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Dubai Is Sorry to See You Go →

The main inescapable problem of a press tour is that a press tour is inescapable. No matter your feelings on quid pro quo journalism – even if you declare outright that you will not cover activity X, still you may well be materially expected to participate in activity X to satisfy the entirely illusory expectations of the publicity client. Such is the case with my press tour in Dubai, where I must slog along to places I’ve already been in order to get to places I actually want to be.

Giver of paychecks Chris Mohney’s dispatch from Dubai. It’s the definitive post-George Saunders account of the place, and certainly resonates with anybody who’s ever taken advantage of any press perks. Read it.

1. hatethefuture liked this
2. chrismohney reblogged this from paulbrady and added:

   I absolutely didn’t have to go business class, and wouldn’t have thought to request/demand it, but that’s the fare they...

3. paulbrady reblogged this from doree and added:

   Oh, they aren’t! A writer could fly coach to Dubai and report the story just fine. But isn’t overt excess central to...

4. alexanderbasek reblogged this from paulbrady and added:

   Not complaining about press trips, but who said he had to go business? Why, he can go there next month on Aeroflot for...

5. doree reblogged this from paulbrady and added:

   Well, sure! But it’s sort of...people putting in “full disclosures” in their stories

6. paulbrady reblogged this from doree and added:

   I thought Mohney did an excellent job of 1) saying up front that he was on a press trip and 2) doing his best to make...

7. doree reblogged this from chrismohney and added:

   All fair points....world I never knew—one in which there were huge T&E budgets

8. chrismohney reblogged this from doree and added:

   Press trips are indeed icky no matter how you slice it. Unfortunately they’re pretty much critical to travel writing,...

9. youngmanhattanite reblogged this from doree and added:

   Doree, I’m sure you’d have a different opinion if this was written by Chrissy Mohney.

10. doree reblogged this from fek and added:

    The piece is fine, but I can’t get behind the whole self-conscious press junket writing. I still think it’s icky. Or...

11. fek posted this