The National: a law unto itself

Reader submission about a recent story that The National declined to cover, a story that happened "in its backyard":

"This type of self-censorship is common at the paper, which is not serving its readership well.

"In addition, the paper is said losing money at an alarming rate - its circulation has been frozen in place for several years now, and its employee-turnover rate is said to be ridiculously high. What is going on at The National?"

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The International Bar Association held its annual conference in Dubai this month, but the event, which is planned five years in advance, almost never happened. Seems that several weeks before the event was to begin UAE security officials grew worried that some of the seminars/programs might be too dangerous. [see links below]

Unfortunately, readers of Abu Dhabi’s The National (whose editors have said "strives to be The New York Times of the Middle East") interested in such topics (freedom of speech, etc) would be left in the dark, because the paper declined to cover this important angle of the story.

The National did give readers this paean to women’s rights in the UAE, which includes the following paragraph.

"For me, the most exciting part has been watching young female lawyers in the UAE become so excited to attend the IBA congress and other events being held in Dubai this week. To see how thrilled these young women are to meet lawyers of leading firms from the world's capital cities is brilliant - and the fact that so many local law firms have decided to register their female staff is a sign that the practice in the UAE is progressing, despite the glass ceiling for female lawyers worldwide."

The irony in this is more than rich when one reads the following:

"However, Mr. Ellis [IBA official] did change the title of one session that security officials objected to, entitled "Women in Islam, Challenges and Opportunities," to "Women in Law, Challenges and Opportunities." Members of the women’s committee then declared the new title too "dull," he said, and opted to scrap the session.

In addition, the paper published a piece on a speech Mohamed ElBaradei made to IBA conference attendees in which included the following sentence: He said new governments would need to ensure citizens were involved in every strata of governance and law, and must be accountable and transparent.

This type of "coverage" is rampant at The National, and has increased.


Links to coverage of the IBA conference:

UAE threatened to cancel law conference in Dubai
Lawyer defends decision to hold conference in Dubai
IBA Dubai 2011: the conference that almost never was
IBA Dubai slammed for erasing women's issues from agenda

Plagiarism at The National?

Post submitted by a reader - "Examples of shoddy and unethical journalism at The National":

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As many of us who worked there knew and know, The National is a sham publication, in many ways. The people running it are substandard, and the alarming lack of ethics in many sections of the paper is enough to make one laugh.

Here is a great recent example: on page 8 of the Business section - Wednesday August 31 - there are two wire stories, one headlined "Following every move" and one headlined "Hacker reveals his code of conduct." The first one is a Reuters piece, written by Jillian Kitchener; the second one was written by Rich Jaroslovsky. But readers of The National's Business section on that day would have no way of knowing who wrote the pieces, because the editors of the section (and this has been the case since the current editor took over the section) lied to those readers.

You see, both stories are bylined "The National Staff" ... and at the bottom of the pieces the email contact reads "business@thenational", followed by "with Reuters" for the first piece and "with Bloomberg News" for the latter.

What a farce. The National's Business staff added nothing at all to those pieces ... they are totally copied and pasted from those wires; all of the work was done by the original writers, and they received no credit from their brethren at the "NY Times of the Middle East."

This is unethical, shady, sloppy and simply ridiculous. But the practice is daily routine in that section.

Sad, pathetic. If anyone of any import read the paper, noticed what was in it, these practices would have stopped a long time ago. As it is, the editor of the National's Business section will be able to continue his lazy brand of journalism for as long as the paper loses money. Any editor with any integrity would never state that his section/staff wrote something that was written by someone else; indeed, in some minds, this is plagiarism.

What examples of poor ethics at The National can you share?

Media Misdemeanour

Miss L. Lane asks if anyone has any further information or comment on this 30th May story from The National:

A British journalist was acquitted this morning of defaming an English-language newspaper in Dubai and describing its management as unethical and immoral.

MT, 49-year-old former business editor of the newspaper, denied the charges in the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors Court in September 2010. Prosecutors had said he described the newspaper's management as "driven by sex and money".

MT wrote on the newspaper's website that women who failed to get jobs at the newspaper had claimed they were rejected because they didn't have sex with the managers.

MT was also accused of abusing the Etisalat telecommunications system to hassle the newspaper's management and directors, as well as insulting by posting defamatory material using the paper's website.

At the time of the incident, an Egyptian manager at the paper lodged a complaint at Bur Dubai Police Station. He told police that an internet user had posted defamatory material on their website.

About a month later, the newspaper identified MT and reported him to police.

The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.

Declining standards at The National?

A reader expresses frustration with declining journalistic standards at the The National: "Shows evidence of really poor writing skills in the first place, with poor subbing letting all these things go through...it's something that has the potential to be a really compelling news piece, but for me anyway, it was ruined by the poor writing and grammar. Instead of focusing on the news interest the story holds, I was tut-tutting at what idiot had written this (or rather, what idiot employed him if he can't even write a concise, error-free news item!?)."

Inmate drug binge touched off prison riot, court hears
Salam al Amir

DUBAI // Two detainees at Al Rashidiya detention centre broke into its clinic and stole medicine, touching off a prison riot, prosecutors said this morning.

Prosecutors said AM, 25, and AA, 22, both Emiratis, with damaged public property, stole drugs worth Dh975 and assaulted and resisted police officers. Both had been detained on drug-consumption charges.

On May 29, 2010, AM requested to go to the bathroom, and while there, he unlocked his cuffs, records show.

He then pushed past a police officer, broke down clinic's door and started swallowing different tablets, prosecutors say. At that point, the charges said, AA got out of his cell and also rushed into the clinic.

Prosecutors said they assaulted the police officers trying to control them and prevent them from swallowing the tablets.

And during the confusion, all the detainees in that area managed to get out and fought with police officers.

Riot police were called in and controlled the detainees, said records.

Records show that both suspects were lying on the floor unconscious from swallowing too much Rivotril, Valium, Xanax and other types of anti-depressants and sleeping pills.

The next hearing was scheduled for March 20 to summon the suspects.

The spies within?

Intriguing email from a reader:

Anything to report on the rumoured full-time Emirati censor who's joined/will join the National staff?

We've heard nothing, have any of you?

Twitted off

The National reporter David Cosh is a bit pissed off with Arabian Business, according to his Twitter feed:

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.

“Wow! How did I reach that circulation?”

An impressive performance, if the Grand National's claims can be believed:

Two years after its launch, Newland has stepped aside to become editorial director and Fattah has become its editor. The paper's sales have doubled year-on-year with 20,000 paid subscriptions. Another 20,000 issues are distributed for free of charge - to encourage further subscription - while a further 20,000 are sold in retail outlets across the country. It has also proved to be popular amongst the local Emirati community as well as with expatriates.

Click here for a three page article on all the paper's many glories

Big shake up at The National

Sorry for the delay with getting a post up on this. Lots of people leaving, we're told at least fifteen staff have been fired or resigned over the past month:

Reporters/eds.
This is the best way I could think of to inform you all at once that I have handed in my notice and will be leaving The National to launch a media relations consultancy in Abu Dhabi.
My resignation is lodged and my last day of employment is to be March 31.
I'm really excited about my next move and will fill you all in on the details over the coming few weeks. It will come as no surprise to many of you that my partner in the business is my colleague Matt Slater, who will leave the company on the same day.
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone I have worked with over the past two and a half years as we launched and developed The National.
I will remain in my role until March 31 and Hassan and Laura will be announcing the next National Editor before then.
Thanks again for all your work,
Gregg Fray
National Editor
The National

UPDATE from a commenter below:

3 people were laid off a few weeks ago: two online editors and one woman who did some kind of unspecified work on multimedia. There was no notice and they were marched up to the human resources office and told to pack up and leave on the spot.

In addition to Matt Slater and Gregg Fray, another dozen people at least have left. We can count.

Deputy news editor Roland Hughes, arts reporter Jessica Hume, national reporters Rasha Elass, Jen Gerson and Tim Brooks, photographers Ryan Carter and Phil Cheung, Saturday foreign editor Cassie Biggs, deputy chief sub Bob Garton, copy editor Nick Stout and subeditor Luke Kummer. That makes 11 plus Slater and Fray and there are probably others.

National Paint Job

Thread request:

How about a new topic? The National has shown its true colours with its insipid and benign reporting of the Dubai debt story? It's just another PR lead pamphlet for the UAE gov and about as credible as Em Biz 24/7/... Discuss.

Adieu Newland?

The Independent on Sunday has claimed that Martin Newland is stepping down as editor of The National.

Just a year after the launch of The National in Abu Dhabi, rumours swirl that Martin Newland is to step down. The former Daily Telegraph editor set up the English-language paper, recruiting several ex-Telegraph hacks to join him.

Colin Randall and Sue Ryan were among those lured by generous tax-free salaries, the full details of which were memorably leaked on to the internet. My mole says Newland will continue to work for the paper but not as editor. I'm told his replacement will need to be pro the Emirates government and royal family, its proprietors. Newland did not return my calls.

Bearing in mind the National moles have all gone very quiet, is there any chance we can get this confirmed? Was Newland pushed, did he jump, or was he just unwilling to toe the party line any more?

National staff salaries leaked on internet

From Maktoob.com:

National staff salaries leaked on internet
Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:46 PM

The salaries of the National’s entire editorial staff have been leaked on the internet in what is being described as a serious data security breach at the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, Maktoob Business can reveal.

The monthly salaries of over 250 employees, including editor-in-chief Martin Newland, have been posted on Wikileaks, an internet site dedicated to the publication of confidential information.

...

Sources at the newspaper confirmed some of the salaries in the document were accurate said the leak might have been in retaliation for the freezing of bonuses this year or the u-turn on free housing.

Newland declined to comment when contacted by Maktoob Business. Abu Dhabi Media Co (ADMC), which owns the National, was not immediately available for comment.

RAK hit and run

From today's Gulf News (extracts below):

An American journalist working for an English daily from Abu Dhabi has run over an Egyptian security guard at the entrance of a university here because the guard denied him access to the campus.

The security guard did not allow entry to the journalist identified as "J." because he did not have an "entrance permission" which is a must for visitors as per the university regulations.

The Egyptian security guard is demanding Dh50,000 in compensation, and the university is demanding to continue with the case against the journalist and his sponsoring organisation.

The sources said that it has been reported that this particular journalist had repeatedly entered the university surreptitiously. He had entered with the university students and without holding any proper permission and this harmed the university's image. The sources said that the journalist had violated the privacy of the university.

Big Unrest at The National

According to an anonymous commenter:

Big, big unrest at The National. I know we have a relatively healthy number of staff, and yes we have the backing of some very wealthy men, but the vibe around here isn't very good. Everyone around me is looking over their shoulder. I'm not privy to information at all (I'm a mere reporter) and I can't tell you anything for certain, but there is a feeling of impending doom around here. I suppose we wouldn't be the only ones to face cutbacks. But I'd be surprised if a few senior people, and quite a few others, are still here at the beginning of Feb. Horrible feeling.

Just a thought

Has anyone at ITP proofread the programme for the Media & Marketing Show conference, which is hosted by ITP and Arabian Business? Would have been nice if they could spell Saatchi and Saatchi right, and I'm not sure Joseph Ghossoub would be particularly overjoyed to be plain ole Jo in the agenda. Delighted to see Martin Newland is giving a presentation on What it takes to survive in Middle East Journalism. But what I really want to know is: what the hell are Forenoon Sessions?

And before you start squealing about how we're always slagging ITP off, we're not. We try and post other topics, but you lot end up at the same conclusion anyway. But, to be honest, schoolboy errors like this one are just asking for mockery.

War resumes on the National front

Oh what a capital cock-up.

The National, owned and edited in Abu Dhabi, has had to print a retraction of a story that ran on the front page of its Business section, claiming that Dubai house prices fell 16 per cent. The story was particularly timely as it ran on the first day of Cityscape. Unfortunately, that meant it was particularly high profile coverage. Is that the smell of sweat and fear, and the sounds of clashing drums, cymbals and rolling heads, in The National's offices? Sources tell us that Dubai Inc has "gone mental" over the story, especially as it comes at a time where question marks have been placed over the city's ability to maintain its real estate market in light of the global economic crisis.

Here is the retraction:

In today’s edition, The National incorrectly cited a report by Colliers International as saying that Dubai house prices fell by 16 per cent in the second quarter. Colliers actually said the rate of growth in prices slowed to 16 per cent in the second quarter from 43 per cent in the previous quarter. The National also incorrectly quoted the regional director of Colliers International, Ian Albert, as saying that prices had fallen. He said that the rate of growth had slowed. The National regrets the errors.

Regrets the error? I'll bet it does. Expect to see a number of fawning "Dubai is good" stories over the next few weeks until the fuss dies down, and The National can return to its familiar Dubai-bashing ways.

Crunch Times for Khaleej?

According to The National, the Khaleej Times will be given a (long overdue) overhaul. The paper reports that Rahul Sharma, formerly the Delhi editor of Hindustan Times, has been appointed as editor, with Didier Brun, former senior vice president at the International Herald Tribune (IHT), as chief executive.

With excellent distribution already in place (something The National struggled with in Dubai in the early days), and Dubai heavyweight financial backing, this is an interesting move. But can the Khaleej Times possibly survive without its glorious comment pieces pieces by Mohammed Galadari, or investigative reporting?

How will the new improved Khaleej Times sit in the existing media landscape? And what next for the increasingly dreadful Business 24-7? How will Gulf News fare? And what's the future of 7Days? Post your comments in the normal place.

The Brotocols of the Elders of the National

Someone commented this on an earlier thread - here - and it seemed interesting enough for a new topic:

The National also has some kind of pro-Israel agenda. Anyone who has an eye for such editorial policies will notice it.

Starting with labeling "Jerusalem, Israel" on a map (which even Fox News wouldn't do) to calling the boundry between the Israeli occupied Golan and Syria proper the "Israeli-Syrian border".

Aside from that, referring to Jewish colonists in the Golan as "Jewish residents of the Golan" is a really good job at explaining the reality of the occupation to the reader.

The National's pro-Israel editorial policy is being watched closely. Not just by me and others but also by people high up in the government.

Nice to know that the government of Abu Dhabi has come out with an official paper that has Zionist leanings. That' what happens when you bring in an EIC (Newland) that is openly sympathetic to Israel. Read his op-ed in Canada's Macleans magazine. Looks like Abu Dhabi is a asleep.

Thoughts?

Edit: A reader has added this comment, which is also worth discussing.

There seems to be a perception that The National is really hitting Dubai while giving Abu Dhabi more positive coverage. I work at the paper and I have been hearing this from journos and from business /government officials in Dubai. A few days ago I was politely told to piss off because of the paper's position on Dubai.

Other than the paper's obvious pro-Israel stance, is there also an anti-Dubai bias?

D Day for The National

Well chaps, this is the day when the face of journalism in the UAE changes forever ... or so they would have us believe. The National closes its first edition today and hits the streets tomorrow.

Seriously, we hope you prove us wrong and manage where all else have failed before: to launch a UAE paper with consistently high standards and sensible reporting that is neither sensationalist nor smarmy.

Good luck to all of you!

Grand National?

From an anonymous commenter:

This month's issue of Commerce magazine [we couldn't find this online - do chuck us a link or scan if you have it] carries a five page interview with Martin Newland in which not only is this website namechecked, but he talks about censorship, Conrad Black, why he resigned at the Telegraph, and how he came to be in Abu Dhabi. He also talks in detail about his plans for the new paper. I think it is the first interview he has given since he's been here.

It also has an interview with the current Editor in Chief of Gulf News in which he talks about why he is not worried about the competition the new paper will present (he thinks all of the talent in Abu Dhabi will be gone in a year because they won't be able to deal with lack of free speech). He also talks about the other papers that have come and gone, and why the Gulf News will always succeed.

The new Abu Dhabi paper apparently changed its name from The Nation to The National because Gulf News ramped up its "The Nation" section in recent months.

NB: If you want to post your own stuff here which would be great, just drop us a line and we'll add you the team. dubaimediablog at gmail.

EDIT: the interview is available here.