Kinda furious that Arabian Business lifted my blog post on RIM's entire statement without any attribution.
Here's David's post at The National
Here's Arabian Business's article on the same.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Twitted off
The National reporter David Cosh is a bit pissed off with Arabian Business, according to his Twitter feed:
Here's David's post at The National
Here's Arabian Business's article on the same.
Here's David's post at The National
Here's Arabian Business's article on the same.
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55 comments:
If this is a statement issued by RIM to its customers how is it plagiarism? This is just a posting of the RIM statement in both cases. Why does he think he owns it?
i received this same statement from RIM on my blackberry. I didn;t realise it was actually a world exlcusive from this superstar at the National. what an arse you have made of yourself Mr Cosh!!!
oh no, i actually feel sorry for David Cosh he has humiliated himself so badly with that twitter post. its also worrying that reporters at the National really think that a statement from RIM, a erm, press release, is an "exclusive". That kinda says it all about the paper doesn't it?? come back Martin all is forgiven. I bet Martin didn't hire this prat! Nice one hasan....
Is this Cosh guy for real? im sure someobody has hacked into his twitter account and put that up. Nobody would be so foolish to make such a dick of themselves in this way. Even a national reporter must know that a press release is for public use? Please help us if not.
Joanne doesn't want make David angry. She won't like him when he's angry ... http://www.mediastyle.ca/2009/02/national-post-reporter-has-total-twitter-melt-down/
Remember this is David George Cosh, a man who is better off never using Twitter again:
Last Twitter Tirade
Write-up in Gawker about being a "douche."
He's unbearable to work with and almost universally despised in the newsroom for his self-aggrandising reporting and behaviour.
When your Tweets get called out in Gawker AND on DMO, it's time to check that ego and see if it reconciles with one's very brief career and one's very modest accomplishments. He'll be one of the next to be let go.
DMO should change the "plagiarism" tag to "twat."
Is this the annoying, aggressive Yank telco bloke? Yes the guy who is so well respected in his sector that when he asked the Du CEO how many Blackberry subscribers they had was brushed off immediately at yesterday's press conference. Then some Arab bloke in a dogy suit asked the same question in Arabic and was immediately given the answer. I'd like to take a cosh to this cunt.
I have to agree with everyone else on this one; RIM has issued a statement that can be picked up by any media outlet. For the journalist to say he's annoyed that the statement has been published elsewhere is quite frankly ridiculous.
This posting really sums up the sad state of journalism in the UAE. Guys like David Cosh can end up working for what is actually a pretty decent paper. How can that happen when a guy like him, who thinks he "broke" the RIM statement, is employed as a journalist? Staggering - and worrying
Seriously, guys? An entire post dedicated to bashing a relatively benign tweet from a reporter followed by another round of anonymous slander from the peanut gallery.
Could we just not?
Has anyone seen this
http://www.strangehold.com/portfolio/?page_id=188
yes folks, George "Press Release" Cosh even has his own website. The attached link boasts of his many media appearances.
LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
New Post Please.
TMF's troubles just get worse and worse.
It now appears the company have informed the staff that were recently made redundant that they cannot afford their gratuity payments.
as if that is not a clear enough sign of their dire predicament, Chris Shaw one of the original staffers and board member has walked out after the company failed to resolve a 6 month wage dispute.
Chris was the only board member with any publishing experince!
NNew thread time?
Current and former ENG Media Company staff met up in a Dubai hotel last week. They were joined by a solicitor who agreed to represent them all individually on a no-win, no-fee basis as they sue for unpaid wages. Upon legal advice, the plan is to sue Hannif Merchant who owns the Emirates Neon Group.
Also at the meeting were two other companies who are owed money by ENG Media Company. I understand these to be a printer and a UK press agency (although someone may want to verify that as it sounds slightly coincidental).
Letters are to go out demanding payment, but the assumption is that the case won't be settled, and proceedings will start after Ramadan. (I'm not sure why this is - are the courts closed for the Holy Month?)
I had assumed all this ENG MC non-payment to be over as I hadn't heard much about it of late but according to my insider there were more than 15 people at the hotel. Apparently, some of them said they still officially worked there, but were not required to go into work on a daily basis.
The solicitor told everyone that he was confident because Hannif Merchant "has been in court for this sort of thing before" and is well known to the authorities.
This bodes well for staff over here I would say. What my colleague tells me is that young Mr Merchant has the financial muscle to pay but has decided not to. That makes him a complete bastard in my book and us media people should stick together on these issues.
Hurrah to the staff of ENG. As a former Media Factory staffer, something has to be done. If anyone could put me in touch with this solicitor, I'd be grateful.
Cosh is perfect for the National; anyone who is an actual journalist will soon tire of the idiocy that is rampant in the newsroom, so people of his ilk are the ones largely left. But wait, rumour has it that he is on the way out. (And rumour has it that a few other Business reporters are also on the way out; one announced his resignation last week. Let's see, how many is that since the beginning of the year?) Another National reporter announced his resignation this week, someone form the TV programme is leaving, and on it goes.
Let us face: the National is a failure when judged against real dailies of import (which is what it puports to be), but is a great success in a part of the world that is backwards and full of mediocrity.
If you really knew what goes on there every day, the utterly laughable instances of stupidity and mismanagement, you would be amazed. Forget about the "high" salaries, forget about the design "awards" ... ladies and gentlemen, stick a giant fork in it, she's dead.
All media factory staff take note - TMF lost its recent employment case against a former Inflight magazine deputy editor and had to pay out close to 100k.
Russell's only defense apartently was to stall as much as possible and eventually the courts had enough and forced the pay out.
Given the fact that Chris Shaw was forced out over money issues i would get my claim in soon, before the flood gates open.
I suspect there is more than a few of us out of pocket as a result of working for these monkies.
I have been pleading with Media Factory bosses for eight months now, and have received nothing. I've been pushed from pillar to post and had the live sucked out of me. I too would like to hear about this solicitor, if indeed they exist. I don't care what percentage they want - I'm determined that this company will pay its dues.
Good luck to all TMF staff seeking fair redundancy and gratuity payments and hoping to have their names cleared after unfair dismissals - not that losing a job at TMF has any stigma attached as everyone knows how Andrea Slater, Rany Dolah and Russell Frame behave. This sordid tale is surely coming to an end soon with the bad guys getting their comeuppance.
PS Does anyone know how late after a dismissal one can put in a claim at Tecom?
I've done some freelance work for a company and they haven't paid me for more than two months. And now they won't answer my calls.
They haven't paid my agencies either, which means that contacts I have built up over the last five years now don't want to work with me.
I've now been booted out of my flat.
It's a new company and I don't even know if the company is still going. They may well have been shut down and just not be telling me. Any suggestions please?
Off topic here, but I've seen an advert for wine in a UAE lads magazine. When did this become allowed?
Maybe the Playboy rumours are true!
Good luck to Richard Patton, the ex-KPMG consultant called in to oversee the wind-down of The Media Factory.
He is attempting to save his temporary employer money by bringing more ethical (European) practices to the ailing publisher. Unfair dismissals and failure to honor gratuities may seem like short-term savings but Patton knows that court cases could then result in bigger outlays in the longer term.
He is in a difficult position, having to work a bit longer with Andrea Slater, Rany Dolah and Russell Frame but also wanting to exercise the EU practices with which he is accustomed.
TMF's former advertising director Chris Shaw also found himself between a rock and a hard place at times. Fundamentally decent, Shaw's flaw was that he did not air his disapproval of Slater and Frame's antics early enough. The desire to keep a salary coming in is understandable.
For now most valid criticisms of TMF come from Anon sources. But expect heavy hitters to come out of the woodwork to post-mortem the company in time.
Off message too but "twitted off" that The Media Factory website can get away with so many false claims. Would it not be easy for TMF owner Andrea Slater to order sidekick Russell Frame to update the website given he handles TMF's so-called digital arm, Arabian Interactive? As it stands, it seems like TMF is posing as a large, successful company.
Visit: http://www.themediafactory.ae
Dated design aside, the website claims TMF has departments for 1) Media, 2) Events and 3) Publishing.
1) For Media, it claims to offer services in outdoor advertising, interior art, signage and brand development. Is anyone aware of these services doing anything in the past let alone now?
2) For Events, it truthfully lists the Autocar Awards. After all, TMF publishes at a loss Autocar under license from Haymarket in the UK.
For Publishing , TMF divides its titles into Consumer, Contract and B2B (weirdly, it calls customer magazines "consumer" rather than contract). Anyway, it incorrectly claims to still publishes FourFourTwo, Oryx, Sawasdee and Location.
Under the Contract banner, it incorrectly claims to publish Kempinski magazine, Naywafith, several Emaar titles and a list of other company brochures too long to mention.
Why does TMF present such an outdated and misleading website?
@19:41
This is a bit straight forward, but direct intervention is best. Send a polite and well-dress friend around to demand payment. Make it a guy and make sure he's a giant - facial scarring helps - he asks politely for the money and waits in reception until it arrives. The waiting may take a while, but when no one is allowed to leave, they'll soon get the idea.
Have TMF made yet another sensationally stupid board level decision, taken by people that simply don't understand what they are doing.
I have never been a fan of Chris Shaw. He continuously turned a blind eye to the bullying that took place in TMF. However he was the only key member of the board left with any understanding of the ad market.
The story goes, he was pushed out to save money on salaries. This would be classic TMF short term thinking.
get rid of the only man likely to generate any revenue to save money.
Another example of the lack of commercial acumen sitting at the core of TMF.
There is a good reason they are slipping into a black hole, and that reason is stupidity.
an advert for WINE? as in alcohol? I doubt it very much. If it was an advert for whining, then it would direct people to this place naturally.
Arabian Business . com 'lift' copy from TN and GN all the time.Masters of the subtle 'copy'.
Jokers.
20:28. Thanks for the advice but the real problem is that I'm based in England. I did some freelance work for them and every now and then they send me an email telling me to wait a while longer, and they want me to do more work for them. I'm not sure the company is still going, or if they have gone on holiday. It's really frustrating. It's quite a small company, so I'm not sure if they are just stringing me along.
Actually history will show that Chris Shaw's desire to keep his salary coming in, is ultimately what cost him his job.
Should someone have confronted Russell Frame and Andrea early on, their mistakes, that lead to the company's collapse, would have been averted.
The desire to launch 442 was driven by Russell Frame. Despite being advised that it did not have the advertising base to support it. Russell drove this project forward based on his vanity and desire to save face with Haymarket, having agreed to licence the magazine without any market research. This mistake cost the company a significant amount of money.
The 'business' title The Brief was a comercial disaster from the start. Conceived by Russell, who claims to be a lawyer, it was a legal title aimed at the business market. Neither advertisers nor consumers understood it. It was regarded as a joke by staff but any attempts to address the issue were promptly rebuffed and without board level support (from Chris Shaw) the magazine was allowed to continue at Russell request, haemorraging money for years.
Interior's title Location could have worked given an appropriate amount of time following its redesign. There are successful interior's titles in Dubai, so its a market with a proven track record. However Andrea does not understand mass market publishing and failed to give the magazine either proper direction or time.
Oryx was brought down because the relationship with Qatar Airways irrevocably broke down following revelations about re-purposed work from other magazines running in their in-flight magazine. This was a breach of contract and Qatar used this to move away from TMF.
in truth Qatar Airways were simply upset at the way they were being treated by Andrea and were desperately looking for a reason to move. Had anyone confronted this or taken over the management of this account from Andrea the damage could have been averted.
The list of their mistakes is endless and you can litterally go through every title at TMF and address their issues, however to do so would mean confronting Andrea and Russell over their decision making in the past, and this is something Chris Shaw seemed unwilling or unable to do.
Thus Chris Shaw's silence effectively cost him his job. Having said that, perhaps he thought a company run in the manner it was, by people with no business acumen or morales simply was not worth saving.
Are you surprised Arabian Business subtley copies a few of its stories from the National, Gulf News and indeed international titles? It is an ITP magazine with a small staff and budget which cannot compete with larger newspapers, except when it gets a scoop during an interview.
If Mediaquest is seriously considering taking over The Media Factory, it could do better than compare Arabian Business's standard with that of TMF's monthly Gulf business title, .Commerce,which is funded by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce.
What is Mediaquest buying? A few very minor titles, probably some debt, bad contracts. If what people are saying here about TMF is true what value could there be in buying them?
Any news on whether TMF directors Andrea Slater and Russell Frame have been forced to honour staff contracts and pay gratuities when jobs become redundant?
TMF's .Commerce is not actually funded by the Abu Dhabi chamber of Commerce.
The ADCCI only pay for its distribution. This is why this magazine just like all the rest of TMF's portfolio actually makes staggering losses.
TMF laid off three more staff today. One Dubai Mall editor, one Dubai Mall writer and one designer. The slippery, ignominious slope continues. What a bunch of clueless, vain, ignorant, time-wasting monkeys
If the rumours are true about Mediaquests interest in TMF the following should be investigated immediately.
In their business portfolio, is the magazine .Commerce. TMF currently recharge the ADCCI the cost of allegedly posting out this magazine to their 20k members.
I would suggest that Mediaquest immediately look into this.
When i was at TMF their database contained less than 2000 members and their print runs frequently dropped below 7k.
On one occasion following a running dispute with the mail service, Andrea decided to save the money and printed less than 1,000 copies. These were to be kept in the office to forward on to senior ADCCI members if anyone complained about not getting their issue.
It is not for me to say whether they continued to recharge the ADCCI for these phanton deliveries, because if they did, that would surely constitute fraud, however can i strongly suggest Mediaquest look into this before any purchase is made.
That said, I would be very surprised if Mediaquest went ahead with the purchase given the state of TMF's portfolio. All three business titles make huge losses,their automotive group also lose money, their consumer group - nope no profit there either, actually not oine single title is a money spinner. Although with good management i believe it would be possible to turn these magazines around, it would surely be cheaper to simply launch new titles and start from scratch.
It will be difficult for them to lose the stigma attached to the business practices of this mickey mouse publishing house so what benefit is there in being associated with its brand?
Three more TMF job losses today, eh?
Let me correct the above who has mentioned Richard Patton, the ex-KPMG consultant who was recently parachuted in to clean up some of the mess caused by Andrea Slater and Russell Frame.
His name is Richard PATON, not Patton.
And please don't blame him for any of this!
there is only one way to get money from TMF and thats through TECOM.
True or false? Richard Paton called Russell Frame into the TMF boardroom and sacked him - no redundancy or gratuity, just escorted off the premises (giving Frame a taste of his own medicine).
I see TMF has still not taken down from its highly misleading website the many magazines it no longer publishes.
http://www.themediafactory.ae/
Come on Richard Paton, you've been defended here as the stand-in director at TMF trying to clean up the mess caused by Andrea Slater and Russell Frame.
With your so-called law-abiding EU and KPMG working practices, don't you think it's wrong of a company to which you're linked to make false claims when it is up for sale and in talks with prospective buyers?
I suggest a quick email to Russell Frame to sort it out. As director of TMF's digital arm, Arabian Interactive, he needs something to do.
Anyone know if Tom Urquhart still works for The Media Factory?
thanks for clearing that up, rich
Anyone with half a brain, including several people on DMO, pointed out that TMF's, The Dubai Mall magazine, was going to be a commercial failure. Thats why it is so funny for all those that were in the know to hear how Andrea and Russell Frame spent a small fortune (TMF's staff redundancy money)to launch this farce, only to pull it after 1 issue.
Even at its conception, key personel questioned its viability, but as is always the case, only 2 voices could be heard, those of Dumb and Dumber, Andrea and Russell.
The launching and subsequent quick closure of The Mall Magazine perfectly encapsulates everything that went wrong with this company.
Rampant egos unfortunately not supported with any intellect.
The magazine cost a small fortune (there was staff on its payroll for almost a year before its launch) it generated virtually zero money and made them a laughing stock. Well even more of a laughing stock.
Well done Russell and Andrea you will be missed, if for nothing else, your entertainment value.
OMG, you're right, the TMF website falsely claims to publish at least 10 titles that Andrea Slater and Russell lost due to mismanagement and abuse of staff and clients. However, the website is so out of date it did not even add The Dubai Mall magazine when it stupidly tried to add that to its loss-making portfolio. What a filthy mess. Unbelievable. When will this company finally be put out of its misery?
Just heard Thai Airways is furious The Media Factory website is still claiming to publish its inflight magazine. I wonder if Qatar Airways, Emaar and Haymarket would be equally unimpressed if they saw they were being used to prop up a disgraced company run (to the ground) by the likes of Andrea Slater and Russell Frame.
A true tale from TECOM: Ex-TMF employee gets to the front of the queue to seek advice from local, dish-dashed official. "I want to enquire about how to make a complaint about my employer," began the ex-TMFer. "The Media Factory?" replied the official with a knowing grin on his face! "Yes, how did you guess?" Mutual laughter.
Two eye-catching headlines
1) British woman arrested in bikini in The Dubai Mall
http://www.tntmagazine.com/tnt-today/archive/2010/08/05/british-woman-arrested-in-bikini-in-dubai-mall.aspx
2) British woman cocks up The Dubai Mall magazine
http://www.arabiancommerce.ae/TMF-loses-another-vanity-title.aspx
;)
Will ITP take on The Dubai Mall magazine as, unlike Andrea Slater and Russell Frame at TMF, it at least knows a bit about fashion editorial? ITP's Harper's Bazaar is already involved with the mall.
http://www.ameinfo.com/232994.html
True story: Andrea Slater and Russell Frame of The Media Factory once contacted Conde Nast about publishing Middle East Vogue under license. Don't laugh!
A week in publishing is a long time! Earlier this week, Arabian Business wrote about the ailing TMF saying: "In addition to its business magazines, the list of titles currently published by TMF includes Autocar, F1 Racing, Dubai Mall magazine and Airleron, an inflight magazine for private jets".
We've since heard The Dubai Mall magazine will not continue beyond its first issue and its editor, writer and designer are the latest to lose their jobs. However, they were also responsible for Airleron.
Does this mean Airleron is no more too? A private jets magazine certainly never sounded like a goer but would have sounded glam to Andrea Slater and Russell Frame while they played at magazine publishing.
After Qatar Airways, TMF's cash cow was property giant Emaar - TMF Emirati chairman Rany Doleh had family links at both and we all know the power of nepotism in the region.
TMF used to publish a raft of brochures for Emaar which began to disappear when the property crash hit in 2008.
The massive failure of The Dubai Mall magazine means Emaar will be less likely to put work TMF's way, even if Dubai property picks up and TMF sticks around for another year or so (neither of which can be counted on).
GUESS THE CELEBRITY VISITOR TO THIS BLOG
He is a publisher, editor, writer, broadcaster, public speaker and business consultant on media matters working out of London, New York, Dubai and France.
He is currently chief executive and editor-in-chief of The Press Holdings Group, owner of the The Spectator, and chairman of ITP in Dubai.
He also anchors the BBC's Daily Politics and This Week.
Hello Andrew Neil!
So can anyone please confirm whether TMF's laughing stock board member Russell Frame is still in employment?
Sadly, The Media Factory's Russell Frame has not been sacked yet. Things seem to be coming to a head though. The office is really quiet and empty now so many magazines have closed and staff have been let go.
The so-called board have been out of the office in day-long meetings too in hotels, presumably discussing how to get rid of the rest of the company and staff.
No news on any company buyer but most remaining staff expect to be gone by Christmas.
Given Frame's close links with TMF owners Andrea Slater and Rany Doleh, he could well be the last to go or he may even work for the couple on Rany's property interests. His employment set-up is, after all, weirdly intimate, more like a domestic henchman-come-lapdog than formal executive.
You would expect Slater and Doleh to turn on Frame, given they have so far found scapegoats to blame for the demise of TMF, and Frame genuinely is largely to blame.
However, there is no accounting for taste. The trio deserve each other.
Ha ha, good job. Not that I am particularly impressed with Arabian Business style of repeating stories with a minor tweak so they can claim it's a new story.
But I lost all respect for The National when one of their writers copied my work, not only without asking permission, and republishing it without attribution, but publishing it as though it was the writer's own effort. I complained and got a polite reply from the Chief Editor at the time about how they respect copyright blah blah blah and the section editor would deal with it. I heard nothing further. #%^$ers.
rumour has it Russell Frame is using all his legal prowess to get this website closed down.
So we can safely assume it will continue for another few years yet.
Anonymous 28 August, 2010 22:50, who was it from TN that copied you ?
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