Wiki Wonders

Several prestigious Dubai hacks have made their way onto Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Bhoyrul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nima_Abu_Wardeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cooper_(journalist)

Anyone know any others?

The "romance" of media

So which of you esteemed members of the press helped indoctrinate these poor little kiddies? - LINK

DUBAI — In a refreshing departure from tradition, 25 youngsters aged between five and 17, belonging to Kids Press Club, held a Press conference yesterday.

The workshop seems to have had a huge impact on 13-year-old Marziah Rashid’s future plans. She now aspires to be a print journalist, thanks to the trip to a media house. “I would like to take up journalism. I am now confident that I will be comfortable with this profession,” she quips enthusiastically.

Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director of DPC, observed that it was an equally exciting opportunity for industry professionals to share their experience and knowledge with the eager bunch of participants. This is the eighth edition of the annual summer media programme hosted by DPC.

"quips enthusiastically" "eager bunch" "refreshing departure from tradition" if this is the kind of journalism the children are exposed to, god save us all when they start working at KT or the Toady.

Snap snap

Dubai Studio City is apparently going to require permits for any type of photo session in the UAE according to moryarti. At 500 doubloons a pop.

Oh, and dig this. This permission is required even if photo shoot is within company premises and done by company employed photographer. There is also talk that police will have executive authority to make sure this "regulation" is implemented.

Women, but not TV editorial, for rent

Another anonymous submission:

"i was watching an American TV show and there was a young, impressionable girl in it who thought she had been discovered and was about become a modelling star. Her justification for the belief was that she had been booked do a 'photo shoot' in Dubai. Little did she know, her agent / manager / pimp had actually arranged for her to be a hooker for a couple of days.

"The plot was foiled by our undercover hero, who was told: 'The girls only model in America, but if you're going to the Middle East, I'll get them to do whatever you want'.

"Quite apart from this glowing travelogue, my favourite line was provided by the wide-eyed innocent girl, who said: 'I'm doing a shoot in Dubai. That's near Saudi Arabia'."

Whoops. The long arm of censorship doesn't stretch as far as cable channels in the US, then.

I'm pretty sure DTCM didn't sanction that particular mention of our fair city, and I'm not sure it's going to appear in the press clippings report at the month. But then again, if the TV crew had been hosted by a world-class airline and stayed in an iconic landmark hotel, perhaps things might have turned out differently ...

You can imagine the reworked script now. Obviously, no hooker activities involved, and the wide-eyed innocent would have said: "I'm doing a fashion shoot in Dubai. That's the tourism and business hub of the Middle East, formerly a sleepy pearl-fishing village, but now a glistening metropolis, with something for everyone, including a cheery little mascot called Modhesh!"

Quiz: guess the "vibrant" media company

This ad landed in my inbox. I have cut out the name of the the company, let us see if you can all guess who it is, from the description:

[MYSTERY COMPANY] is a leading media company based in Dubai, one of the fastest growing, most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the world, as well as being tax-free and sunny all year round.

Priding itself on ideas, solutions, speed and impact, [MYSTERY COMPANY] has a diverse range of operations...

Critically, the applicant must have an interest in the world, contemporary design and global trends, which will enable them to help stimulate and catalyse creativity, through thought-provoking and challenging ideas in a television environment.

Size matters, apparently

Just received in an anonymous submission (not that we get any other kind).

Apparently the reason Campaign is so delayed is because there has been an order from On High that all magazines must be resized to A4 format, so that they don't resemble newspapers. Construction Week and a couple of others have apparently already resized, and Communicate is about to. Anyone else heard this? It sounds like utter lunacy.

There has been a rumour rumbling around for some time that there will be a ban on all tabloids - can anyone shed any light on this?

Last night a DJ saved my life

Lots of lively discussion and learned debate between the smudgers among us, but what about those on the airwaves? Are any of Dubai's DJs out there? Because I have a question. When a great sheikh dies, radio output appears to move in a progression from the Quran to classical music to "easy listening" and back to pop. Is there a set timetable for this? And do you all have a special library ready for each stage? Or is it all piped from WAM?

Please enlighten us, since I am genuinely curious.