Wam Bam Al-Bayan

Via a reader, does anyone have any more info on this:

WAM Dubai, Sep. 7, 2009 (WAM) -- The ownership of Al-Bayan Press, Publishing and Printing Establishment is to shift to Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI). H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued a decree ordering the transfer of the ownership of the Dubai-based establishment with effect from the date of issuance of the decree.

The decree calls for the transfer of all assets, properties, commitments and rights of Al-Bayan to the DMI and so shall Al-Bayan's staff and workers to boost media work and unify the efforts of media practice for better services to the general public. The decree which takes effect from the date of its issuance is to be published in the official gazette.

With the transfer of Al-Bayan ownership, the DMI, which already has under its umbrella five TV channels, has further expanded to include Al-Bayan, which has become by virtue of the new decree an integral part of the DMI family, which includes Dubai TV, Sama Dubai, Dubai One, Dubai Sports Channel and Dubai Racing.

For men

It seems the Dubai men's magazine market is about to explode - GQ and Esquire, anyone? But what's to say new titles - even if international brands - will do better in this market than any previous attempts? Will the ad spend ever be big enough to support new men's glossies?

Gulf News has to pay more than £1m in libel suit

Whoops. Gulf News has lost a libel case in the UK courts.

According to The Times website today, the damages and costs are more than £1 million.

AN EDINBURGH property developer has been awarded more than £1m in damages and costs against a Dubai newspaper after it wrongly said that he had deceived Middle East investors.

Mark Emlick, chairman and founder of Dunedin Independent, one of Scotland’s largest privately-owned independent financial advice businesses, won his case against the Gulf News in the High Court in London this week.

He brought the case for defamation of character after Gulf News reported in April last year that he and a partner were being sought in Dubai and in the UK by investors who claimed he had absconded with their money after a property deal that involved his company Strategic Property Investment group (SPI) went sour.

Are you using more PR material than ever before?

Apparently media are using more press releases than last year: could it be related to number of job cuts?

Journalists in the region are using press releases more often than they did in 2007, although many reporters still feel they receive a disproportionate number of irrelevant emails from public relations executives, according to the MediaSource/Insight Middle East Journalist Survey 2009.

In 2007, when MediaSource/Insight Middle East conducted its first survey, 58 percent of pollsters said they use none or less than 10 percent of the press releases emailed to them, compared with 45 percent in 2009.

“The ‘most irritating practice’ for both the Arabic and English media remains the sending of irrelevant press releases, just as it was in our 2007 survey,” said Ben Smalley, managing director of MediaSource.

“The survey reveals a pressing need for PR practitioners to become more targeted and develop a greater understanding of the subjects covered by the media outlets they are dealing with, rather than adopting a scattergun approach to distribution,” he adds.

The survey also found that while 63 percent of English-language journalists working in the Middle East say that the quality of journalism in the region is improving, only 22 percent believe the level of reporting is either ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’ , compared with 47 percent of Arabic journalists.

MediaSource/Insight Middle East surveyed 219 journalists working for Arabic and English-language print, broadcast and online media in 13 countries across the Middle East.

Are you using more PR material to fill space, or do you think the quality of press releases is worse than ever?

20 days leave for Emarat Al Youm

Emarat Al Youm has been suspended for 20 days for defamation. While the Arabic paper was always edgier than its sister paper, Business 24-7 (the artist formerly known as Emirates Today), this is certainly something of a surprise for a Dubai government-owned publication.

UAE arabic daily Emarat Al-Youm has been suspended for 20 days and its editor-in-chief fined 20,000 dirhams ($5,448) for defamation relating to a 2006 story accusing a stable of giving steroids to horses.

The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's previous ruling on the case brought against the newspaper by the owners of Warsan Stables, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Thursday.

The UAE Journalists Association criticised the ban, which it said will damage to the UAE's reputation with international press freedom and human rights advocacy groups.
“Although we do not have the right to object a court ruling, but we reiterate our rejection of banning the newspaper or any other local newspaper from publishing, association Chairman Mohammad Yousuf was quoted as saying.

How do you feel about this? Fair treatment? And, if there are any AMG readers, can you tell us if there have been internal repurcussions?

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?

Who is this?

Any ideas who or what this man is referring to in this recruitment post?

Looking for Angel/VC investors for media ventures in the Middle East backed by a well known media figure.

I for one cannot wait to find out more - especially what Emirates Leasing, a subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank, has got to do with it.