Friday 19 September 2008

Pounds of flesh?

The rumour mill is buzzing that this comment on the esteemed publication popbitch refers to a Dubai/ex-Dubai hack. Certainly, there has been a marked increase in the number of UAE stories being leaked to the site in the last year...

Which newspaper hack is on sick leave thanks to management discovering that he has been fiddling expenses to up to half a million pounds over the last few years? He was so creative he set up friends and family members as fake contributors and paid them for imaginary stories.

The hack offered to pay back most of the cash if management didn't prosecute but is now threatening to spill the beans on all sorts of senior management fiddles if they go ahead.


It poses an interesting question as to the nature of expenses. Most hacks have done it at some time, even if it's claiming for a business lunch with a mate from PR... what policies exist for claiming back expenses in Dubai? Do companies reimburse expenses willingly?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Utter bollocks.

There've been several stories in the British media press hinting who it is - it's a senior hack on the sports desk of a large British red top.

Do you honestly think there's a publication in Dubai with budgets even a fraction of that size?

Anonymous said...

the amounts may be wrong, but the story sounds familiar.

Anonymous said...

There is certainly one well-known convicted criminal in a prominent position in the Dubai media. There may be more but so far my efforts to find out who have come to naught. I am digging though.

Anyone got any stories to tell?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like our obsessive friend from ITP Dirt is in the house...

Anonymous said...

Seems like our spivy ITP managment lackey is in the house...

Maybe if ITP didn't emply convicted criminals then nobody would be able to point the finger? Just a thought...

There ain't no smoke without a fire.

Anonymous said...

A lot of people here are running away from something, not necessarily anything as dodgy as criminal charges. Many are running away from the fact that they were crap in their home country.

Anonymous said...

I'm at CPI, and claiming expenses is like getting blood from a stone. We are expected to pay for our own transport to events and meetings and more or less buy our own stationary. I have no idea if this is standard out here. I wouldn't say I'm well paid, and it can add up. No idea how it works at ITP...

Anonymous said...

Either ITP dirt or those cunts at motivate.

Anonymous said...

Things must be okay at Motivate, it doesn't get mentioned here very much.

Anonymous said...

I am expected to pay to work. My boss says its good experience, and after 2 years he will let me work for free. It's rare to meet such nice people in the industry.

Anonymous said...

Out of interest is there anyone working in the Dubai media, who is not a cunt, a loser, a twat or a dick-shit? If we can sort that mystery out then we can all move on to the next asinine subject?

Such as…

Is the standard of PR now better than the standard of journalism in this town?
Not so long ago we were flossing our teeth with PRs. Now look at them, they’re driving around in cars, speaking English and using furniture like the rest of us. Is it because agency bosses are investing in their people? Or is it because publishers have been shitting on their own assets for so long that we’ve come to believe that we actually are cunts and losers?

There is an oozing river of shit in this town my friends and it ain’t Dubai Creek….

Anonymous said...

Jeez, does no one here know anything? It's Lee Horton, Sports Editor of The People.

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty typical example of Dubai journalism. No research, scant regard for the facts and hysterical sensationalism. Well done DMO.

Anonymous said...

It's a blog - research and facts aren't mandatory. Some blogs have them, some don't, some do sometimes. That's the whole point - a lot of different people throwing in their two cents worth. Just because it's about media and journalism doesn't mean everything has to be fact checked. It's the conversation you have in the bar after work.

mediamonster said...

"It's the conversation you have in the bar after work"

Now that really should be our tagline.

Anonymous said...

In that case, I'm giving up drinking.

Anonymous said...

It's the conversation you have in the bar after you've been sacked more like it.

Anonymous said...

"no research"? - you obviously don't know the identity of the person in Dubai who was found out for doing this back in UK.

Anonymous said...

I know who he is. My point is that this story is not about him. Moron.

Anonymous said...

One guy used to work at ITP. He apparently, got caught lifting interviews and stories from international titles, and pasting them in to his own rag. He was sacked, then reinstated, then sacked again. Also, whilst working for a red top, allegedly set up various bank accounts, under various bogus 'contributors' names and siphoned off huge amounts in to his rather large pockets. Now no longer in Dubai.

Anonymous said...

Can DMO start a thread about what the arrival of Mark Rix from Associated as new CEO of 7 days means, especially for Steve Lee?
The journalists were all laughing like drains when they were told.

Anonymous said...

Can DMO start a thread about what the arrival of Mark Rix from Associated as new CEO of 7 days means, especially for Steve Lee?
The journalists were all laughing like drains when they were told.

Anonymous said...

Steve Lee will mentor Mark for the next 12 months in an attempt to give Mark an insight into how a paper should be run.

Mark is really looking forward to this next phase of his career and the experience that Steve can impart.

If he fails he can always join the overpaid and underworked chaps at ITP

Anonymous said...

Steve Lee is a top bloke who will run rings around this Johnny come lately fellow Mark Rix.

The fact that Steve Lee is Mark's boss shows the respect that 6Days has for the incredible job that Mr. Lee has done there