Laid off for implicating Emirates Airlines

Dubai Media Observer links to a Reporters Without Borders article titled "Laid off for implicating Emirates Airlines"

"The exclusive account of Courtney C. Radsch, a US journalist who recently lost her job at the Al Arabiya news website (www.alarabiya.net) in the United Arab Emirates for posting information about safety violations by the national air carrier, Emirates Airlines.

“ On Sunday Oct. 4 one of my reporters asked me if we could write about a report on safety concerns at Emirates Airlines following a report about pilot fatigue. Since the report was from a respected Australian paper based on a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) for a report from the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and I assessed that the story was newsworthy and in the public interest. We sought and received a response from the airline which we featured in the lede and devoted an entire section of the story to. The story was on the site for about 4 hours before I received a call from Dawood al-Shirian, the manager of AlArabiya.net, telling me to remove the story from the site."

Read the DMO post: Nose-dive/Crash landing/[insert aviation disaster pun here] for more.

Inquiring minds want to know

Gulf News:

Ras Al Khaimah: An American journalist working for an English daily from Abu Dhabi has run over an Egyptian security guard at the entrance of a university here because the guard denied him access to the campus.

The security guard did not allow entry to the journalist identified as "J." because he did not have an "entrance permission" which is a must for visitors as per the university regulations.

Inquiring minds want to know:

• Which RAK university?
• Which English language daily from Abu Dhabi?
• Who is "J." the American journalist?

Dubai popular on US Bankers' Wish Lists

Excerpt:
Readers polled by Trader Monthly picked a stay at the Raffles Dubai hotel, where the cheapest room will set a guest back $1,600 a night, as their top getaway spot.

"Dubai as a destination has become so alluring. It has that mystical, anything is possible, Disneyland-for-the-rich feel to it," Wenger (Editor of Trader Monthly) said.

Strange the things that get into print.

Why Raffles instead of the Burj Al Arab?

The whole report smacks of advertising for all the mentioned brands.

Emaar

An interesting article covering EMAAR and a few choice quotes from Mohammad Alabbar...

"However, he rejects western criticisms of Dubai for its refusal to sanction social changes. There are no democratic elections, press freedom is curtailed, and the decision to ban trade unions recently prompted Human Rights Watch to describe Dubai’s 250,000-strong army of Asian workers as “deportable, forced labourers”.

“Does Singapore have trade unions? No. In America, thanks to trade unions, Ford, GM and Chrysler are in difficulties,” Alabbar sniffed. Not all democratic systems work. “Do you think the election to bring in George Bush was fair, or Robert Mugabe? If that is democracy, I don’t want it.”

Press criticism of government, he said, was “a good thing but we have to leave a little bit of respect for the sheikh. People should criticise in a civilised manner. Call that censorship, if you like.”

Dubai is a benign autocracy that works. “The system is pro-progress, relatively clean from corruption, promotes education and moves forward women.”

--more here

DIFF and press freedom

Courtesy of anonymous for this article...

"Breaking his silence on whether he'd jumped or been pushed, former Dubai Film Festival chief Neil Stephenson held a tumultuous press conference in Cairo saying he was forced out.
Claiming that he could not get fair press in Dubai, he spoke on Tuesday to Egypt media, some of whom hotly challenged his statements when he said he was fired in February.

Stephenson, who said he'd declined three months' severance pay, has hired lawyers to ensure his "efforts over the past five years to create DIFF are given due and fair credit."

-- more HERE

Campaign ME is shut down

Word on the street is that ITP has suddenly pulled the plug on its successful advertising weekly Campaign ME. I tried to check the magazine's website, but it redirected me to Arabian Business magazine's website. There is no trace of any Campaign ME content, not even its blog.

To be honest, when i first heard the news, I thought it was a marketing stunt or something. But it seems to be for real and I also heard the whole thing has something to do with a licencing issue between ITP's management and the London-based Campaign.

Does anyone know what exactly is going on? Do share..