Media Use in the Middle East: Qatar in a Changing Region

Knowledge economies need data on the kinds of information citizens and residents use, and what devices and means they prefer to access it. In 2013 and 2014, Northwestern University in Qatar conducted its first multinational surveys of media use and related attitudes in the Arab region, and put the resulting data online in a user-friendly interactive format, so that business owners, government officials, students, journalists, teachers, scholars, and others can learn about media use patterns and behaviors in Qatar, and can compare findings from the Emirate to those from five other Arab countries. With support from NPRP 7-1757-5-261, researchers at NU-Q continued to publish findings and interactive data online for the public in 2015, 2016 and forthcoming in 2017. The resulting Media Use in the Middle East is the largest, most comprehensive longitudinal study of media use and cultural attitudes in the Arab world ever compiled, and is freely available to the public. The project has generated important knowledge about media use among both Qatari nationals and non-national residents, and how media usage in Qatar compares to other countries in the Arab region. In 2013, 2015 and 2017, the study examined media use related to news and general information consumption. In even-numbered years, the study carries an entertainment media use focus. The alternating foci of the study ensures that the findings will not only be useful to, say, journalists and political scientists, but also researchers and practitioners in entertainment media fields.