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17 December, 2005

De-press-ing

So that greatly esteemed organisation the Dubai Press Club plans to offer a "language of reporting" training course for local journalists, in partnership with the DCCI:

"The workshop is aimed at helping journalists polish their writing and reporting while working on basic language skills, such as style, grammar and punctuation. Professional trainers from Zayed University will lead the course."

Non-UAEans might be shocked at the idea that someone working as a professional journalist would need training on "basic language skills". Welcome to the sandlands. The dearth of journalistic proficiency here is legendary.

The Dubai Press Club itself is an extremely mystifying organisation. It claims to be a "world-class facility that fosters pursuit of journalistic excellence" but spends much of its time churning out dull government press releases, surely the opposite of what journalism is about?

Still, good luck to them. If the DPC thinks it can improve the prose of the Kretin Times by one iota, it deserves all the support and encouragement it can get.

Labels:

20 Comments:

Blogger Parv said...

Seems like another big step towards the good ol' Emiratisation policy. Let's just hope they're press releases don't all sound the same.

Did you really put up that post at 4:06 in the AM?!

17 December, 2005 07:38  
Blogger Parv said...

Sorry - it's 4:09PM.

My bad...think i need some glasses. Spend to much time reading blogs...

17 December, 2005 07:40  
Blogger Hesham said...

I have read some press releases announcing the launch of so and so product or service only to read the same exact press release all over again a few months later.

I will not mention the guilty department, but im sure some of you have noticed this as well?

17 December, 2005 08:59  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You guys should all go watch SYRIANA.
Neat Movie - shot in Dubai - and a lot of story on the life on poor construction workers living and working in Dubai.

Not sure if that movie will actually be allowed to play in Dubai... but its neat nevertheless.

17 December, 2005 10:44  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

juornalism here is like working for Us army in Iraq... very risky!


unless you wanna report someone missing puddle or a reptile returning to owner! or the best of the best would be shagging a camel.

for pictures, Dubai skyline or a sleepling person!


No Wonder dubai sounds like a paradise!

17 December, 2005 12:43  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

balushi please return to baluchestan for the sake of all of us. they sure can use your comments.

17 December, 2005 13:07  
Blogger Krishna said...

The Press releases and the papers have improved a lot recently. In 1998, the only news you could read in the papers that so and so sheikh got a phone call from so and so sheikh and they discussed mutually common issues. Atleast nowadays they are reporting on problems regarding civil services.

17 December, 2005 13:31  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

atleast put a name anounoumous!

ok i will return back to baluchestan but one condition!

everybody shud return back from where they came from i will the have no choice but to return as well... !

then from baluchestan i will return to Halab! thats were we came from to there!

and then if any problem in Halab then again i will check where i came from to halab!

so on so on so on then ultimately we will all meet up in Eden!

hOws that?

17 December, 2005 13:34  
Blogger samuraisam said...

krishna, they still report on that type of stuff, i have no problem with that, it's just the titles they use for whatever occasions.
they always use the title "ABC recieves XYZ". very. very. wrong.

17 December, 2005 13:49  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What I find fascinating about crime reporting in the Gulf News is that every single criminal "confesses" to his crime. Look at the articles over the next few weeks: in every one, a person who is caught doing anything (and none of this innocent-till-proven stuff! no sir!) always "confesses." They have amazing powers here to make contrition!

17 December, 2005 14:39  
Blogger moryarti said...

@Publius - don't blame the paper mate. When it comes to these stories, its always big bro's version that prevails - believe me i know.

17 December, 2005 14:46  
Blogger snow white said...

No doubt, Dubai Press Club will be offering bonus points for the rampant usage of the word "prestigious".

17 December, 2005 16:09  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As anyone notice the amount of reporter Gulfnews has?

I have counted them, they are only four, one is Haddad, Bassam Zaza, etc

i wonder how these folks keep their eyes on dubai?

I know how?

They receive news by fax from concerned depts!

Thats how!


if situations call then the reporters are send out to take the picture of Dubai sunest near palm tree!

then we see that on one ENTIRE page No.2 and the balance is Subsribe to Gulfnews for 384/- and get a voucher of 400/-

17 December, 2005 16:20  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

big bro's version ????????
who is this ???????

17 December, 2005 17:54  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

onetime i was reading gulfnews and it reported the secretdubai website was blocked!

can you imgine how out of news we have to be to report that?

nobody even knows what that was!

17 December, 2005 19:50  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a journalist and we all know that this place is teeming with important, interesting and scandalous material for the campaigning reporter. But with one hand tied behind your back it can't be dug out and published. It's frustrating and it's sad but I can't see things changing fundamentally in the near future. If there was a free press, as in the UK, people would be stunned at what was unearthed. Oh well, back to that in-depth piece on the Snow Dome!!!

17 December, 2005 20:53  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the bloody Press Club is a @#$%^ joke. Have a little experiment and call them for anything. You never get an answer and if by the glory of their chairperson, someone answers the phone, the answer to your question will be: I DON'T KNOW.
Give it a shot. It's quite amuzing.

18 December, 2005 09:15  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SD, Khaleej Times may look and read like a piece of dross, but it's got more balls than the Good News, Dubai Holding Today and that sycophantic online news aggregator, which I won't name here.

18 December, 2005 09:44  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just wanted to share a joke:
Abu Dhabi Securities Market claims it is " The Ideal Investment environment". I went today to their sharjah branch and found that you need to stand in queue for 1-2 hours just to get a queue number for the next queue !!!!
what a joke.

18 December, 2005 10:31  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hahahaha i was reading Gn and it said that 80% of the journalist have gone to Dubai for Shopping rather than covering the GCC summit.


hahhahhahhahahhah... hehehhehehhe... ououuuououou


lallalalla ouuuuu hahahha

eeeehehehheheh ahahahah

I am dying i am dying i am dying!

hahahhah

eghehehhehhe

ahahhhahhahah


looooooool

ehehehehheheheheh


oh secy, why dont you COVER THAT IN YOUR BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

19 December, 2005 11:12  

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