- The Qatar Supreme Committee has issued an apology to Danish broadcaster TV2.
- One of their reporters was threatened by the security staff while they were live on air.
- Rasmus Tantholdt was reporting from Qatar in the days leading up to the opening match of the FIFA World Cup.
After one of their reporters was threatened by the security staff while they were live on air, the Qatar Supreme Committee was forced to issue an apology to the Danish broadcaster TV2.
When TV2 reporter Rasmus Tantholdt was reporting from Qatar in the days leading up to the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, he was approached by a member of the security staff who was riding a golf buggy and asked him to turn off the camera.
Because filming was forbidden in that location, he made a threat to destroy the reporter’s camera. Tantholdt can be heard switching to English and confirming to the security guard that he was granted permission to shoot in the area. This can be heard in the recording.
“You have invited the whole world here. Why can’t we film? It is a public place,” he says.
The video has quickly spread throughout social media platforms.
You can see him presenting his press card to the officer as evidence and telling him that he is free to “film anywhere” he chooses. It is possible to make out him saying, “We have the invitation.”
However, while he was talking, someone held the camera’s lens and warned the journalist that it was going to be damaged.
Tantholdt confirmed the news on Twitter on Wednesday morning, stating that he had received an apology from both the Qatar International Media Office and the Qatar Supreme Committee. On the other hand, he said that he was worried about other media outlets and reporters being subjected to the same thing.
He questioned whether or not it would occur in other forms of media as well.
During an interview with another Norwegian news organisation called NRK, he shared his thoughts, saying, “I don’t think the message from the top in Qatar has reached all of the security guards.”
He stated that Qatar was not a “free and democratic country” and that his “experience after visiting 110 countries in the world is: The more you have to hide, the more difficult it is to report from there.” He was referring to the fact that the more difficult it is to report from a country, the more countries that country has visited.
Qatar, which was given the rights to host the 2022 World Cup 12 years ago, is coming under intense scrutiny for alleged violations of human rights and is being harshly criticised for the approach it has taken.
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