Jason Leavy, the launch editor of Emirates Today in Dubai, has left the paper and returned to England.
He gave personal reasons for the departure, having only launched the paper in September last year but there have been suggestions that the real reasons could be around interference in editorial by the group’s chief exec, Abdullatif Al Sayegh.
There have been suggestions that the breaking point was in January when the paper did not report a taxi drivers strike.
What a difficult task journalists face in the UAE trying to push the boundaries in telling people what is hapenning. Just as with the recent riot among labourers at the Burj Dubai, efforts are constantly made to gag proper, serious and important stories that scratch below the surface and reveal the real Dubai.