I do want to know why publishing is becoming such a risky business. Journalists get injured, even killed in a war zone. I think to find out one fine day that your paper has closed down is nothing less damaging to one's career.
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12 comments:
sorry - but that entry just doesn't make sense.
Journalism has always been a risky business for the people out there pushing the boundaries. It is marginally more risky in this sense than it was before.
But a newspaper closing down (especially one that has been rumoured to be closing for months - it is not news that it didn't have a licence) is not really 'risky'. Companies close in all areas of business.
The sudden closure of a newspaper doesn't make sense. If what you say about a news publication running for ages without a licence is true, that doesn't make sense either. More than risky, the emphasis is on the sad state of affairs for the good reporters having to face the results of this closure.
Good reporters will always get picked up. I'm sure the other papers are circling over their reporters.
For what it's worth. There is way too much vanity publishing out there, and while it is sad to see papers which had potential (like EEP) closing while utter dross like ET gets propped up by govt money.
The cold hard facts are that the media scene in the UAE is top heavy. Too many publications for too few readers, almost all of them poor quality clones of other publications.
It's ripe for a culling. But the scene here has a habit of the same failed hacks popping up and failing in senior positions all over the country.
7days being closed (or the concerted campaign - which it seems is succeeding) would be a different matter.
It has a licence to print, its just that the government doesn't like what it prints...this is more of a scandal than a paper which ran for three years with no licence being closed.
From what I hear EEP just didn't make any money. It is very sad, because it was a quirky paper that greatly more deserved to be in business than Emirates Today.
I do hope its journalists get decent jobs elsewhere.
Agree about the culling bit, completely. But funny that it's the honest reporting that seems to be facing the most hardships.
And the glossies just smile wickedly at us, week after week, from the cash counters - with the same old people and the same old celebrities and their chihuahuas.
Quirky... he he... nice word for EEP, SD.
Can someone explain why the government takes issue with 7Days? I mean, 80% of its copy comes from the wires.
The saddest part of Evening Post' closure is that the staff and the journalists were never warned or cautioned about its closure despite the management being informed by the National Media Council three months in advance.
The staff went through harrowing times at the paper where salaries were erratic and the then Editor also knew about its closure but just left the organisation and then sent an email to the staff about her resignation and wishing them all the very best.
So the best came as a rude shock to all.
Why were they allowed the 3 month grace period? To renew the license! So why did they not renew it? Did they know something we did not? So many questions, so little time and no answers... Bet the tabloid will soon resurface with more grace period.
First of all, I am surprised people believe that a newspaper anywhere in the world could run without a license. That too for three years in a country like UAE? Come on, who we kidding here. If a paper does not make money, there are always 10 businessmen waiting to buy out that much elusive newspaper title, just for power.
It's politics and nothing more. Big guys kill the small fries and then start gunning for each other. Even 7 Days is being printed outside Dubai and have extremely poor circulation in Dubai after Blue Pages was instructed to stop circulating their paper. Even GN's Project X turned out out to be a crappy weekly after two years of planning simply because they were not granted a daily newspaper license.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Vanity is all what's gonna sell in the months to come. As for freedom of speech, well, the lesser said the safer you are...
its sad that the goverment of Dubai made this decision without thinking of the circumstances of the owner or either the employees, they beleive they want to control their own media and doesnt want anyone else to come in the market.
They should have thought of this before 5 years not after giving out a licence and a green signal, i beleive they are giving a hard time to all the new media. Seven days is having the same problem and they have stoped them from publidhing in Dubai, they already bought a share in Khaleej times of 30% where the owner has no right to control and not allowed to come back, and they decided to close the evening post because it was a threat to emirates today. thats a shame !!!!
as a foreigner i would never trust making a business in dubai if they could do this to their own people they could ruin us any da anytime,.
Gulf News published the wrong news: after couple of days they appologized and confirmed to the readers that Emirates Evening Post did have a valid licence attested and approved from both abudhabi and dubai.
I dont know why didnt EEP sue Gulf news for this false rumour that they have spread arround.
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