Reported today were 2 murders in Oman. At least reported in the Gulf papers, naturally. See the Khaleej Times. I couldn't find anything in the Oman English papers on line. Did anyone see anything in the Arabic press??? Instead they report a series of total non-news stories, as usual.
First was an Omani man killed, suspected of being murdered by his wife. Although there are no details in the press, rumour is the wife allegedly was a bit miffed because he married a second wife. (There's a lesson for you chaps...)
MUSCAT – A woman has been arrested in Mudhaibi in Oman for allegedly murdering her husband with the help of a third person. Public Prosecution Attorney Fahd bin Masoud Al Balushi said police were investigating the case, but did not give names of the victim or the accused.
The man died after being hit on the head, and his body was later found in a nearby water well, Balushi was quoted as saying by local newspapers on Saturday. The woman was considered as the prime suspect, he added.
...
The second incident sounds like a real interesting one with touches of Romeo and Juliet, after the girl appealed to the court to let her marry a boy despite the objections of her family, and a crowd of guys stormed into a court and killed someone with a Khanjar. Wow. It doesn't say if the victim was the fiancee or not. But clearly a lot of passion.
14 September 2008
MUSCAT –
...
In another incident, in Samad Al Shan, Sharqiya region, a man was killed and 10 others injured in a dispute over a marriage proposal. The crime occurred in the local Primary Court. The man, an Omani citizen, was killed with a khanjar (dagger) and 10 others were injured in the brawl.
A police team found a firearm, bullets, sticks and daggers in the cars of the suspects. Eighteen people have been arrested. Investigations revealed that the daughter of one of the accused sought the assistance of the court in marrying a man of her choice who was not acceptable to her relatives. As the girl and her fiancé were at the court, a group of men rushed into the court and a fighting began during which one among the group was killed.
...
And lastly, several brothels, again run by those pesky 'Asians', were busted. Gulf News: Police smash vice ring in Muscat
Muscat: The Public Prosecutor's office, says that they have uncovered a case of runaway housemaids being lured into prostitution.
Without naming nationalities or numbers, Prosecution Attorney Ahmad Bin Talib Al Jabri said in a statement issued by the Public Prosecution Department that a case has been transferred to the Primary Court in Muscat against a group of people for allegedly running prostitution cells in the country.
"The suspects have admitted their involvement in the crimes," he added. The Public Prosecution Department raided some houses in Muscat, where men and women were found to be practising prostitution. Public Prosecution Attorney Ahmad Bin Said Al Jahwari, who interrogated the suspects, explained that the suspects encouraged housemaids to run away from their sponsors and work for the group as prostitutes. The Public Prosecution Department has urged owners of rented houses to report any such misuse of their properties.
For those interested in how utterly useless the papers are in Oman for actually finding out anything interesting, here are the local headlines from the Observer today, the output achieved by our valiant and hard working 4th Estate, following the arduous use of the copy and paste function on press releases and the wire services...
Local Stories on 14th September
Al Azhar university official received
German cargo ship heads for Oman after release by Somali pirates
TRA unit wins ISO-9001
4th Nawras Goodwill Journey kicks off
Oman Mobile signs mobile spam code
Incredible India show to be held at LuLu hypermarkets
BSM students among Edexcel’s top 10
GCC central banks meet
Unlimited SMS, voice and video calls for Nawras postpaid customers
More demand for fruits and vegetables
Information session on GUtech courses, scholarships today
Tamil album launch on Wednesday
haha...Arabic press. The Arabic press actually reports even less than the English press when it comes to such news (if that is even possible). Doing a scan online, today's Arabic editions don't have anything on these stories.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that last comment was from me.
ReplyDelete-Omani in US
OIUS
ReplyDeleteYeah, suspected as much. Totally pathetic huh? Especially as the courts are open to the public.
This should mean there are few legal restrictions on reporting what goes on. Most countries newspapers would have court reporting as a standard 'first job' for a junior journalist.
dragon
ReplyDeleteSo easy, wow!
I am suggesting your name for an upcoming English daily in Muscat. But brace up your Arabic thoroughly (that is the only language in cicrulation), be prepared to wait for interviews with VIPs for weeks/months, get your write-ups approved by relevant authorities before it is on print when it is not a press release, make sure you are not caught by ROP while clicking accident photographs, keep fighting with your ad department over story angles…so on and so forth.
Grass ain’t greener on the other side always!
Kishor,
ReplyDeleteI didn't say it was easy. And I know the main problem is with the editors and owners. BUT...
1/ Journalists should not be putting their by-line on what is just a reprinted press release. Thats bullshit. Its also why Mrudu can't claim as a defense that 'the error in his OHI story was in the press release'. He's the one who put his name over the story. He should check his facts and take responsibility for what he's publishing, or else it should go out as 'a staff reporter'.
2/ The courts are generally open to the public, and the decisions of the courts should, as a result, be fair game for publishing (even if, like the UAE, you want to wimp out and only put initials of those convicted). Same with most on-going trials unless the court orders name suppression.
3/ I would indeed expect to need a lot of Arabic assistance if I was a jourrnalist here, although most businessmen, Ministers and Undersecs speak damn good english. Perhaps the owners should hire more Omani journalists for a decent wage instead of relying on NRIs?
4/ You do not have to have Omani censors pre-approve articles! Its done after the fact. But if you had to get pre-approval, perhaps you could submit 1 story every day until you start getting approved stories out of the pipeline at the same rate.
5/ At press releases there seems to be no decent challenging follow-up questions asked at all. Even if that means all you get to print is a 'when asked about XXX, HE YYY had no comment'. Why is there not even an official explanation asked for the removal of a key Minister (even if its an answer one no-one believes)?
And finally, according to the Khaleej Times, their story on the murders and brothels was based on a press statement issued by the Omani Public Prosecution office. How much more official and safe to report can you get???
dragon
ReplyDeleteThat was super quick.
1. By-lines are decided by editor and reporters have no role in that.
2. Oman-based papers don't carry court proceedings unless it is sent by ROP. No idea why anyone is trying to be different.
3. Very few speak good English. Most protect themselves by sticking to Arabic (which is a defensive mechanism too). Omanis as reporters? Then explain why Arabic papers are failing either? It is “guidelines” which is taking its toll.
4. Not Omani censors, but biggies everywhere approve write-ups only after it suits their line.
5. Oman is not still ready to give explanations on various things. Uncomfortable questions are not entertained, and guys don't ask such types too.
Press statement issued by the Omani Public Prosecution office.
No idea why the papers aren't getting those.
Lastly, Oman's media survives on advertisements, and NOT circulation. So media cos end up towing advertisers line. Any daily which takes journalism seriously will be a disaster in this market. No revenue or licence cancel. They will end up in either of two.
Now I now why I never heard about any murders/crimes in Oman, Al-Watan was my newspaper of choice. I never heard of any other country selling its neighbor's newspapers (Al Khaleej) but it makes sense doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOmani in US:
ReplyDeleteSorry to burst your bubble, but these stories have actually been reported in the Omani Arabic press a couple of days ago. :-)
Especially the brothel's case.
amjad,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Which paper was it?
-Omani in US
Those 2 murders were reported in Al-Watan news paper yesterday (saturday). The scond one is an old story was in arabic forums couple of months ago.
ReplyDeleteOmani in US:
ReplyDeleteThe ones I read were both in Al-Watan and Azzaman newspapers.
Actually these are the only two Omani Arabic newspapers I read, so they could have been published in other Arabic newspapers as well, not only these two.
By the way under dragon,
ReplyDeleteyou wanna find an interesting & spicy story in a government-owned newspaper (Oman Observer)? You gotta be kidding me.
If you're looking for anything spicy in the Omani newspapers, look for all newspapers but Oman (Arabic) and Oman Observer (English). But then again, you will not find extremely spicy stories in the private newspapers either...
Ali: Al-Khaleej newspaper is distributed in all Gulf countries I believe. Not only UAE (owner) and Oman (its closest neighbor).
ReplyDeleteadmjad, anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I guess the stories weren't published in the online edition of Al-Watan (I read that one daily). Alternatively, maybe I missed them.
-Omani in US
That is they don't release Khaleej times until noon, else whole public will prefer khaleej times or gulf news and times of oman will be down the drain.
ReplyDeleteKishor,
ReplyDeleteI still disagree.
1. By-lines are decided by editor and reporters have no role in that. I don't believe that the editor would put a by-line on an article against the stated wishes of the reporter. I suspect the reporters like having by-lines, even on reprinted PR puff pieces, because it makes them feel important.
2. Oman-based papers don't carry court proceedings unless it is sent by ROP. No idea why anyone is trying to be different.
I know they aren't. I think they should. Its the cheapest, easiest source of interesting stories available, and people would love to read it.
3. Very few speak good English. Most protect themselves by sticking to Arabic (which is a defensive mechanism too). Omanis as reporters? Then explain why Arabic papers are failing either? It is “guidelines” which is taking its toll.
I don't know which Ministers and Businessmen and women you mean, but all the ones I deal with - and they are legion - often speak better english than me. I also suspect the Omani reporters are taking their lead from whoever is supervising them or coaching them. The Omani on the Sabla seem to have no problem speaking their mind or asking tough questions.
4. Not Omani censors, but biggies everywhere approve write-ups only after it suits their line.
You have to start slowly and softly, sneaking stuff in between the lines, and show how the stories boost circulation.
5. Oman is not still ready to give explanations on various things. Uncomfortable questions are not entertained, and guys don't ask such types too.
How would one know when they're never asked the question? And, like I said, you can report that a question was asked but that they declined to answer.
Press statement issued by the Omani Public Prosecution office.
No idea why the papers aren't getting those.
It seems from Amjad's comment that the Arabic ones are...
Lastly, Oman's media survives on advertisements, and NOT circulation. So media cos end up towing advertisers line. Any daily which takes journalism seriously will be a disaster in this market. No revenue or licence cancel. They will end up in either of two.
Circulation and reputation is what drives advertising. Printing articles that people want to read works. Look at Rupert Murdock! When the Minister was replaced, there should have been a 64 pnt banner headline saying 'Minister of Manpower loses job!', preferably with a photo of him trying to avoid being photographed.
The murders also, front page, above the line.
The brothels too, with interviews with the heroic ROP guys, photos, etc etc.
Once circulation increases, advertisers will come, don't you worry. And the papers should have a decent Omani lawyer on retention to help ensure compliance with the law.
The Sharqyia story is about a month old
ReplyDelete