Al Jazeera combines journalism, food with new concept cafe in Qatar

In a new experiment, the Al Jazeera Media Network has opened a concept cafe at Katara Cultural Village.

The nearly two-decade-old network, which is funded largely by the Qatari government, has made plenty of waves for its coverage of global issues, but isn’t necessarily very accessible to people on its home turf.

In that regard, the restaurant, which held an opening ceremony last week following a soft launch in April, is attempting to “humanize” the news network to a local audience, officials said.

Speaking to Doha News over the weekend, manager of enterprise and merchandise Mohammed Al Rumaihi said:

“It’s a very interesting project for Al Jazeera. (We’re) known as a news channel, and news channels are usually (viewed) as being very serious. We wanted to reach out to our audience; we didn’t want to be the ‘typical’ channel who reaches out to its audience through social media or TV.

We wanted to have a direct physical interaction with our audience in a softer (environment). If people want to visit Al Jazeera, you need to get a permit…and a reason why you need to visit. It’s a long process that we want to cancel. We want people to come here and experience the news-making process and interact with our stars.”

Original article by Chantelle D’Mello

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Al Jazeera combines journalism, food with new concept cafe in Qatar