ReBlog : On Publication & Media

At a very desperate attempt to reignite attention to the sad misanthropic episodes that my blog posts are, I am reblogging a post I wrote entitled "Under A Rock" which briefly discusses themes relevant to Publication in Oman, and New Media.

I haven't posted it here, only because it starts off being slightly personal.

For the faintly interested of you. The post can be found here. I will take comments both here and there.

Thanks.

Sultanate of Oman to embrace the Idol franchise

In few months time Radio Sultanate of Oman and Al Sawadi Beach Resort will lunch its first singing talent show ‘Oman Idol’ as part of Idol franchise such as American Idol and Super Star, for residence of Sultanate of Oman only. The Shabiba wrote an article about it.

Yet another interview with HM by a Kuwaiti newspaper...

(ONA)

The same Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Al Jar Allah, editor-in-chief of Al Siyasa Kuwaiti newspaper, who interviewed His Majesty the Sultan two years ago, interviewed HM again on Saturday April the 26th, 2008.

It's a quite interesting interview. The highlights of the interview can be checked on Times of Oman newspaper by clicking here. And for Arabic readers, they can check the whole interview in details (Q&A) on the Kuwaiti newspaper: Al-Siyasa [Link].

I wonder why we don't have Omani journalists interviewing His Majesty as often? Or as a friend of mine said, maybe it is because we don't have such capable journalists in Oman?

Damn, now what am I going to do with that Free Tibet banner?

I was interested to read in yesterday's Times of Oman about the plans for today's Olympic torch relay. The media and the various ministries seem quite excited about it all, though I am slightly disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown by most of my friends and associates.

That's not what this post is about though. I laughed out loud when I read the following :

Oman announced yesterday that the nation is all geared up to host the most peaceful leg of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay tomorrow. The claim came from Oman Olympic Committee vice-chairman Habib bin Abdulnabi Macki, who addressed a large press gathering at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

“Our security is tight and anyone trying to put a hurdle will be severely dealt with,” said Habib Macki. “The Royal Oman Police is ready to handle any such situations.”

Did you catch the pun? Hurdle! get it? Hurdle?

After I stopped laughing, I spent another twenty or thirty minutes marveling at his poor choice of words regarding how protesters will be treated. I can't believe that nobody prepped him for the question, or if they did that that was the quote he was supposed to give. That is textbook bad Public and Press Relations.

With the eyes of the world on us today, the OOC would have been well advised to trot out a someone more seasoned to deal with the media, or to have prepared statements that didn't quite present the plan for crowd control so bluntly.

That said, I think it's a real mark of distinction that Oman was chosen to host a leg of the relay. For those of you who want to attend, the relay starts off from the Dhow at the Al Bustan R/A at about 17:00 and continue along the coast through old muttrah, and up through the darsait heights area, then Past the refinery I think and down into Qurum. The relay is scheduled to finish amongst great fanfare and fireworks at around 20:30 tonight, in the floating theatre in Qurum park.

Be there or be square Hip Cats.

A slightly more Caustic version of this is Cross posted on my Blog, Other Oman

Hi FM on 95.9

Hi FM, a new private FM station began test transmission on the 95.9 frequency. It's Oman's first English private station following on the launch of Hala FM earlier this year. Both stations, as you can tell from the name, are owned by the OHI group.

I haven't had a chance to listen yet, but I'm happy to finally have an alternative to the horrible Oman FM.

Have you had a chance to listen? Tell us what you think.

Bloggers meet coverage on ‘The Week’

(Click on the image for better readability)

For me, “turn-out poor” in the headline is a bit harsh. Nobody claimed 50 bloggers would attend the meet!

"Azzamn"

Azzamn (their spelling, not mine), is a new daily Arabic newspaper that recently launched in Oman with very little fanfare. It quietly slipped onto the news stands without a publicity campaign on August 12th. I read the first issue because they came and gave out free issues in our office that day, but that was that. I haven't heard anyone talk about it since.

Has anyone here been reading it?