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Ian Fairservice
With star-studded
The media bite back
titles like Hello! and
Middle East MICE
The debacle over the new national media law will prove whether the UAE
& Events on his CV,
Motivate’s managing
Journalists’ Association—which is vehemently opposed to it—has teeth
partner Ian Fairservice
regularly finds himself THE UAE is not the place for militant
mingling with the most trade unions. For one thing, militant
glamorous A-listers. trade unions are illegal. Aside from that,
These include thirsty outward criticism of the government is
chef Keith Floyd, actor rare and, if you are thinking of launch-
Dennis Waterman, ing a protest or strike, you’d probably be
and… better off doing it from the other side of
customs at DXB.
Jim Davidson
About as close to civil disobedience as
Notoriously offensive
we get here are the recent tirades from
‘comedian’ Davidson—
the UAE Journalists’ Association, which
who in 2004 immigrated
railed against the new national media
to Dubai because, er,
law in various publications.
he reportedly objected
As Media Week recently reported, the
to the UK’s immigration
Journalists’ Association held an emer-
policy—was once
gency meeting last month in which
threatened with legal
members vowed to lobby against the
action for allegedly
draft media law prepared by the Federal
stealing a joke by
National Council and the National Me-
British funnyman…
dia Council. It was argued that the new
law is too vague and imposes unfairly
steep fines on journalists deemed to
Jimmy Carr
have committed a misdemeanour.
Though not imme-
Whatever the outcome of the group’s
diately apparent from
‘action’, the move has thrown up an im-
his TV appearances,
portant question: While the Journalists’
Carr is quite a clever
Association may not have real teeth,
chap, having studied
does it at least have its dentures in? “They don’t really want it to be hi- “We need to bring in the non-Arab
Social and Political
Sort of, says one prominent non-Arab jacked by a load of Egyptians and Syrians journalists. Honestly, we are weak in
Sciences at Gonville
member of the local media. “The UAE who have their own agenda. That’s why this way,” says Al Reyami. “We are think-
and Caius College,
Journalists’ Association is becoming it’s so nationalistic. Likewise, they don’t ing of making a small committee within
Cambridge—whose
much more significant. It doesn’t have want it to be hijacked by Saudi religious the association that will take care of all
fellows include…
teeth, in that it’s not able to stop a law. zealots, who would threaten the group’s non-Arab journalists. Maybe this will
But on this occasion, it has taken a par- liberal spirit,” says the commentator. come soon.”
ticularly strong line… The association But some say that the Emirati-only Some are more pragmatic about the
does have respect. It is listened to.” structure at the organisation’s core also need for such representation. Martin
Stephen Hawking
The commentator—who wishes to re- has its downsides, in that it is it unrepre- Newland, editor in chief of The National,
Physicist and A Brief
main anonymous—says that those who sentative of the local media. says that he believes the first priority—
History of Time author
criticise the Journalists’ Association may “I’ve never really thought about join- and, perhaps, a better way of earning the
Hawking is set to go
be feeling “a bit miffed” that they do not ing [the association],” says a respected trust of the powers that be—is to make
into space this year, as
have the resources or political influence local media figure. “But ideally, it should your journalism stronger.
he boards one of the
to have a memorandum accepted for reflect the makeup of the journalists “Your journalism is what you do—
first flights by Virgin
review by the government (something within the UAE. It shouldn’t just be Emi- and the first thing I’d do is make that
Galactic. The £100,000
that the Association has achieved in its ratis and Arab-speakers.” more robust,” Newland says. “The sec-
(Dhs536,000) return
appeal against the media law). This issue is being addressed from ond priority is to seek membership of
ticket will be paid by the
The proceedings of the UAE Jour- within the association. Sami Al Reyami, such organisations.”
billionaire…
nalists’ Association—which is led by editor in chief at Emarat Al Youm and So perhaps the UAE Journalists’ As-
secretary-general Mohammad Yousef— deputy chairman of the Association, says sociation is so cliquey, and powerless,
are conducted in Arabic, and all the that it will shortly form a non-Arab com- that it is not even worth joining. But per-
Richard Branson
voting members are Emirati. A possible mittee. Although this group is unlikely haps—as the response to the objections
Despite now being
justification for the latter is to protect to be granted voting rights, such a move to the national media law will testify—
a pioneer of space
the association from in-fighting among would give a voice to a significant slice of we’ll see that the association’s teeth are
tourism, Branson
various groups. the culturally diverse local media. sharper than expected.
once had—as the
tabloid press may have
remarked at the time—
COVERS
more lowly interests.
In 1977 Branson’s label
Virgin Records signed Common ground
the Sex Pistols, whose
members included…
BRITISH MEN’S mags GQ and Esquire may be arch rivals, but they’re certainly singing
from the same editorial hymn sheet in their February editions, both of which feature the
new US President—and world’s saviour—on the cover.
GQ (circulation: 130,008) proves why it’s the market leader with its
Sid Vicious
coverage of the Frost/Nixon film, which includes an interview with
The late John Ritchie—
‘England’s premier swordsman’, David Frost.
a.k.a. Sid Vicious—was
Underdog Esquire (circulation: 58,136), meanwhile, devotes a
the live-fast, die-young
whole four pages to James Reston Jr., who clearly resents Frost for
bassist of the world’s
stealing the limelight in the infamous interviews with Richard Nixon.
most influential punk
Reston, who served as an adviser to Frost at the time, writes with
band. Just don’t go
a stunning lack of grace and humility about his “pivotal role” in the
playing any of his re-
interviews and the film they spawned. Reston adds that, without his
cords in the monastic
work, “Frost … would be tossing his puff balls, unheard and unnoted,
foyer of Motivate’s
but for the Arab street.”
Dubai office.
Ouch! Men’s magazines? Manbags at dawn, more like.
www.mediaweekme.com 08 FEBRUARY 2009 /23
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