Here Toady, gone tomorrow?

One of DMO's favourite moles has come out of retirement with this nugget:

At the end of the month, Emirates Toady is to be rebranded as a business paper, known as Emirates 24/7.

UPDATE: and it's still crap.

The wrong kind of screen sirens?

From an anonymous contributor -

For all the media locked out of the gala opening of the Middle East International Film Festival, it's interesting to note that Festival Director Jon Fitzgerald has now fled the country before the shit properly hits the fan.

Poor Jon, the only professional involved in the festival is being blamed for everything, including the non-payment of certain key individuals. Yes, those same individuals who would not let the projectionist into the auditorium for the gala screening of Atonement because he did not have a ticket.

Yet another PR catastrophe for the UAE.

Note from DMO: doesn't bode well for the UAE's film festivals - we hear there is trouble at the DIFF mill too.

Crossing the fence

Hardened hacks are throwing down their quills and taking up comfortable jobs on the other side of the fence, either for PR, government, or DubaiInc.

Anyone else swapped newspaperdom for PR? If so, any regrets?


**ANNOUNCEMENT**
In other news, as you may have noticed we're a bit up against it and would welcome more contributors. Just drop us an email if you are interested. And do it from an anonymous account, not your itp or toady.com address.

It's Toady Time

By popular demand, a discussion about the movings and shakings at Dubai's favourite government newspaper, Emirates Today. And the rest of AMG to boot.

Word has it there are BIG shake up plans afoot (Kane) at ET business.

and:

Speaking of so called "freedom of speech", can anyone enlighten us to the where-abouts of Vix and Nannette from Dubai Eye? The Dubai rumor mill is rife with whispers of letters from high up to pull the show and presenters due to certain remarks said on-air.

But before we start, here's a little video that came our way some time back that explains why AMG is the most successful media company in the United Arab Emirates:

Go wild.

Oooops

Let the braying cease! Yes, we've been slack in updating.

We've been too busy checking Facebook every 90 seconds to see if it's been blocked by Etisalat to do any posting/moderating/work. We sent out the work experience juniors to find snippets for DMO but they only came back with tales of exploitation and dissent among the masses - old news.

Situation normal to be resumed as soon as possible.

Dubai journos jailed

Happy Ramadan for two Dubai journalists.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/09/24/10155815.html

Two journalists sentenced to jail for libel
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Published: September 24, 2007, 00:25
Dubai: Two senior journalists have been jailed for two months each after they were found guilty in a libel case marking what judicial officials described as 'an unusual verdict'.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanour found the senior Egyptian journalist and senior Indian editor guilty of libelling an Iranian woman.

The Public Prosecution charged the two defendants with publishing a defamatory article in the English newspaper where they work. In her complaint the woman accused the defendants of defaming her after publishing the story.

The article said the woman collected a dowry cheque of Dh83,000 which bounced when she went to cash it. She thereafter filed a police complaint against her divorcee. The court found the defendants guilty though they pleaded innocent.

Gulf News has learnt that defence lawyer Samir Jaafar is planning to appeal the initial verdict today. The ruling is still subject to appeal.

A former judge who requested anonymity described the ruling as 'uncommon and unusual especially in the UAE'.

Are you working Ramadan hours?

Is your media company flouting the Ramadan hours laws?

DUBAI -- The working hours during the holy month of Ramadan will be shorter by two hours for all private sector employees regardless of their religion or nationality, a senior official of the Ministry of Labour (MoL) has said.

Any company found violating this directive will be penalised as per the Labour Law, said Humeid bin Demas, assistant under-secretary of the MoL. A Dh10,000 penalty would be slapped on the violating companies, besides a three-month ban.

Let us know below, and name and shame the media companies failing to respect Islamic law and tradition.