How not to recall a press release

Poor Dubaiworld Media/World-View Communications/World View (make your mind up?). It was bad enough that they sent out yet another dull press release this afternoon with the covering message:

Please find attached a Press Release titled “Russian delegation meets Dubai World officials, discusses scope of co-operation” for use in your esteemed publication.

They then sent out an email a few hours later with what we believe to be a recall message (just for reference, 7.30pm is a bit too late to start trying to withdraw stories, if they were going to be printed in the first place and even if my publication is an esteemed one).

The subject line read:

KILL KILL KILL !!! Russian delegation meets Dubai World officials, discusses scope of co-operation

On further reading, we realised they meant for the release to be withdrawn, not the delegation to be "taken care of" ...

The body of the email reiterated the point with : KILL KILL KIIL PLESAE kill this media release (their typos not ours).

Banned on the run

A recent comment on DMO asked: "I'm about to leave a Dubai publishing company and move to another. I am presuming my company won't want me to go to a competitor (ie rival publisher, the titles aren't in direct conflict), but I'm reassured that DMC don't uphold bans on journos. Anyone had problems making a move?"

Forget about press freedom - are hacks able to move between companies without incurring a work ban? Do publishing houses use nefarious means to spoil a former employee's move? And, do they pay up on gratuities or force you to pay back huge sums of "relocation" fees? In pre-Dubai Media City days, it used to be far better for a journo to get themselves sacked if it was after less than three years at the company than it was to resign, which meant their gratuity was reduced by two-thirds.

What are the implications for a hack wishing to leave their job if they realise they've made a terrible mistake/been lured to Dubai under false pretences/hate everyone they work with/get offered more money from The Nation*? (* delete as applicable)

Actual journalists need not apply

There is lame, and then there is Dubai media lame, and then there is the execrable bloody human excrement dregs of lame that appears to be Martin Newland's new newspaper The Nation, as well as his journalistic courage.

The Press Gazette's Axegrinder dug up these nasty little nuggets. You can read the full excerpts here and here, but here is our favourite little piece of turd-dom:

"I can tell you now that every application from a journalist wanting to come and work here who has included in his or her portfolio an "investigative" piece about labourers' living standards has gone straight in the bin. Not because the theme is unworthy – it is and we will do it – but because we are looking for other, more nuanced and mature avenues into the national story."

So essentially if you are a journalist with the least miniscule microbe of talent, experience, news sense and ethics, no need to bother applying to Newland's Abu Dhabi government PR rag. Not unless you first sit UAE Media Course 101: How to prostitute every last shred of your integrity for the sheikh's oily dollar.

Show me the money

What's the accepted average freelance rate per word in Dubai? How does it compare with overseas? Whether you're a legitimate freelancer, or doing some moonlighting, do you get paid the same rates? Do publishing houses like Motivate and ITP actually stick to a rate across the board? How many of you freelance for PR companies?

And, who are bad / late / no-payers? With great power etc: don't be a prat and start naming every company you don't like... we're looking for genuine warnings on companies that don't cough up. We'll give you a clue: they're normally government or quasi-government.

In the absence of proper unions, let's at least be open about the rates available, and make the tightwads pay up on time! We want to hear comments from editors about what they pay, and from freelancers about market rates and which companies are slow to cough up.

Come On Eileen

You're everyone's favourite and most respected PR exec in Dubai, so why are you lowering yourself to the Ahlan! Shit 100?

It's a shame betting's forbidden in Dubai, or we could run a book here on what spectacularly crap nonentities will slime themselves into the list this year (along with a few token charidee people to show us that being Shit! Hot! is not just about being driven around in Neil Petch's wankmobile).

On a more serious note, if you're bored of London then you're probably bored of Dubai. Because Dubai is just London (but crapper) and ten years too late. The rise and decline of London as a pan-Arab media hub is the most prophetic synopsis of Dubai's media scene ever penned [our bold]:

In its heyday, London was home to scores of Arabic publications of diverse provenance, function and quality: From lavishly-subsidised journals with pretensions to a worldwide readership, political publications of every persuasion and cheaply-printed dissident tracts, to glossy lifestyle magazines, sophisticated cultural titles and mischievous (or merely mercenary) gossip-purveyors.

Media ho's?

A colleague has passed on a fantastic e-mail promotion he received from Mediaquest, the parent company of Trends (formerly Arabies Trends). The email is promoting a "provocative symposium" for Gulf radio advertisers.

Provocative doesn't describe the half of it - the event is presented by Cummunicate magazine(sic). Just what kind of magazine-buying spree has Mediaquest been on? We know they've bought Gulf Marketing Review and the magazines from Gray Business Communications, but are they also branching out into the Debbie Does Dallas market?

(PS one of the symposium presenters is Dr Richard Gross. Dick anyone?)

Radio gaga

We've not had much mention of Dubai's world leading radio sector recently, so here's a comment submitted by DMO reader:

Was it just me, or were the comments made by Steve Johnson on Radio 2 Breakfast Show at about 6.30 this morning (Feb 7) just a tad racist? In passing comment on the story that Posh'n'Becks may want to adopt an African orphan, he said that Becks was used to being followed around by a 'little black man' - just think of Sean Wright-Philips. I am at a loss to understand why on earth a so-called 'professional' radio presenter would put his job in such jeopardy!

It's also worth mentioning the often abysmal pronunciation that floats over the airwaves. The "Skilly" Isles, "Nor-witch", anyone heard any great examples recently?