Free competition in the Emirates
Xpress, a twice-a-week free publication is planned to launch in Dubai on March 15. Expected circulation will be 80 to 100,000. Owner Al Nisr Publishing will try to get a licence for daily publication as well. In Dubai Xpress will compete wil 7Days, the free daily that launched in 2004 and was acquired by Associated Newspapers in 2006. Publishing a free daily (or any daily) in the Emirates, however, is not without risk. In fact, 7Days twice escaped from being shut down in the last months. It run a feature about women’s assertiveness training in Russia, titled “Bitch school” – a insult to local culture. Later, UAE President Khalifa was said to be mis-quoted in an interview. Other (competing) papers called for a boycott while the paper also run into problems with advertisers and distribution because of the articles.
Sources: Secret Dubai, Ameinfo