TV ads

By request from an anon commenter:

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TV advertising. first there was the Lacnor ad in which the young girl cuddles the juice carton like it was mammy and now there's one in which a mother struggling to comfort her baby finds the only way to do it is to put her KFC grease covered finger into the tot's mouth.

who approves this crap and is anyone else bothered by it?
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Turning the TV back on

We've been a bit overkill on the National, so back to TV. Scroll down this article: Bridging The Gulf.

The attempt to fuse Western talent and values with Arab control have not always been smooth in the media business. Al-Jazeera, the original beacon of a popular, autonomous media, owned by the Emir of Qatar, has faced serious challenges in the period since it launched its English-language rolling news channel. Its first year was dogged by clashes over terms and conditions. Jo Burgin, a former senior executive, is seeking £1 million in compensation, claiming that she was dismissed because she is a “white, Christian woman”.

Yesterday al-Jazeera English brought in Tony Burman as managing director, who had previously run CBC News in Canada, in an attempt to heal some of the rifts created under the previous regime. Nigel Parsons, the former managing director, was pushed upstairs to a role running “business acquisition and development”. For all the problems, al-Jazeera's output remains of high quality and there are no allegations of overt interference.

Nevertheless, with Gulf states pouring cash into media, outsiders believe that they have something to contribute. That thinking underlies the decision by the BBC World Service to launch an Arabic channel, because the BBC believes that it is able to offer an independent voice. But, whereas it might have had to battle before with censorship, now it has to battle with vibrant rivals for audience - a sign that a market for media is developing.

Have we got any Al Jazeerans reading who can give their perspective on the "rifts"? Enough ex-Dubai media are now working there. And anyone been hired from BBC Arabic? There used to be some ex-BBC Arabic staff working at MBC, are they planning to return?

International media up the pressure

One reader has asked us to open up the debate on the upcoming UAE versions of the Financial Times and International Herald Tribune. This follows on from the local edition of The Times.

How do you think these titles will fare? Will local papers like Gulf News and the newly-launched The National suffer? Or, will it just mean that existing FT and IHT buyers have easier access to their paper of choice, and there will be very little effect on the local market? And, will this further highlight the lack of available talent at the upper end of the local business media market (with newswires and publications already struggling to fill their vacancies)?

Return of the media mack daddy

Another Dubai media behemoth rises again .... Former ITP sales god Neil Petch is now managing director of ENG Media, formed by Emirates Neon. He has poached Graham Stacey from CPI (where he headed up OK Middle East), who is now group editor.

Details on what publications they plan to launch are sketchy at best, but our money is on a celeb gossip title at least. Our spies tell us that Stacey is on a serious recruitment drive.

What's next for What's On?

Motivate is now officially on the market, as Obaid al Tayer apparently doesn't want to buy out Ian Fairservice.

Any ideas what will become of this bastion of Dubai publishing? And what will happen to Ian, the Godfather of Advertorial?

D Day for The National

Well chaps, this is the day when the face of journalism in the UAE changes forever ... or so they would have us believe. The National closes its first edition today and hits the streets tomorrow.

Seriously, we hope you prove us wrong and manage where all else have failed before: to launch a UAE paper with consistently high standards and sensible reporting that is neither sensationalist nor smarmy.

Good luck to all of you!

Grand National?

From an anonymous commenter:

This month's issue of Commerce magazine [we couldn't find this online - do chuck us a link or scan if you have it] carries a five page interview with Martin Newland in which not only is this website namechecked, but he talks about censorship, Conrad Black, why he resigned at the Telegraph, and how he came to be in Abu Dhabi. He also talks in detail about his plans for the new paper. I think it is the first interview he has given since he's been here.

It also has an interview with the current Editor in Chief of Gulf News in which he talks about why he is not worried about the competition the new paper will present (he thinks all of the talent in Abu Dhabi will be gone in a year because they won't be able to deal with lack of free speech). He also talks about the other papers that have come and gone, and why the Gulf News will always succeed.

The new Abu Dhabi paper apparently changed its name from The Nation to The National because Gulf News ramped up its "The Nation" section in recent months.

NB: If you want to post your own stuff here which would be great, just drop us a line and we'll add you the team. dubaimediablog at gmail.

EDIT: the interview is available here.