That's right, Kinimoto. Information likely to harm national security is always off limits. The trouble here is that anything negative, however trivial, is seen as harming Qatar's image. That means that abuses that should be corrected can remain hidden, issues that investors have a right to know about are never reported. In my view, the policy of hiding problems is counter-productive because outsiders naturally assume the worst and believe rumours, assuming them to be truths that have been censored in the official media.

An example of that is that somebody posted here yesterday saying that Qatar had been secretly arresting and hanging people. To the best of my knowledge that is utter nonsense (in any case, executions here are by firing-squad ... I suppose the poster didn't know that). History shows that the Emir is extremely reluctant to execute people, however dreadful their offence. Despite that, because everyone knows that bad stuff is hushed up, I wouldn't be surprised if the hanging allegation gains wings and blogs its way into the general anti-Muslim, anti-Arab consciousness that is evident in many internet forums.