DOHA • Qatar getting full press freedom is only a matter of time as print and electronic media start pushing the envelope further.

Professor Richard Roth (pictured), Senior Associate Dean for the Program in Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Qatar, told The Peninsula yesterday: "Before coming here, I had a lot of questions about setting up a Northwestern branch here so I asked the higher-ups directly. I was told that if Her Highness (H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned) did not want this (a journalism school), Sheikha Mozah wouldn't have asked for us to come here."

Northwestern, with its main campus in Evanston (Illinois), has one of the premier journalism programmes in the US. Roth said Sheikha Mozah spoke at one of his classes in the US where she stressed her commitment to a free press and how young people should be prepared and trained for it.

"Sheikha Mozah would like to see things improve. There are not many newspapers or magazines in Qatar. Everything can be improved. 'Good isn't good enough'," said Roth, who has had vast experience as a journalist and also in teaching journalism.

"Things are changing. I have seen changes in the 18 months I have been coming here. For example, now, I see different types of pictures being carried on Page 1," he said.

While the Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in a speech at Georgetown University in the late Eighties said he was a strong proponent of media freedom, the concept has taken time to percolate down to middle-level government and company officials. Roth predicted: "It will happen. I believe the Qataris want this change (total freedom of the press)."

Discussing the sometimes cosy relationship between press and public relations agencies, Roth said: "The fact is PR is a kissing cousin of journalism. The question is what to do with a press release. I have come here and seen some releases published verbatim. Releases should give up new ideas and reporters should check if what the releases claim is true."

Roth said with the advent of e-mail, most releases now come in digitally, which means more often than not they are copied and pasted. "This is a big change from earlier when releases came by fax or mail. Good, honest PR people should give ideas," he said.

Media is undergoing a sea-change as it is only a matter of time when people prefer to get all their news online. "Soon you will have TV news on your cellphone. However, the print media seems to be flourishing in the GCC."

As for the journalism programme at Northwestern here, 17 students have enrolled out of which 15 are females. "Journalism has become a woman's career. While our enrollment shows 88 percent female, in the US, 70 percent of those in journalism courses are women," said Roth.

Many women indeed sign up for what they perceive will lead to a career of glamour, a feeling that exists not just here, but in the US as well. Roth said an informal poll in one of his classes in the US showed the women aspired to be a Katie Couric or Oprah Winfrey, more touchy-feely celebrities than journalists.

In the second year of the programme, Roth said there are plans to send the students out to find news, where they can talk to people and gauge what the people want. "They will not cover the news, but discover the news," said Roth.