identity and highlighting soft power: BeIN Sports channel as a model', Dr Sebastian Sons, a researcher at the Centre for Applied Research in Partnership with Orient in Germany, pointed out that in recent years, sports - and football in particular - has become a relevant factor in building identity in member-states of the Gulf Co-operation Council. Dr Hala Guta and Dr Eiman Issa from the mass communication department of QU gave a presentation titled 'Marketing the State of Qatar’s Sports Identity on TikTok: #The Road Towards 2022' and emphasised the importance of using social media to promote the identity of Qatar as a sports centre.Dr Khaled Ghulam, dean of the College of Media and Arts at the University of Tripoli in Libya, through a paper titled 'The Impact of Sports Identity on the Representations of the Mental Image of the West towards Arabs' shed light on the importance of the role of sports in changing the West’s stereotypical view of Third World countries in general and Arab countries in particular.Dr Fouad Abdel Aziz focused, in a presentation titled 'The Formation of the Mental Image for Viewers of Sports Pictures', on the importance of sports in bringing people together and fuelling the feelings of “national spirit”. On the second day of the international scientific symposium, Dr Abdalmotalab Saddiq Makki presented a paper titled 'Sports Discourse and the Dilemma of Hate and Racism'. The topic revolved around the fact that sports is an arena for competition that calls for a commitment to honour this contest so that it does not turn into a battle of conflict, hostility and possibly fighting, as was said in many countries. Dr Mohamed Jouili, professor of sociology at the University of Tunis, focused in a presentation titled 'Football as a Social Demand', on the importance of shifting interest in football from a mere competitive game perspective to an interest in it as part of the social demand for a spectacle, the states’ political challenges, and the continuous process of building local, national and international identities. In a presentation titled 'Sports diplomacy or soft power', Adel Brinsi explained the importance of investing in sports as a means for countries to achieve the cherished foreign policy, build their soft power, shape their mental image and pave the right way for peoples from different cultures to exchange relations.During the discussion session, Khaled al-Naama, director of the Digital Media Department and official spokesperson for the SC, stressed the importance of the communication work carried out by the Supreme Committee to promote World Cup activities and the work done by the digital media in this process.The symposium also hosted Ahmed Ghassab al-Hajri from Qatar Media Corporation and journalist Amer al-Titawi. At the end of the symposium, Dr Ben Messaoud, gave a presentation on a book project as an important outcome of the symposium and of the research grant obtained. The book, titled 'Media and Sports: Representations, Approaches and Intersections', will include a number of chapters by prominent academics from QU and Arab and non-Arab universities and will be an important addition to the Arab library due to the scarcity of writings in this field.