About Us
We are Qatar’s first digital news organization.
Started in 2009 as a news service on Twitter, @dohanews saw the need to expand into a daily news blog to fill a void in quality online, real-time news in Qatar.
We’re a local startup staffed by a small but versatile team of professional journalists, who’ve worked for Al Jazeera English, the BBC and the Wall Street Journal.
Our goal is to educate, inform, and stimulate positive change in the community.
Our stories are the perfect mix of curated and original content, professionally written and edited to meet the highest standards of journalism.
In just over a year, we’ve established ourselves as one of the most important news websites in and about Qatar, and won international praise as the go-to source for our speedy and accurate coverage of the Villaggio Fire.
We’ve been recognized by
Who we are
Doha News is founded and edited by Omar Chatriwala and Shabina Khatri, and supported by a robust community of thousands of contributors, followers & subscribers.
Shabina Khatri is an American journalist who previously worked for the Detroit Free Press and the Wall Street Journal before moving to Qatar in 2007 to begin a freelance journalism career. She has written for the Huffington Post, Al Jazeera English, Global Voices Online, and has served as an adjunct lecturer in journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar.
Omar Chatriwala has been based in Qatar since 2006, when he arrived for the launch of Al Jazeera English. While serving as a journalist and editor at AJE for four years, he helped the channel launch a number of digital products. He has also taught multimedia journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar and currently serves as a digital content consultant for the Doha Centre for Media Freedom.
Tory Scott is a British journalist who serves as a daily editor for Doha News. Before moving to Qatar in 2009, she worked as a broadcast journalist with the BBC and Reuters, and has produced for CNN, Al Jazeera English and more. She’s also written for just about every publication in Qatar, and hosts a show on QF Radio.
Praise for coverage of the Villaggio Fire
“It is Doha News… that has rightly received universal praise for its comprehensive coverage. Truly they have put all other news organisations however big or small to shame.”
— David Roberts, Deputy Director of the Royal United Services Institute - Qatar
“For the most objective, unbiased and thorough coverage of this incident I have to commend the team at … Doha News for their stellar coverage of this incident.”
— Miles Masterson, Editor of The EDGE Magazine
“As the news of the fire at Villaggio spread across the city… independent online media initiative Dohanews became the first to break the news. Pictures of smoke billowing from Villaggio were posted online by visitors who were present inside the mall.”
— Azmat Haroon, Reporter for The Peninsula newspaper
“@dohanews is doing a great job on the#VillaggioFire story. Suggest you follow their twitfeed or website http://dohanews.co/ if interested”
— Kamahl Santamaria, News anchor at Al Jazeera English
“@dohanews only source with real info on #VillaggioFire. Huge lack of local media coverage after public safety failure in massive mall blaze.”
— Ben Piven, Online producer at Al Jazeera English
“As news of the blaze swept across town… online media led the coverage. Local website Doha News won plaudits for its speedy and accurate reporting on the day.”
— Stephanie Hancock, BBC News
“As the mainstream media took time to reveal the extent of the damages, Doha News website was the only media to inform people living in Doha.”
— The Doha Centre for Media Freedom
“@Shabinakhatri and @dohanews brought real local journalism to #Doha. Thank you for today.”
— Khalid Al Baih, Qatar-based political cartoonist
“Seriously impressed by @dohanews and others who have tried to bring clarity amidst confusion and grief.”
— Peter Townson, Reporter for the Gulf Times
“@Dohanews Thank you for all your updates & excellent reporting these past few days. What would we have done without you?#VillaggioFire”
— Lisa Travell, Deputy Editor of Ohlala! magazine
“With smoke rising from a shopping mall and nearby streets closed, people in Doha wanted answers. They watched the story develop through the lens of a website created by two American journalists who have built a news site there.”
— Joe Grimm, Freedom Forum Diversity Institute
Other endorsements
“I am a supporter of Doha News. I support their mission as journalists, and I believe in what they are doing.”
— Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English, October 2012.
“The easiest way to keep abreast of the news pertaining to Qatar and the region on a daily basis is to follow Doha News on Twitter. With close to 6,000 followers (and growing), @dohanews is our pick this month.”
– Qatar Today magazine, October 2011.
“A website that pulls the best of whatever the media is saying in or about Qatar every day. In an easy-to-follow blog format, the site has links to the actual stories where possible, and regularly posts interesting and beautiful photos of the country taken by locals and grabbed from their Flickr group of the same name.
Started on Twitter in 2009, it’s quickly expanded, and has a lively comments section. You can also submit your own stories, making it a truly community-generated news source. And while there are handy summaries and pull-out quotes (for the time strapped), they almost always link back to the places to go to find out more information. “
-– Time Out Doha, Doha’s best websites, August 2011.
“Basically, I have worked out there is one person I have to follow to find everything of any possible interest in Qatar, and that is DohaNews. I don’t know how she does it, but every interesting news item, blog post and forum discussion is covered on her feed, while all the boring stuff is cut out.”
— James Dunworth, editor of QatarVisitor.com, November 2009.
