A live broadcast of the Danish channel TV 2 has been disrupted by security guards in Qatar. The television crew was also threatened and told that filming was not allowed. Reporter Rasmus Tantholdt later reported on Twitter that they have since received an apology.
Tantholdt was in a live conversation with a colleague in Odense in Doha when a golf cart stopped in the background. The cameraman took a picture of the arriving security guards, after which one of them covered the lens with his hand. Reporter Tantholdt tried to strike up a conversation. “Sir, you invited the whole world to come here. Why can’t we film? This is a public place?” He showed his press credentials, but that didn’t stop the security guards. “We can film anywhere we want,” said Tantholdt.
We now got an apology from Qatar International Media Office and from Qatar Supreme Committee. This is what happened when we were broadcasting live for @tv2nyhederne from a round about today in Doha. But will it happen to other media as well? #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022 pic.twitter.com/NSJj50kLql
— Rasmus Tantholdt TV2 (@RasmusTantholdt) November 15, 2022
Qatari security was unimpressed and threatened to destroy the equipment. “Yes, do you want to destroy the camera? Go ahead, destroy the camera!” Tantholdt challenged them. “So you’re threatening us by wanting to destroy the camera?” It didn’t get that far.
In the end, the incident remained without consequences and the television crew received an apology on behalf of the World Cup organizing committee. “We have now received an apology from the Qatar International Media Office and from the Qatar Supreme Committee,” Tantholdt wrote on Twitter. “But does this also happen with other media?” he wondered. Earlier, a reporter from the General Journal that the arrival of the Dutch national team at the hotel in Doha was also ‘sharply orchestrated’. Journalists had to take a seat in a section specially set up for the press when the the Dutch team bus arrived.
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