Ibrahim Al Abed The Director General of the National Media Council and Head of Emirates News Agency spoke candidly about the media terrain in the UAE.
Self Censorship.
Rules.
Journalists.
Expats.
Would we be better served with rules about what we can and cannot talk about? Maybe but that is not going to happen.
The media is new here in the UAE and it will develop.
Should journalists be worried about investigative reporting? Not if the respect the morality of the nation.
Codes of Ethics? Maybe there is some value.
Closing Geo TV.... "gives me gray hair".
The reality is you need to listen to this radio!
James Piecowye took over Nightline in October 2006 until it was canceled in June 2018. The cast and crew of Nightline decided to keep the show going and this is where James posts the notes.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
May 13---entrepreneur
Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
Akil Kazim of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. and Bheeshma Kumar a young entrepreneur spoke to us about the good the bad and the reality!
What motivates an entrepreneur?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/19spec.htm
Subodh Bhat & Richard McCline | April 19, 2005
Do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary Retain strong customer focus Invest for the long-term Invest in quality Be hands-on Multi-tasking is important The need for the ability to tolerate ambiguity Share profits with employees Government's relative univolvement in the high tech industry is a blessing Financial struggle -- lack of money in the business as well as personally was the most cited negative factor No government support -- however, a few entrepreneurs disagreed, saying that the government has been supportive and has given lots of concessions to the high tech industry Dearth of sophisticated local investors and angel investors Lack of a forum for discussing entrepreneurial issues Difficulty in finding top-notch resources (for instance, recruiting from good schools) Poor infrastructure Corruption and bureaucracy
Akil Kazim of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. and Bheeshma Kumar a young entrepreneur spoke to us about the good the bad and the reality!
What motivates an entrepreneur?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/19spec.htm
Subodh Bhat & Richard McCline | April 19, 2005
Since the 1990s, there has been a phenomenal growth in the number of high-tech enterprises started in India.
To understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, Subodh Bhat and Richard McCline of San Francisco State University studied the motivations, resources, networks, attitudes and behaviours of these new entrepreneurs with both in-depth interviews with a dozen entrepreneurs and a survey that netted 33 usable responses.
What was the sample like? An overwhelming majority (93 per cent) was male, with close to two-thirds in the 26- to 39-year range. A quarter had just undergraduate degrees, while 69 per cent had master's degrees.
More than 63 per cent of the respondents' businesses had been in existence for three to six years and the median annual revenue of the businesses was Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) with 85 per cent having annual revenues of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) or below.
The median number of employees was 15, with 84 per cent having less than 100 employees. Parents or close relatives of 28 per cent of the respondents owned their own businesses and the average number of people whom the respondents could call for help was 10.
The respondents had been employed for five to eight years before starting their first business. They were members of an average of three business or professional association and attended five seminars and trade fairs every year.
Entrepreneur motivation
The respondent entrepreneurs were motivated primarily by the desire to create something new, the desire for autonomy, wealth and financial independence, the achievement of personal objectives and the propensity for action ('doing').
The excitement of entrepreneurship was another major motivator -- this was nicely captured by one comment: "We are not sure what's coming down the curve but it is a thrill." Importantly, most entrepreneurs stressed that the objective was never money for its own sake.
They wanted to leave a legacy in the form of a profitable long-lasting business.
| The driving force: what motivates Indian entrepreneurs | |
| Motivator | % mentioning |
| Rewards of entrepreneurship | |
| Autonomy | 57 |
| Making money/financial independence | 43 |
| Saw business opportunity/impact on industry | 27 |
| Recognition of self and/or organisation | 23 |
| Desire to create something new/innovate | 20 |
| Build something important/make a difference | 17 |
| Grow a business from scratch | 17 |
| Desire to be entrepreneur/excitement of entrepreneurship | 3 |
| Personal qualities | |
| Intellectual challenge/achieve potential | 27 |
| Instinct | 10 |
| Others | 10 |
| Career | |
| Career growth/diversification/satisfaction | 13 |
| Others | 3 |
| Experience | |
| Utilise previous experience | 6 |
| Had technology/industry vision | 3 |
| Non-monetary factors | |
| Help India in various ways | 23 |
| Non-monetary success/personal satisfaction | 7 |
| Create value/jobs/wealth in society | 3 |
Support systems
Indian entrepreneurs rely on friends and family for help in starting the business, with the quality of help from friends, former co-workers and university mates in the startup and management stages being rated the best.
Assistance in terms of manpower was mainly from former co-workers. Help in marketing and access to markets was mainly from friends, former co-workers and university mates.
Finance was obtained from relatives and friends but not from former co-workers. One surprise was that few in the sample received much in the way of technological help from others.
Only 16 per cent received help from a government institution and 41 per cent from consultants. Several interviewees lamented the lack of a visible venture capital presence in India.
Success attributions
The respondents rated their success in business as quite high on various measures. They also reported that their businesses were quite profitable with median percentage annual growth in revenues, customers, and profits in the past three years of 25, 20 and 13 respectively.
They judged their success not only on the basis of business barometers like revenues, profits, growth and business reputation and monetary rewards, but also on personal factors like satisfaction and goal-achievement.
Most entrepreneurs felt their success was tied to creating something new and durable ('create a world-class company based on intellectual property') and to leaving a legacy ('leaving an indelible mark on the sands of time').
A few viewed success as being able to prove themselves and several emphasised the importance of the contribution of their business to the nation.
The respondents attributed their success mainly to hard work and focus or drive. Other factors were technical knowledge/experience and access to resources.
Emotional or mental strength, resilience ('I can't be kept too down for too long'), perfectionism and patience were other frequently mentioned qualities.
Leadership skills, particularly communication skills and good employee management, were highlighted as contributors to success.
Several entrepreneurs suggested that professional bodies play a more active role in encouraging entrepreneurship and representing the high tech industry and in educating the government and others in India on issues facing entrepreneurs and the high-tech industry.
Such organisations can develop programs to help entrepreneurs translate concepts into reality and to create role models. Another recommendation is to have schools play a more active role in encouraging entrepreneurship as a career by among other things, establishing training programs.
Surprisingly, our respondents did not report much networking and did not view it as very crucial to success.
Lessons learnt
What were the lessons the respondents learnt in the entrepreneurial process?
And what hampers the entrepreneurial process?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
media and family
TV ruining mother-child relationship: Study
Sunday, May 11, 2008 23:58 IST
WASHINGTON: Studies have shown that television viewing is adversely affecting children’s health, and now there is evidence that sticking to TV for long hours may also shatter mother-child relationship.
Kids, who are exposed to television and video tend to have limited verbal interactions with their mothers, according to a new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The study is the first to assess parent-infant interactions as they relate to specific media content.
‘’Our conclusions are especially significant because parent-infant interactions have huge ramifications for early child development, as well as school advancement and success during adolescence,’’ says author Dr Mendelsohn from the New York University School of Medicine.
In the study, it was found that overall, parent-infant verbal interactions across broad media content were limited. However, when the programming was educational and co-viewed by both mother and infant in each other’s presence, interactions increased.
The study also showed that educational programming did not promote co-viewing, which is a factor that contributes to verbal interactions.
Earlier data on this topic include a study which cited that 61 per cent of children younger than two years of age are exposed to television on a daily basis. In the new study, 97 per cent of mothers with 6-month olds reported their infants were exposed to television or radio at the median rate of two hours a day.
The study advises that parents expose their infants only to educational programming that is co-viewed by the mother.
Dr Mendelsohn notes the study also suggests that pediatricians increase efforts to promote verbal interactions with respect to media exposure and other daily activities, such as eating, playing and reading aloud.
may 11---body image
We are in a crisis of the mind!
Women and some men seem to think that is how you look NOT how you think that is the most important thing these days.
AND if you follow the research, even with all the body image talk, things are not geting any better.
![If true, the allegations that the Dove 'real beauties' were airbrushed could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.]( "If true, the allegations that the Dove 'real beauties' were airbrushed could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.")
In a May 12 profile in The New Yorker posted online, Pascal Dangin of New York's Box Studios is quoted as saying he extensively retouched photos used in the Campaign for Real Beauty, which, if true, could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.
Models 'a challenge'
"I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual 'real women' in their undergarments," wrote Lauren Collins in the New Yorker article. "It turned out that it was a Dangin job. 'Do you know how much retouching was on that?' he asked. 'But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.'"
A spokeswoman for Unilever didn't immediately return calls and e-mail for comment. An attempt to reach Mr. Dangin was unsuccessful at press time. But a spokeswoman for the campaign's creator, Ogilvy & Mather, cast doubt on the account of the celebrity fashion photo retoucher, though she said the agency is still attempting to collect details of his work, if any, on the ads.
"We are unsure right now what he did," the Ogilvy spokeswoman said. "He works with Annie Leibovitz, the photographer. And we don't have any record of him actually working on any of the Dove campaign.
"There was no retouching of the women," she said. "If there was a hair that was up in the air, that might have been the kind of retouching that was done. But until I know what he actually worked on, I can't comment on it."
Leibovitz appears unscathed
While Mr. Dangin long has been known to work with Ms. Leibovitz, she wasn't the photographer on the earlier ads in the campaign that appear to have been referenced in the New Yorker profile.
Ms. Leibovitz was the photographer in a December 2005 shoot that ultimately became the basis for the Dove Pro-Age version of the campaign that broke in early 2007. That effort featured women in their 50s and 60s nude, not in their underwear.
If true, the news could be devastating to the nearly 4-year-old Dove campaign. The most famous execution to date -- and one that won both a Cyber and Film Grand Prix for Unilever at the International Advertising Festival last year -- has been the "Evolution" viral video, which shows an attractive but rumpled woman transformed through a variety of makeup, styling and retouching tricks into a billboard bombshell. The kicker: "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."
The viral has been viewed more than 15 million times online and seen by more than 300 million people globally in various channels of distribution, including news coverage, by the estimation of Ogilvy Chairman-CEO Shelly Lazarus.
Last year's follow-up to "Evolution," "Onslaught," took a harsher tone in criticizing the impact that distorted images in beauty advertising have in encouraging such problems as eating disorders.
Axe to grind
That in turn led to charges of hypocrisy from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, because Unilever's Axe extensively uses buxom, attractive models in sexually suggestive ads.
A parody of the video, "Onslaught[er]," also became fodder for the environmental activist group Greenpeace to wage a successful effort in recent weeks to get Unilever to back a moratorium on clearing of Indonesian rain forests to grow palm oil. The group claimed Unilever, a major buyer of Indonesian palm oil, has been killing orangutans through its purchasing practices.
The Pro-Age effort in particular also provoked controversy, and Dove's sales growth appeared to slow, then stall last year during the Campaign For Real Beauty's third year, according to Information Resources Inc. data.
Women and some men seem to think that is how you look NOT how you think that is the most important thing these days.
AND if you follow the research, even with all the body image talk, things are not geting any better.
Dove's 'Real Beauty' Pics Could Be Big Phonies
Photo Retoucher Says He Improved Images in Controversial Campaign
By Jack Neff
http://adage.com/article
Published: May 07, 2008
If true, the allegations that the Dove 'real beauties' were airbrushed could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.
In a May 12 profile in The New Yorker posted online, Pascal Dangin of New York's Box Studios is quoted as saying he extensively retouched photos used in the Campaign for Real Beauty, which, if true, could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.
Models 'a challenge'
"I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual 'real women' in their undergarments," wrote Lauren Collins in the New Yorker article. "It turned out that it was a Dangin job. 'Do you know how much retouching was on that?' he asked. 'But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.'"
A spokeswoman for Unilever didn't immediately return calls and e-mail for comment. An attempt to reach Mr. Dangin was unsuccessful at press time. But a spokeswoman for the campaign's creator, Ogilvy & Mather, cast doubt on the account of the celebrity fashion photo retoucher, though she said the agency is still attempting to collect details of his work, if any, on the ads.
"We are unsure right now what he did," the Ogilvy spokeswoman said. "He works with Annie Leibovitz, the photographer. And we don't have any record of him actually working on any of the Dove campaign.
"There was no retouching of the women," she said. "If there was a hair that was up in the air, that might have been the kind of retouching that was done. But until I know what he actually worked on, I can't comment on it."
Leibovitz appears unscathed
While Mr. Dangin long has been known to work with Ms. Leibovitz, she wasn't the photographer on the earlier ads in the campaign that appear to have been referenced in the New Yorker profile.
Ms. Leibovitz was the photographer in a December 2005 shoot that ultimately became the basis for the Dove Pro-Age version of the campaign that broke in early 2007. That effort featured women in their 50s and 60s nude, not in their underwear.
If true, the news could be devastating to the nearly 4-year-old Dove campaign. The most famous execution to date -- and one that won both a Cyber and Film Grand Prix for Unilever at the International Advertising Festival last year -- has been the "Evolution" viral video, which shows an attractive but rumpled woman transformed through a variety of makeup, styling and retouching tricks into a billboard bombshell. The kicker: "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted."
The viral has been viewed more than 15 million times online and seen by more than 300 million people globally in various channels of distribution, including news coverage, by the estimation of Ogilvy Chairman-CEO Shelly Lazarus.
Last year's follow-up to "Evolution," "Onslaught," took a harsher tone in criticizing the impact that distorted images in beauty advertising have in encouraging such problems as eating disorders.
Axe to grind
That in turn led to charges of hypocrisy from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, because Unilever's Axe extensively uses buxom, attractive models in sexually suggestive ads.
A parody of the video, "Onslaught[er]," also became fodder for the environmental activist group Greenpeace to wage a successful effort in recent weeks to get Unilever to back a moratorium on clearing of Indonesian rain forests to grow palm oil. The group claimed Unilever, a major buyer of Indonesian palm oil, has been killing orangutans through its purchasing practices.
The Pro-Age effort in particular also provoked controversy, and Dove's sales growth appeared to slow, then stall last year during the Campaign For Real Beauty's third year, according to Information Resources Inc. data.
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