The Qatar World Cup, Sports Journalism and Human Rights

Grant Wahl
November 15, 2022
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Zoom - Link sent to registrants the day of the event

Date Range
2022-11-15 12:00:00 2022-11-15 13:00:00 The Qatar World Cup, Sports Journalism and Human Rights The men’s World Cup kicks off in Qatar Nov. 20. According to FIFA, the sport’s governing body, the 2018 World Cup drew more than 3.5 billion viewers and the championship game was seen live by more than one billion people. According to the UN there are about 8 billion people in the world. Not all of that attention is on the matches. The countries that host the tournament draw attention as well - and not all of that attention is positive. This year’s tournament has raised questions about human rights in Qatar, and “sports washing” in general. Join the Project on Ethics in Political Communication and the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication for a conversation about how much attention journalists covering the most watched sporting event on the planet should pay to non-soccer topics - and if so, how they can get that coverage right. Prof. Silvio Waisbord, the Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University will lead a discussion with soccer journalist Grant Wahl and Arabian Peninsula expert Prof. Neha Vora of Lafayette College. Grant Wahl (pictured) is one of the top soccer journalists in the US. His pre-World Cup writing includes the need to pay attention to the human toll of constructing the stadia, hotels and infrastructure the World Cup requires. He has covered World Cups for Sports Illustrated, CBS and Fox Sports. His books include The Beckham Experiment and Masters of Modern Soccer. Prof. Neha Vora, is an anthropologist at Lafayette College. Her writing includes the books Impossible Citizens: Dubai’s Indian Diaspora; Teach for Arabia: American Universities, Liberalism, and Transnational Qatar; and Beyond Exception: New Interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula (co-authored with Ahmed Kanna and Amelie Le Renard). Register for the event here Want to learn more? Check out the below (to which we will keep adding). This is far from an exhaustive list of articles. A lot of smart people are offering a lot of thoughtful perspectives on the complicated questions of the intersections of sport and society. Grant Wahl World Cup host Qatar enacted new laws that it said would improve conditions for migrant workers. But are those laws being followed? We went to Qatar and spoke to workers at 14 FIFA hotels in Doha. Neha Vora and Natalie Koch The World Cup and Immigration: Looking Ahead to Qatar 2022 The New Republic Will World Cup Reporters Let Qatar Get Away With Their Human Rights Abuses? Amnesty International FIFA should match $440m World Cup prize money to fund major compensation programme for abused migrant workers The Athletic U.S. Soccer approaches Qatar World Cup with a focus on human rights issues The Guardian Qatar World Cup accused of imposing ‘chilling’ restrictions on media Human Rights Watch FIFA World Cup: All Sponsors Should Back Remedies for Workers ESPN World Cup: Denmark kit to protest Qatar's human rights record at 2022 tournament AP Fox to avoid World Cup off-field controversy in Qatar Sport, Ethics and Philosophy (academic journal) Sportswashing: Complicity and Corruption Sport Sensemaker - Paul Hayward Qatar Parks the Bus Doha News Australia’s national team urges ‘lasting legacy’ in Qatar ahead of World Cup Reuters Exclusive: Thousands of workers evicted in Qatar's capital ahead of World Cup Marc Owen Jones Well documented thread on the popular, and incorrect, claim 6,500 migrant workers have died building World Cup stadia. Natasha Iskander Does Skill Make Us Human?: Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond (book) Zoom - Link sent to registrants the day of the event America/New_York public

The men’s World Cup kicks off in Qatar Nov. 20. According to FIFA, the sport’s governing body, the 2018 World Cup drew more than 3.5 billion viewers and the championship game was seen live by more than one billion people. According to the UN there are about 8 billion people in the world.

Not all of that attention is on the matches. The countries that host the tournament draw attention as well - and not all of that attention is positive. This year’s tournament has raised questions about human rights in Qatar, and “sports washing” in general.

Join the Project on Ethics in Political Communication and the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication for a conversation about how much attention journalists covering the most watched sporting event on the planet should pay to non-soccer topics - and if so, how they can get that coverage right.

Prof. Silvio Waisbord, the Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University will lead a discussion with soccer journalist Grant Wahl and Arabian Peninsula expert Prof. Neha Vora of Lafayette College.

Grant Wahl (pictured) is one of the top soccer journalists in the US. His pre-World Cup writing includes the need to pay attention to the human toll of constructing the stadia, hotels and infrastructure the World Cup requires. He has covered World Cups for Sports Illustrated, CBS and Fox Sports. His books include The Beckham Experiment and Masters of Modern Soccer.

Prof. Neha Vora, is an anthropologist at Lafayette College. Her writing includes the books Impossible Citizens: Dubai’s Indian Diaspora; Teach for Arabia: American Universities, Liberalism, and Transnational Qatar; and Beyond Exception: New Interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula (co-authored with Ahmed Kanna and Amelie Le Renard).

Register for the event here

Want to learn more?
Check out the below (to which we will keep adding). This is far from an exhaustive list of articles. A lot of smart people are offering a lot of thoughtful perspectives on the complicated questions of the intersections of sport and society.