Whoops. ArabianBusiness.com has finally been blocked by Etishite. After a quick bypass of the proxy, we can't see anything offensive, unless its the exclusive about Dubai Mall being delayed again. Apparently the site falls foul of the Prohibited Content Categories. Does anyone know who has had their feathers ruffled over the website's content? Or was a Motivate minion a bit bored, and contacted the TRA to get the site blocked?
29 comments:
ITP
This has been happening all day to random sites, not just arabianbusiness.com... wot's going on?
think it is server problems as it can't be accessed from outside UAE - I am in asia.
Maybe the well-paid, highly skilled labour they choose to employ in Dubai have cut through the cable again.
Or maybe the authorities in Dubai have just decided to go back to the 11th century. Soon they will be cutting you into pieces with giant swords. But that will be in keeping with local values, so it's all ok really.
Yeh it's weird, I went to my homepage: www.buttpluggedbabes.com this morning and it was blocked. I nearly spat out my Masafi all over the place.
Can we have a new thread on what has happened at Dubai Eye?
Morning programming every day is now just random repeat clips of old shows.
Have the execrable "Dubai Today" team been axed a la Nannette and Victoria?
Has management been upset by their jumping on the free Sammy the Shark campaign (yet another embarrassment for the flagship Palm's premier resort, Atlantis).
Or is there a completely innocent explanation.
Do let us know someone
i got an email from the business breakfast producer saying he had been promoted and was now running business across the station. maybe we're set for the business breakfast, the business brunch, afternoon business, business tonight and business chat with james pike-away!
The day before the live speakeasy show stopped, Akhtar Khan sounded like he was subtly pushing the Dubai Government to reverse the no-villa-sharing policy of the Dubai Municipality. The next day there was about an hour of live speakeasy and then Jessica Swan said they all had to go to an important meeting. I haven't heard anything since. Maybe Mr Khan's comments are coincidental but I thought at the time of hearing them, that he was skating on thin ice.
Maybe because they published a number of articles predicting the property market may not grow 30% every year ?
Maybe because he once said it was too hot during the summer months. This apparently infuriated some powerful people behind the "Temperate Dubai" initiative, which had been faithfully reported by the likes of Gulf News - see their "Dubai Summer Temperatures Quite Alright" series of articles.
GCC countries are having real financial problems right now. Most have cut their interest rates and Kuwait's main bank took a hammering the other day.
Fact is that the credit crunch will hit Dubai soon - it will be a real test. I hope the place collapses into the sand. It might not.
perhaps Dubai Ee relised that dead air/repeats draw more of an audience than that annoying Khan-t bloke?
Does anybody have any anecdotes following the Campaign launch party on Wed. night?
I listen to Business Breakfast and Nightline and noth work well so I don't care about the rest!
ABU DHABI MEDIA COMPANY LAUNCHES THE NATIONAL ON SATURDAY
Seven months after its launch, The National publishes seven days a week with launch of lifestyle focused Saturday edition with glossy magazine
Abu Dhabi, 5 November 2008: The Abu Dhabi Media Company, one of the largest media companies in the region, announced today that The National newspaper will launch a weekend edition called The National on Saturday, on 15 November 2008. The newspaper is extending its acclaimed content to include five specialised sections including motoring, sport, travel, personal finance, house and home and a glossy lifestyle magazine simply called ‘m’. ~These sections will all support a 24 page news section providing quality reporting, opinion and analysis.
Commenting on The National on Saturday, Martin Newland, Editor-in-Chief, said: “We’re extending our brand of quality content and have recruited a dedicated, experienced, new team for The National on Saturday to create a compelling and comprehensive read on Saturday that fits into the weekend lifestyle, priorities and pace of life.
“We’ll focus on stories that resonate with everyone living in the Emirates: news, sport, cars, personal finance, travel, house and home and fashion. It’s a big package of quality journalism which provides a sophisticated narrative of the UAE and the Middle East, with a notable and confident point of view.”
Gavin Dickinson, Executive Director, Publishing at Abu Dhabi Media Company adds: “The National on Saturday will continue to raise the bar of publishing excellence in the region, while providing better commercial opportunities for advertisers. The National on Saturday will bring a strong sense of branding to its daily counterpart. We are confident we will engage readers to interact with the paper on several levels.
“The move to publish daily reflects the strength of Abu Dhabi Media Company’s publishing strategy, which will see more improvements to its magazine titles and digital content over the next year,” adds Dickinson.
Burhan Wazir, Editor of The National on Saturday adds: “We expect the new paper to prove popular with its unique blend of specialised supplements that appeal to both men and women who appreciate intelligent lifestyle and world class journalism. We also expect people will want to keep a hold of ‘m’, the magazine to enjoy throughout the week.”
The National on Saturday is designed by the Canadian award winning designer Lucie LaCava,
Kevin Maher writing in today’s The National has managed to ramp up the stakes for the most pretentious film review ever. It must be an absolute joy to spend a night at the flicks with Kev.
“Overlooking the sheer preposterousness of treating James Bond as if he’d just emerged from the pages of Ibsen or Strindberg, the fundamental flaw here, and with much of Quantum of Solace, is the presumption that our acquaintance with every plot machination of Casino Royale, from major to minor, is enough to propel us through this new movie without the support of freshly created motivation and new character complexities.”
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081106/ART/699868037/1007
Hi, I'm wondering if you have knowledge of a mailing list, or whiteboard for the entire Dubai Media City, or Dubai Internet city? As I'm interested in contacting some agencies.
Thanks.
methinks the man sat with a thesaurus while writing the piece :-)
after all who uses words like preposterous tday.
P.G. Wodehouse?
Kevin, it is a Bond movie - you know the willing suspension of disbelief kind?
Anon @ 17.01:
AAAhahahhahahahhahahha! Aahahahahahahahahaa! A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thanks.
the national, like all other media outlets, is a joke but then what else can you expect in this region.
Attention all editors...completely off topic but well worth a look. Expect to see his CV here soon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTOXlo1npmY
Vaguely still on subject, it's noticeable that Arabian Business.com has changed down a gear recently. Whether or not the block is relevant I don't know but what was a reasonably provocative site with input from journos and guest columnists has become a poor imitation of itself. Even the comments sections appears to have been slashed.
Rumours abound that the media have been told to play down bad news about Dubai Inc; recent changes at AB.com would seem to back this up.If true, given the parlous state of current affairs writing in this country, where would anyone go for input that bears some relation to objectivity?
Reading some of the comments on this site has got me thinking. There must be a crowd of people out there beavering away in the background at some cutting-edge journalism. So brave and cutting-edge is their work that they need websites such as this to boost their ego by having a good old bitch about every single journalist who succeeds in getting their byline printed.
I’m intrigued to know what great works of journalistic art you’re coming up with, and maybe we could see them printed on here?
My guess is that most who vent frustration on this blog are those who were either sacked from ITP or never made it beyond staff writer on a monthly mag.
Good God! Steve Zackaranda alias Adam Smith alias Zackaranda... I want to read this idiot's drunken BBC plagiarised award winning prose in the Birmingham Post/Mail. If anyone knows the link to whatever Obama victory copy he is writing in this youtube clip please post it here. Dubai will welcome Zackaranda/Smith with open arms. I for one am looking forward to reading this hard news journalists 'f@ck you Im doing what I want to' CV.
anon @ 1937 - mostly they just hate lackeys like you
Fired from ITP?
Shouldn't being fired from ITP be worn as a badge of pride? After all they are the biggest bunch of cunts and if you get fired you get to keep more of their money...
Just interested to know if the irritating Akhtar Khan bloke who pontificates aimlessly on Dubai Eye all morning is, in fact the same Akhtar Khan who onec fronted he BBC's Fast Track show. If he is one and the same why such a regressive career move? Perhaps I've answered my own question but at least poor old Akhtar is steets ahead of the banal Jeff Price.
Gulf News gets an "exclusive" interview - one so exclusive that they get it two days after The National!
ITP is up forsale. $300m and its yours. Serafin is touting it about, but noone wants to touch an overstretched media house in an economic downturn with ads orders being cancelled faster than those being placed. Maybe launching a mag a week wasnt so smart after all, as for those commitments in India, tsk.
Post a Comment