On 7th January the Sun newspaper splashed with a front-page story alleging that Muslim extremists on internet forum were drawing up a “hit-list” of prominent British Jewish figures, including businessman Alan Sugar and musician Mark Ronson.

But it may turn out the story isn’t true after an investigation by political bloggers alleged the ‘extremist’ in question may actually be the expert quoted in the original Sun story.
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Zee TV will host its annual Zee Carnival from 13th to 15th February at Olympia, London, despite worries that the recession will hold back Asian visitors.
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Eastern Eye isn’t the first title to face major economic problems at Ethnic Media Group. In fact, as long as the company has been around, it has gone through a myriad of niche publications targeting blacks and Asians. Many failed, others were sold off.

This handy list might offer some idea of how the industry has changed over the years.
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Ethnic Media Group’s decision to sell off its flagship Asian newspaper Eastern Eye represents a big change in its long, turbulent history.

In a statement to AIM magazine today, editor Hamant Verma said: “Now that we no longer have to subsidise New Nation, I hope that Eastern Eye may at long last have the resources to realise its full potential.”

That suggests significant internal tensions over how EMG’s two main newspapers were faring and possibly points to a struggle over resources.
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Asian newspaper Eastern Eye has been sold by its owner Ethnic Media Group (EMG) to another company, AIM magazine can exclusively reveal. The deal was completed today afternoon.

Eastern Eye is now owned by Asian Media & Marketing Group (AMG), which also publishes Garavi Gujarat, GG2 Life magazine, Asian Trader and other publications in the UK.

EMG’s other flagship publication, New Nation, which is aimed at British Africans and Carribeans, is still up for sale.
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Asian Woman magazine will be hosting its annual Asian Bride Show this weekend – Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th January. The event will be held at London’s Wembley Stadium.

The event will feature designers, photographers, beauticians, caterers, cars, wedding businesses and brands from around the world. It will also showcase latest designs on a model catwalk and music acts throughout both days.

British journalist Sathnam Sanghera may not be very welcome in Dubai, going by his recent column in the The Times newspaper. But then, he obviously doesn’t want to go either. In a column for the newspaper he explained his reasons for: ‘Why I’d rather die than visit Dubai’.

That editorial sparked off a furious response in the Dubai press, with one resident alerting AIM Magaine to a column in The National newspaper, taking Sanghera to task.

AIM magazine previously profiled Sathnam Sanghera and then interviewed him earlier this year during the publication of his book, If You Don’t Know Me By Now.

So what sparked it all off? Sathnam wrote about Dubai: “Essentially it is Las Vegas without the sex and gambling, which is Las Vegas without a point.”
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Sunday Times media correspondent Dipesh Gadher has been appointed deputy news editor at the weekly paper, it was reported this week.

The 33 year-old journalist, who started his journalist career at Asian paper Eastern Eye, has been with the paper for 10 years.
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Nafeesa Shan, a reporter on the Lancashire Telegraph, last night won the GG2 Young Journalist of the Year award.

The GG2 awards are an annual event held by Asian Media & Marketing Group to award high achievers in various categories. In total 11 awards were handed out.

Nafeesa was also shortlisted for Young Journalist of the Year at this year’s 17th annual North West Newspaper Awards.

27 year old journalist Angela Saini has left the BBC to go freelance.
AIM magazine asks whether it was a wise decision to make, and why.

You’ve just won an award for your work at the BBC. Why leave now?

Although I love news reporting, I always really wanted to be a science journalist. Winning a high-profile award for a major investigation opened up lots of doors, but rather than go down a route not meant for me, I decided to follow my dream.

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Eastern Eye announced yesterday that it was planning to hold its annual Asian Business Awards on 19th November.

As with every year, the ABAs will be accompanied by Success magazine – which will publish an up-to-date audit of wealth for the richest 20 Asians in the UK and India’s 20 richest Indians. The magazine is published only once a year by Eastern Eye.

The Asian Business Awards will take place at Wembley Stadium.
www.easterneyeuk.co.uk

Do you believe in magic?

This question was asked on air the other day. As it was on the BBC Asian Network, there was a huge response. One caller called in with a sworn statement of how an auntie was taken ill without any cause (virus maybe?), and when they threw away some flour and hair found in her hand bag, she was well again!

Then there was a doctor, who at a certain price will rid you of this ailment. And he said he had a degree from a certain university and was a “professional”.
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London based magazine Brit Asian has re-launched its website to attract new audiences, the editor told AIM magazine. The freely distributed entertainment magazine launched in Summer 2006 and focuses on Bollywood, British urban, Bhangra and general lifestyle features.

Editor Rick Parmar said: “I’m extremely excited by the new website as we fill the gap in British Asian tastes and trends online, bringing what we do in the magazine, but more rapidly to readers on a daily basis. We were the first and only magazine that brought to you the likes of Shilpa Shetty mixed in with exclusives from the likes of music artist Fergie, don’t expect anything less at Brit-Asian.com!”
www.brit-asian.com

by Anna Roxelana Ward

Many students would be daunted by the prospect of doing an intensive journalism course at the London School of Journalism (LSJ) during their summer holidays. Aasiyah Dana (pictured) has wasted no time since graduating this year from Queen Mary’s with a 1st in English Literature.

She enrolled on the four-week course which cost £1395 and is accredited by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). She is due to start her internship this September at The Guardian newspaper.

How did you find time to study and do work-experience in journalism while at University?

Discipline is everything! I guess it helps that I’m a perfectionist; it means that once I set myself a deadline I absolutely have to stick to it. I don’t think you can study literature or be a journalist half-heartedly; you really need to be passionate about it and I found this attitude helped me to create a balance so I could do both at the same time.
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It is always good to be an outsider looking in. I had the chance of doing that recently when I was away in India for more than a month.

There are lots of things we take for granted, and don’t realise that we have some of the best systems and regulations in force in this country.

Broadly, freedom and the responsibility of the press is one of them. The press are mostly constrained and law abiding and the same goes for the police. On the whole our police are hard working and follow the letter of the law. There are exceptions of course. But they are few and far between.
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The Daily Mail on Friday published an extensive profile piece on actress and writer Meera Syal, with an interview about her career.

I can’t imagine there are many things left on Meera’s wish list. ‘It’s funny how your goalposts move as you get older,’ she agrees, self-deprecatingly.

‘In my 20s, I wanted to win an Oscar; in my 30s, I thought a Bafta would do, and these days, I have huge respect for people who are just able to survive and make a living as well as maintaining family life.’ But Meera is light years away from being your average working mother – she is a multi-talented overachiever with a dizzying number of accomplishments to her credit.

There are two bestselling novels, Anita And Me, and Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, both of which were adapted for the screen. On top of that, she has written several other screenplays; had a number one Comic Relief pop hit, Spirit In The Sky, with Gareth Gates; and wrote the script for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams.

Another day, another Daily Mail outrage. A Scottish police force’s new telephone number has sparked outrage from the Daily Mail after it found out that some Muslim shopkeepers could object to displaying the advert on their windows because it featured the picture of a puppy.

The newspaper declared that the advert had sparked “Muslim outrage” at the police advert, without actually finding anyone who was sufficiently outraged. One councillor Mohammed Asif did point out that: “My concern was that it’s not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards. It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.

They (the police) should have understood. Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they’d seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn’t have done it.”

Asians in Media magazine has partnered with the website ChilliTickets website to help promote cultural and other events to a wider audience. The arrangement has been tested on the website for the past month.

ChilliTickets has emerged as one of UK’s top Asian box-office websites, listing events and offering online tickets to a range of performances.

The arrangement will mean that ChilliTicket’s own listings and those added to the AIM website will now be together listed in the AIM Events section.

ChilliTickets.com was launched in March 2006 and recently acquired Asian Events UK to strengthen its position as UK’s top Asian events ticket provider. Among other event organisers, it recently announced a partnership with Watermans in West London and The Drum, Birmingham, to list their events.

The company says it wants to help theatre production companies sell as many tickets as possible through online transactions.

A new British Asian magazine is set to be launched this summer by MeMedia chief executive Neena Kent.

Henna magazine will focus primarily on fashion and lifestyle, with a twinge of Bollywood.

Its publishers says the magazine will aim its editorial at the “high end haute AB demographic”.

Published by Elbrook Management, it will be edited by journalist Ashanti Omkar.

The prestigious Indian newspaper Tehelka is holding its annual India-Pakistan forum next week at London’s Royal Society of Arts. The event will host prominent political, cultural and opinion leaders from India and Pakistan to debate issues from the two countries.
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60×60 Secs, the first project of 360º Britain India Pakistan, was launched this week by Moti roti.
Trailer

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Health experts in the Midlands have produced a magazine specifically targetting British Asians to inform them about potentially fatal diseases.

The magazine, titled Apnee Sehat (Your Health), has been produced with help from the Department of Health and was was launched a fortnight ago by Prince Charles at an event in Coventry.

A number of DVDs and other educational pamphlets have also been produced to encourage older generation British Asians to learn more about a healthy lifestyle.
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Nearly 18 months after Poorna Shetty left the building for thelondonpaper, Asiana magazine has finally appointed a new editor, it told AIM Magazine this week.

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The Football Association is hosting an Ethnic Minority Media Day at Soho Square on April 18 which will highlight its work in areas such as Asians in Football and recruiting Black coaches. An Asian player is yet to play in the Premier League while there are just two black managers across 92 Football League clubs in England (Paul Ince at MK Dons and Keith Alexander at Macclesfield Town) so both topics are the subject of continuing debate.

The BBC’s Mark Bright will be hosting the event with Sir Trevor Brooking introducing and the likes of Brendon Batson, Hope Powell and Football League referee, Jarnail Singh, debating these issues and discussing how to take them forward for the future. There will also be a series of case studies from Asian and Black football coaches on how they carved out a career in the game, the issues they faced etc.

To attend contact Matt Phillips on: matt.phillips@thefa.com or 0207 745 4671.

It may be late to the party, following in footsteps already trodded by Maxim, Vogue and a growing list of publishers, but that is always better than never. The men’s magazine GQ has announced it will launch a version for the Indian market.

The Guardian today reports that it will be edited by Sanjiv Bhattacharya, a former features and contributing editor of the British GQ.

“Bhattacharya has worked in America for the past eight years and contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Marie Claire, the Daily Telegraph and the Observer, as well as completing a documentary for Channel 4,” GQ stated in its press release.

The magazine is published by Condé Nast and is launching on the back of “overwhelming success” of Vogue India, also part of its stable, said Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse.