Wording matters
I would like to bring into your kind attention regarding a report (‘My brother constantly abused our mother’, Gulf News, October 31). The words used in the report were very disturbing, even for an adult reader like me, who is aged 37 and is a mother of two. Before publishing such reports, the writer and editor should keep in mind that there are readers as young as 10 years old who would also be reading such stories. Using phrases about a mother, ‘awkward position with her in his bedroom’, ‘dragging his mother into his bedroom’ and so on, could create a lot of confusion, shock and disturbance in young minds. Though you can argue that this is the reality, it has disturbed young minds. It could have stopped with the words ‘sexually abused’ or just ‘abused’, which readers are intelligent enough to understand. Kindly consider this in the future.
From Ms Manju Vishnu Sankar
UAE
Thank you for your feedback. We’ll take it onboard. However, please be advised that this was a court story and we just reported the facts. Changing contents of the court stories can be misleading for the victims and the accused.
Gulf News
Not good enough
Gulf News should play a more active role in highlighting violations rather than just publishing the rules (‘Special report: Attitudes towards pets in UAE on the mend’, Gulf News, November 9). There are so many illegal activities, where animals are used for fighting and all kinds of cruel games. Why don’t you ever cover these issues? Either you are oblivious or don’t want to get involved. Enough of playing it safe, Gulf News. Step up.
From Ms Sangeetha Bhaskaran
UAE
We have been playing an active role in raising issues related to the animal protection/rights. We have done numerous stories on campaigns on illegal trade of endangered animals. We do community reports, regularly, that highlight animal abuse reports. Additionally, we have a whole section that is focused on animal rescue, called ‘Save an Animal’. You can find it on gulfnews.com/saveananimal
Gulf News
Exposed
Why was the number plate of the car in the photo not blurred, as is the usual practice with Gulf News (‘How a month-old Dubai Tram crash picture went viral’, Gulf News, November 13)?
From a reader
Dubai
Website comment
The license plate of the car has been edited in teaser pictures on the gulfnews.com homepage. However, within the story, the picture has been embedded from Twitter, and is not hosted on our website. This means that we are unable to edit it.
Gulf News
