Apparently the right wing crazies are up in arms again about the fact that it happens to be a Muslim holiday - Eid al-Adha. In fact Muslims have been having holidays for the past 1430 years so perhaps it's not that big of a deal if a store like say, Best Buy, wants to acknowledge the fact.

As it turns out, this is probably the first time a retailer has sent out such Islamic holy day greetings, according to CAIR (Council on Islamic Relations). And what happened?

Vitriolic spewing by hateful narrow-minded people who have no respect for others, such as this Best Buy forum demonstrates. Why is it either Christmas or Eid. Either Hannukah or holiday? This article at Right Pundits pretty much sums up their thinking. In my opinion, exploit them all! On one hand people complain about the commercialization of [fill in holiday here] and on the other, everyone wants a piece of the action.

Go ahead, sell your soul. Let companies and corporations exploit your holy day for profit and consumerist values. Of course, they should also have sent out Happy Thanksgiving ones. And maybe they did, it's unclear. I know I haven't seen any Eid flyers but I've seen so many "Thank... [Read More]

Critical article about censorship in Emirates media
Courtney C. Radsch (Pasadena, CA) - I just came across an interesting article in Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, about censorship in the Emirates and the role the governments are or are not playing in improving professionalism and transparency.

Davidson discusses the obstacles to transparency and liberalization as well as the free flow of information posed by the Ministry of Information and Culture, which deals with all sorts of publishing and media distribution. And he points out that although there is a new media law that prevents journalists from being put in jail, the fines are prohibitive and enforces the self-censorship many journalists there were brought up with in the Middle East.

He also  notes the inherent contradiction of having the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority monitor and likely spy on internet usage in addition to blocking unknown numbers of sites even as the crown prince is going on and on about the need for transparency.

He offers as examples the anecdote about the failure of the UAE-based media failed to cover the royal family torture video (a 45-minute video in which Sheikh Issa, brother of the ruler, tortures a man by shoving sand in his mouth, beats him with a nail and board, held down by men in uniform etc). Several governments in the region blocked access to the video on YouTube as they did to the site UAE To... [Read More]

How do you say "internet" in Arabic?
Courtney C. Radsch (Pasadena, CA) - Egypt has apparently started registering the first Arabic-language internet domain names at dot.msr during the 4th Internet Governance Forum (happening in its very own seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh) in a move critics of the regime's perspective on free speech and internet freedom find hypocritical and probably on par with the US or Libya heading up the UN Human Rights Commission. The move came Monday after ICANN, the international organization that handles domain naming, began registration for non-Latin-character domain names. 

Arabic domain names could tear down the English-only internet and usher in a a new era of access and participation that could encourage Arabic businesses to engage with the web not to mention the less educated and unilingual Arabic speakers in the 22 Arabic-speaking states of the Middle East.

Or it could usher in a time of cyber-sovereignty, with countries vying for control over who controls which languages. Will Saudi Arabia fight to control Arabic naming? What happens if someone wants to register a curse word (apparently f*ck.me was snatched up as soon as .me was made available) or a slur against Islam? I wonder how (not if) this will be regulated...  What is the process for asserting ownership or making legal claims? As [Read More]

The Muslim Brotherhood's leadership challenge a "milestone"
Courtney C. Radsch (Pasadena, CA) - The supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, has decided to step down at the end of his first term in January 2010 in what blogger and activist Ibrahim al-Houdaiby calls "an important milestone for the largest opposition group in Egypt." 

In his article Brotherhood Faces Leadership Challenge for the Arab Reform Bulletin Houdaiby explains why it's unlikely a reformist will be chosen as a successor and why the MB might just wait until the 2010 parliamentary and 2011 presidential elections since that is seen as a potential turning time for several key leaders who have been jailed following what many human rights observers called sham trials at secret military tribunals. Houdaiby gives two explanations for why this decision marks a milestone:

"First, whoever the successor is, he will not enjoy the same historical legitimacy as Akef, who joined the Brotherhood at an early stage and worked with its founder, Hassan al-Banna. All of the potential replacements belong to another generation and lack the gravitas of Akef and his predecessors, which helped them resolve or at least postpone some organizational disputes.

The second reason is that Akef, who presided over a major political openi... [Read More]

Al Jazeera becomes leading Mideast sports broadcaster with ART buy
Courtney C. Radsch (Pasadena, CA) - According to Gulf Times, the Arabic satellite news station Al Jazeera is poised to become the largest sports broadcaster in the Arab region with its reportedly billion dollar purchase of the Arab Radio and Television (ART) network. According to the article, the deal has not yet been announced formally, but it will give Al Jazeera exclusive rights that will likely see it become the leading sports network in the region.

Last week, the UAE daily the National reported that the head of ART's public relations Nawaf Tamimi, said there was no rights deal, following press reports claiming ART had sold its extensive library to Al Jazeera Sports channel. "Rumors have been swirling around the Middle East media water cooler for a while now that the two pay-TV players that weren't a part of this summer's merger between Orbit and Showtime -- that is, Arab Radio and Television (ART) and Al Jazeera Sports -- are up to some kind of merging of their own," writes Keach Hagey. Looks like they are, just as AJ Sports celebrates its sixth year.

This is the notice I get when I try to access the photo-sharing site Flikr in the UAE. Or any site ending in .ir for Israel. And on a host of other sites that Emirati authorities have decided is not acceptable. And I work in Dubai Media City, a supposedly "free" zone. Apparently not a zone for free speech.

I also can't call any Israeli numbers - which of course also cuts me off from Palestinians living in Israeli occupied territories as well as business and government contacts that could be needed to ensure proper, adequate and balanced coverage.

As a journalist I need to track down information and contact details for people all over the world. Yet the Dubai authorities have decided to censor my access to information. How can they call it a Media Free Zone when in fact it is not free at all?

(I originally wrote this post on Sept. 29 but decided not to post until leaving Dubai upon the advice of friends in the media field. Given that TECOM contacted me merely one day after posting this article I am glad I waited!)

P.S. The character above is one of the four grandmothers that star in the Emirati-created cartoon Freej, which I absolutely adore! Too bad she's used for such a negative purpose...

Government service: not such an oxymoron at TECOM
Courtney C. Radsch (Dubai, UAE) - TECOM, the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone authority, is the government agency of Dubai responsible for the so-called "free zones" like Media City, Internet City, Knowledge Village etc. (although funnily enough it does not have a working website!). I had to go to the office for an employment issue and was so astonished by the efficiency, helpfulness and overall competency of a government department that I felt compelled to write a post. Although the office looks like the DMV of something (that is, the Department of Motor Vehicles in the US), down to the rows of windows with glowing red numbers above calling the herds to the appropriate window. People milled around as they waited their turn. But unlike going to the DMV, one of the more painful experiences in life, I actually enjoyed going to this government department! What?! First of all, the wait was super short despite all the people. Probably because the workers are competent (sorry, no offense to the competent DMV peeps out there). So anyway, we get our ticket and shortly thereafter are called to the appropriate window where I explained that I wanted to lodge a complaint. I began in Arabic out of respect for the fact that I was speaking to an Emirati, but he actually spoke English (again, how many times have you been unable to communicate with someone at the DMV). He told me I needed a copy of my passport, labor contract and a form in order to file the complaint. So I left thinking I'd have to go find an internet cafe with a printer or a Kinkos or something, when lo and behold, there was a deck of computers with free printing! What?! So I got on an filed out the form, printed it out and was going to go home to get a copy of my contract etc. I figured there was no way I could log onto my email, I mean, the... [Read More]

Ramadan advertising a casualty of the financial downturn
Courtney C. Radsch (Dubai, UAE) - Spending on advertising during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, TV’s holy grail of ratings, fell compared to last year according to industry experts, whose initial optimism about the season proved unwarranted.

The industry was hoping for a recovery during Ramadan, which is typically the biggest advertising season in the Middle East, when each day people watch TV two hours more on average and indulge in food, drink and sweets for the festive dinners that break each day’s fast.

But the Choueiri Group, the Middle East’s largest media sales representation company, said advertising spend declined during Ramadan, which this year started Aug. 21 and ended Sept. 19 in most Arab countries.

“This year, the overall scene has witnessed a drop in advertising spend,” Ghassan Harfouche, managing director of Middle East Media Services at Choueiri Group, told the Emirati daily the National. He said spending fell by 25 percent.

The Middle East, especially the Gulf, has been hard hit by the global financial crisis, which hit the real estate and financial sectors, some of the biggest advertisers during the halcyon boom days, hardest.

The fall came even though most broadcasters left rates unchanged from last year’s record rates, AdNation’s Eliot Beer told me.

“From people I’ve spoken to in the market it seems to be down, some suggest a drop of 20-30 percent overall would be about right for the TV market,” said Beer.

Many regional companies devote more than half their budgets to buying ad time during Ramadan, with TV dominating the advert buys. And the month typically accounts for about a third of annual advertising revenues for leading television broadcasters.

But the economic downturn h... [Read More]