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 Dubai Media has taken control over a major slice of Arab Media Group’s properties, by order of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Among the departures are AMG’s two remaining papers Emarat Al Youm and Emirates Business 24/7, Masdar Printing Press, along with the Noor Dubai religious TV and radio stations, which only launched a year ago.
The move follows Sheikh Mohammed’s transfer of Al Bayan from AMG to DMI
just over a month ago.
As with the Al Bayan move, everything goes into effect today, with the AMG properties being moved wholesale over to DMI, including staff, commitments, contracts, and so on.
DMI is making happy noises, with managing director Ahmad Abdullah Al Shaikh telling his newly-acquired EB 24/7: “The decision comes as a new qualitative shift for DMI through which it will continue its message of delivering quality media content – a media which not only seeks to meet the aspirations of audience, inside or outside, but also aims to achieve media excellence to reach the highest levels of credibility and objectivity – qualities always associated with DMI.”
Al Shaikh is also media escort to Sheikh Mohammed.
In the WAM statement, Sheikh Mohammed himself called on DMI’s staff to “double their efforts to contribute in maintaining Dubai's image”.
AMG is now looking distinctly empty in some quarters, particularly when it comes to newspapers, and indeed the means to print them.
There’s a certain amount of logic to moving AMG’s remaining two papers over to DMI, to finish the job, essentially. But it’s interesting to see elements from the broadcast side moved as well.
Given that there’s been two AMG-to-DMI shifts in as many months, we could speculate that there may be more to come in the future – but obviously we don’t have any direct indication that this may happen.
We don’t imagine that the restructuring of Dubai’s government-owned media is finished yet, though.
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