The Good News Channel

The UAE recently launched its own news network. Before the launch, I guess I hadn't even considered the fact that the UAE didn't already have it's own television news. Was it possibly the only counrty in the world that didn't? Ok probably not, but it just seems strange.

So anyway- they launch this news program. It's very exciting for everyone (I use that term loosely). And after a few times watching, when the novelty has warn off- I start to grow skeptical of the content. The entire broadcast is spent discussing business successes, and royal decrees, and what fabulous things are going on in the government. Nothing even remotely skeptical or critical. And nothing really resembling what anyone else in the world would probably call 'hard news'.

The other day there was a big break-in at Wafi City- an extremely snobby mall in Dubai. A few people robbed the DMAS (diamonds) store with machine guns. 7 Days (the more liberal daily newspaper) ran a front page story on it. You'd think this would be everywhere. It's kind of a big deal. And afterall, Dubai is not that big of a city. So when Emirates news came on that night, I went to change the channel, because frankly, it's boring. But Shady suggested we watch to see if they talked about the robbery.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

They went on about how one of the princes or something went and inspected some company that day and showed footage of him walking around the floor, and other things equally uninteresting or relevent. But nothing on the robbery.

The cover-ups are really ridiculous. Laughable.

But I guess its probably a good news broadcast to fall asleep to. I should put a TV in my room.