Gulf News Exposed: Again

By John Cheeran
Some guys will never learn.
In Tamil, that great Indian language, you call such gentlemen thirutha mudiyatha kazhuthai (Thi Mu Ka). This colourful phrase’s English version could be ‘Donkeys who could never be improved upon.”
I hate to feast on editorial errors but what Gulf News dishes out in its sport section each day, brings tears to my eyes.
If it is possible to rape a newspaper, then that is what being done right now by a few gentlemen in that newspaper, stripping away the last vestiges of credibility of this broadsheet.
Take today’s (June 23, 2008) Gulf News sport front page.
The lead story of the section opener is edited in an atrocious fashion.
The Gulf News sports journalists could not get the name of the star UAE footballer Ismail Mattar right in the picture caption that accompanies the lead story. A hungry sub-editor swallowed a T from Mattar! The story itself throughout suffers from ill-informed editing.
The third paragraph (see the image on top right) says “The Syrians tool the lead.”
Interesting. Spell check can never be a substitute for your language skills. A bit of attention could have set the tool into ‘took’ and saved the report that details the crucial World Cup qualifier clash between the hosts UAE and Syria.
And that’s not enough. The same sentence finishes by saying “Al Hussain who placed home.”
Placed home, what?
It should have read as placed the ball home. As a journalist, it is hugely embarrassing me for to chronicle the mistakes of a newspaper in this manner.
But does anyone care for the brand equity and credibility of the Gulf News?
Is there anyone in the management (editorial or marketing) of the Gulf News who cares to read his/her own newspaper in the morning?
Or have they all begun to read The National for their news?