German public-television journalists working on a story about FIFA President Sepp Blatter in Qatar—which is, very controversially, scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup—say the country’s authorities detained and interrogated them and erased data from their cameras, computers, and phones. The reporters, Deadspin writes, were preparing a documentary called The Selling of Football: Sepp Blatter and the Power of FIFA, which airs Monday in Germany.
“Treatment of foreign journalists” can thus be added to the list of Qatari World Cup problem issues that already includes treatment of migrant workers, bribery allegations, barbaric human rights laws, and weird, fake paid “fans.”
