Qatar News Agency (QNA)

Founded in 1975, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) is the official state-run news agency of the State of Qatar. Over the decades it has developed into a multilingual and multi-platform operation. In 2022, QNA expanded its international outreach by adding French, German and Spanish-language services, alongside its Arabic and English output. In May 2026, the agency launched additional Russian, Hindi and Urdu news services using artificial intelligence, bringing the total number of languages in which it provides news to eight. The expansion reinforces QNA’s role in Qatar’s wider public diplomacy and state communication strategy, while extending the agency’s visual, digital and multilingual output.

Media assets

News agency: QNA

Ownership and governance

QNA was established on 25 May 1975 by Amiri Decree No. 94 of 1975 and operates as the official news agency of the State of Qatar. The management of the agency was later reorganised under Amiri Decision No. 50 of 2014, which structured QNA into administrative units including the Director-General’s Office, the News Department, the Editorial and Media Monitoring Department, the Data, Analysis and Documentation Department, the Foreign Media Affairs Department, the Technical Affairs Department, the Internal Audit Department, the Planning and Quality Department and the Legal Affairs Department. Its headquarters are in the Diplomat Tower in the West Bay district of Doha.

The Director-General of QNA is appointed by the Emir. In 2021, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani appointed Ahmed Saeed Jabor Al Rumaihi as Director-General of Qatar News Agency by Amiri Decision No. 48 of 2021. As of mid-2026, Al Rumaihi remains in office. He had previously served as Director of the Media Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and no change to the agency’s senior leadership was identified during the cycle.

QNA’s role extends beyond news distribution. Through its Foreign Media Affairs Department, the agency facilitates journalists’ access to conferences and exhibitions, grants photography licences for foreign journalists, accredits foreign media representatives, renews licences for accredited correspondents and media offices, and provides information to support foreign media coverage in Qatar. These functions embed QNA within the state’s broader communication, accreditation and external-media architecture.

Source of funding and budget

QNA is funded through the state budget and operates as an official state media institution. Exact agency-specific budget figures are not disclosed in public records, and no audited standalone QNA budget was identified during the cycle. This funding model underscores the agency’s dependence on the state for its operational sustainability.

Editorial independence

QNA functions as an official state news service, adhering closely to the editorial lines set by the government. Critical coverage of the Qatari authorities or of state policy is absent from its reporting, consistent with the broader media environment in Qatar, where freedom of expression is constrained by law and institutional practice. The agency’s output is widely understood to reflect official priorities and narratives rather than to provide autonomous journalistic scrutiny.

There is no statutory safeguard or independent oversight mechanism in place to ensure editorial independence at QNA. As Qatar’s official news agency, and as a body involved in foreign media accreditation and support, QNA is institutionally embedded within the state’s communication architecture.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that QNA has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026. However, the agency has publicly disclosed significant use of AI and digital technologies in its news operations.

A major development during the cycle was QNA’s May 2026 launch of Russian, Hindi and Urdu news services using artificial intelligence, bringing its total number of news-service languages to eight. QNA described this as part of a broader plan to employ AI technologies in its news system and to expand Qatar’s media reach internationally. The agency has also highlighted AI-assisted multilingual translation, a smart virtual assistant on its website and applications, tools for preparing news reports, AI-generated video and visual content, digital archiving, mobile applications, social media distribution, infographics, video output and cloud-based digital systems.

QNA has also pursued institutional cooperation around media technology. In May 2026, the Director-General met the Chief Executive Officer of Media City Qatar to review cooperation in the media field, including technologies and systems used in QNA’s news services and training programmes for Qatari media professionals.

These developments show that QNA is actively integrating AI and digital tools into production, translation, distribution and audience access. However, they do not establish public safeguards governing AI use in editorial decision-making, verification, attribution, synthetic-media labelling, bias mitigation, source transparency or audience disclosure.

Classification rationale

QNA is classified as State-Controlled (SC), a classification maintained from prior SMM cycles. It is the official state news agency of Qatar, established by Amiri decree, organised through state legal instruments, funded through public resources and led by a Director-General appointed by the Emir. Its editorial output aligns with official positions and avoids material critical of the state, and no statutory or independent mechanism safeguards its editorial autonomy. The 2025/26 cycle brought significant digital and AI-related developments, especially the launch of AI-enabled Russian, Hindi and Urdu services, but no governance, funding or editorial reform altered the determinants that keep QNA firmly in the SC category.

June 2026