Gulf Times on the net

dweller
By dweller

Being in Turkey I keep up-to-date with happenings in Qatar via the Gulf Times on-line edition.
Has anyone else come across the diabolical state of updating the site?
Monday 24th April (18.55) and it's still not been updated for today. I have contacted them several times in the past by e-mail and never get a response.
Conversely, "The Peninsular" was updated by 09.00 this morning.
There are days when the Gulf Times isn't updated at all.
Any comments?

By dweller• 5 May 2006 21:05
dweller

Yes Angelo, my wife spotted it before me. An amusing story but why don't they give names?

I had to laugh at the defence claiming the car was searched illegally.

I assume the Asian escaped

Cheers

By Angelo• 5 May 2006 20:56
Angelo

Dweller,

the GT I am referring to is Friday 05th April 2006

" the Cops were looking for a drunk asian in alkor area, and ended up with 2 drunk locals."

Angelo

By Angelo• 5 May 2006 20:50
Angelo

Hi Dweller,

have you checked out the GT today. Check out "Court round up".

Your thoughts on the press - uncensored.

Angelo

By dweller• 5 May 2006 20:22
dweller

Falcon, maybe you mean George Macintyre, he was sports editor but left the day that Iraq invaded Kuwait. He had moaned for years that nothing ever happened in Qatar and hours after he left the country all hell broke loose. Victor Lambourne was the main photographer in those days. I wrote the darts reports (QIDL & MPDL)for a short time.

Interesting name (Falcon). You wouldn't be a falcon pilot by any chance?

By falcon• 5 May 2006 04:33
falcon

It's crap now but it wasn't so bad years ago. the sports pages were good and there was a Brit working there. What happened to him?

By Angelo• 26 Apr 2006 11:55
Angelo

Just saw it, am going to blow it up, and hang it in a not too prominent location in our office, so people can unwind.

Have a good day, and happy reading.

Angelo

By dweller• 26 Apr 2006 11:48
dweller

Cheers Angelo and coolasice.

Hope you enjoy the advert.

By Angelo• 26 Apr 2006 11:45
Angelo

Hi Dweller,

Just called GT at 1130hrs. phone 4350478, they say the web is updated everyday after 0900hrs. Imagine their surprise that it has not been updated for the past 2 days - dont want to embarrass the block i spoke to.

By coolasice• 26 Apr 2006 11:43
coolasice

Hi All ,

Finally the website is updated....!!!

Regards

ME..

By dweller• 26 Apr 2006 11:40
dweller

Thanks Butterfly, I can just imagine the conversation. The GT is not worth the air-fare so I will have to rely on the Peninsular.

Thanks also tg1234. At least we now know that they have not all been assassinated in the office.

Q-tel will have to get their act together by december with thousands of journalists wanting instant high speed access in December.

You may know that the Youth and Sports Administration (YASA) was originally known as the General Authority for Youth and Sports (GAYS).

They held a table tennis tournament in the 1991 and despite phone calls from the then Sports Editor of the GT, to the Ministry advising that the advert could cause some embarrassment, they insisted it be printed. They apparently tried to fire the sports editor immediately after it was printed but fortunately it was an advertisement and not editorial content

They changed the name the day after.

I am posting a copy of the advert under DOHA....enjoy!

By tg1234• 26 Apr 2006 11:15
tg1234

Dweller

My sympathies...Actually I called Gulf Times for You...You guessed it..Its QTEL...Gulf Times IT Department says ..that due to problems with QTEL..they are not getting proper access for uploading stuff..

Gulf Times IT Dept.: +974 4466629 / 30

By butterfly• 26 Apr 2006 10:56
Rating: 5/5
butterfly

Hahaha! Super, that reminds you a conversation that I had with Qpost (al muntazah office) just before I left...

It went like that:

_Hello, I need to know where you are located, so I can go buy some boxes.

-Sorry, I cannot give you this information on the phone, you need to come to the offices.

-Yes, I will be coming today, but I need to know where you are so I can find you

-You have to come, I cannot help you

-You cannot give me directions?

-Come, Come.

-Yes but where are you?

-I cannot help you over the phone

-Are you understanding what I´m saying? Is my english so bad or are you just plain stupid?

-Sorry you have to come. (Hang up).

And so I went to the main offices in Corniche, coz I knew where to find them.

Conclusion: Dweller, if you want to read the paper, take a plane to Doha (preferably not Qatar Airways, as the service is as bad as everywhere else in Qatar) and go to the gulf times offices to pick it up by your self. However, if you arrive in Doha really early morning (before 9am) you might be able to find the paper in a shop before it runs out.

By dweller• 26 Apr 2006 10:09
dweller

10am Wednesday the 26th.

Peninsular site up to date but still no change on the GT site.

Al-Sadd rule!

By Super7• 26 Apr 2006 08:49
Rating: 5/5
Super7

for goodness sake you must all know that Qatar is one of the least enabled countries in the world. Nothing is done properly on the internet. Sites are never updated or they are just plain bad.

A much cheaper way of solving the congestion problems would be to put optic fibre high speed internet accesss in every home and make every company have a decent functioning updated website.

You can't even telephone for information here.

I phoned a leading sony dealer in qatar (the only sony dealer) yesterday to ask for information to be told that it would be easier if i came in to the show room. Easier for who? Yes it is much easier to bear 40 minutes of doha traffic than to pick up the phone

By dweller• 25 Apr 2006 20:02
dweller

It'snow 8pm on the 25th April and the GT website is still not updated.

Either they are all dead or the guy who posts the site is an Al-Sadd (or Jaffal Rashid) fan who doesn't want anyone to miss the fact that the team won the Heir Apparent Cup!

By tg1234• 25 Apr 2006 16:52
tg1234

Dwellers opinion is being seconded here...

If you want to know the truth about anything in the mideast...Refer to the media of the enemy country (Not actually enemies, all brothers in conferences...but tense neighbours..competing economies)

But...There is no reason to believe that Gulf News and KT are objective..They are not...Remember those daily stories of booming Dubai..Now read this...in Arab News offcourse...(Having lived in Dubai I can second that)..Now what would you say to the chest-thumping stories of booming Qatar in Gulf Times??

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=17§ion=21&d=22&m=4&y=2006&mode=dynamic§ionlist=no&pix=interact.jpg&category=Interact

Facts About Dubai

In his article “Dubai Challenges Many Assumptions About Arab World� (April 17) Ray Hanania told us how the US media had been characterizing Dubai: “A haven for terrorism, a threat to world security and an inappropriate economic partner....� I’d like to know exactly who is saying all these hateful things, making all these incendiary remarks about the Arab world. I read six or seven US newspapers a week and the truth is I never see them. “Americans warned me that Arabs have no sense of humor.� What Americans said this? Where? I lived and worked in Dubai for several years and I assure you that the majority of the population lives in extreme poverty. Not the Emiratis to be sure — although, many of them are underprivileged — but the Pakistani, Filipino, Indian, Bangladeshi etc. laborers live in appalling conditions.

Labor camps, 11-hour days, working outside in 50-degree heat. All this for 750 dirhams a month.

Dubai city itself is largely a facade, most of those skyscrapers are half-empty at best. The five-star hotels, restaurants and bars cater to the Western expat community, tourists and a handful of well-connected others. Check out the Irish Village some Thursday night and tell me who you see there.

Michael Ney, United States published 22 April 2006

By dweller• 25 Apr 2006 15:42
Rating: 3/5
dweller

Have noticed that Angelo, it's common in the region. Like anywhere in the world, ask the neighbours and you find out more.

When we arrived in Qatar, the GT carried a story about a guy "getting off" a charge of raping a camel because the camel couldn't give evidence. It never appeared in the Kuwait press.

I read the Khaleej Times and Gulf News from the UAE as we spent a couple of years there.

Maybe there has been a massacre at the GT and they are all dead.

By Angelo• 25 Apr 2006 15:20
Rating: 4/5
Angelo

Hey Dweller,

Gosh, thats a long time. anyway, the GT has not been updated yet, today the 25th April at 1510 hrs. The web still has the 23rd April edition.

Have your tried the Khaleejtimes.com

Question from an amateur (like me) to a veteran (namely yourself) :)

"Have you noticed sometimes the GT and Peninsula only give half a story or statement and then when you read the KT, there is a lot more, also there is more details in the KT about Doha-Qatar than there is in the GT or Peninsula. Some articles missed in the GT are in the Peninsula and vice versa the next day"

Angelo

By dweller• 25 Apr 2006 10:26
dweller

No good even as that GIASI, the ink comes off on your ass

By getinandstayin• 25 Apr 2006 10:08
Rating: 4/5
getinandstayin

The only thing the Gulf Times is useful for is toilet paper. Thoroughly absorbent.

Respect

GIASI

By dweller• 25 Apr 2006 09:04
dweller

Thanks Angelo, I have the site address for "the peninsular".

Today, the 26th Gulf Times still haven't updated. The Peninsular was up before 9am this morning.

I was in Qatar from 1982 to 1997, 6 months in 2002, 3 months in 2002 and 9 months in 2004.

At one time I wrote for the Gulf Times

By Angelo• 24 Apr 2006 21:50
Angelo

Sorry Dweller,

the web address for "The Peninsula" is www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

happy reading

Angelo

By Angelo• 24 Apr 2006 21:49
Rating: 4/5
Angelo

Hey dweller,

ya, still no update, I do not know if the papers came to the office today, I have not read it yet, do not bother for an update anymore, in 3 hours, they will be printing 25th April newspaper.

How long back were you in Doha, why not try the Peninsula, they are released before the GT.

Regards

Angelo

By dweller• 24 Apr 2006 21:20
dweller

21.20 and still no update

By Angelo• 24 Apr 2006 20:10
Angelo

Ya,

they want us to buy the paper, just persist and keep in mind this is Qatar :)

Cheers

Angelo

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