Frank Kane: Tired UAE stereotypes must be laid to rest

I had the honour recently of being invited to an informal discussion with some of the UAE’s top communications executives on the tetchy subject of how to deal with the western media. It was an enlightening experience.

The attendees – it was all on the basis of Chatham House rules so I won’t identify them – were at the top of their trade: spokespeople for big UAE government departments who make up the front line in what they gen­uinely see as a battle against stereotyped and prejudiced coverage by some in the foreign press.

Here is the scenario they dread: "Good morning, it's John Doe here from the Daily Beast newspaper of London. We hear there's a big fire raging at a five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi, there are hundreds of casualties, and a terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for starting the blaze. We also hear that shoddy workmanship by exploited slave-labourers was also to blame. Can you comment?"

Fictional of course, but there is much authenticity in that made-up situation. Many, maybe most, of the western media will jump to pre-judged conclusions in their coverage of the region. If it doesn’t fit their stereotype, they aren’t interested.

Part of the response to that kind of challenge is to rely on the stock-in-trade tools of the communications industry: to calmly and concisely state the facts as far as they are known; to vigorously deny allegations that are palpably untrue; to promise a full statement when the developing situation allows; to keep in touch with the VIP John Doe on future developments.

That, as far as it goes, is all that communicators can do, and the spokespeople at the meeting were already skilled in these practices. But still they were apprehensive about the call from the Beast.

There is a lot of justification to the UAE complaints. After 25 years in British media, I know how it works. An embittered news editor on a cold rainy day in London is looking for something to put in the paper. “I know, let’s sock it to those pool-lounging, tax-evading, maid-exploiting layabouts in the UAE. That always sells a few papers.”

It's a mindset that infects even the most illustrious journalists in Britain. Simon Jenkins of The Guardian, the paper's pre-eminent commentator, once penned a think piece where he forecast the demise of Dubai, in which wild animals stalked the luxury hotels and skyscrapers crumbled back into the desert sands. Delusional rubbish, of course, but the paper published it and later justified it on the grounds that "many people agree with it."

It is difficult to combat such a mindset. But you have to start somewhere, and the consensus was that the UAE has not done enough to explain its alternative narrative to the world, as a tolerant, liberal, multicultural society with an advanced economic system that is the envy of many people in the Arab world and beyond.

I really believe this message has not been put across pro­perly. Emirati friends point out that it might be seen as arrogance or self-promotion to highlight the positive successes of the UAE, and this is culturally frowned upon.

Maybe. But it's about time somebody grabbed the western media by the lapels and told them some basic truths. Otherwise the Daily Beast will keep coming back for more.

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