Here's the latest from Qatar Airways's PR people in London on the controversy surrounding their advertising on the pro-Israeli Sky News that refuses to show the Disasters Emergency Committee humanitarian appeal for Gaza. See the original story on Gaza Solidarity here : Hi Gary, Sorry I missed you call. As discussed, I have forwarded your email to Qatar Airways head office in Doha, and advised that you are still seeking a response to your query. Regards, Louise Hopefully we'll get something next week. The following letter was emailed to the editor of the english-language Gulf Times in Qatar to see if they can speed things up a bit. For the attention of the editor, Gulf Times: Dear editor, I am a journalist based in London writing a story on the relationship between Qatar Airways and Sky News. Last week the airline brought into service a new plane which it named “Gaza” as an act of solidarity with the people of Gaza. At the same time Qatar Airways is sponsoring the weather...

Well, just to keep everyone up-to-date on the Qatar Airways story , its public relations firm in the UK has promised to get back to us in a day or two regarding the sponsorship deal on Sky News's weather segment. Louise Farrell of KTA PR was unable to answer any of the questions put to her and said she would have to get in touch with Doha first. Suffice to say we haven't heard from the media buyers for Qatar Airways, Starcom, but as soon as we get word from the chief exec we will give them a ring to see if they are worried about losing the account given the embarrassment they will have caused both the client and its customers in the Middle East and beyond, following the naming of the airlines latest addition to its fleet 'Gaza' as a gesture of humanitarian solidarity .

As promised in an earlier posting Gaza Solidarity got in touch with both Qatar Airways and Starcom , its media buyer/planner in the UK, with regards the ad spend of the airline on the Sky News channel. Gaza Solidarity recently reported that Qatar Airways named the latest addition to its fleet of aircraft 'Gaza' in an act of humanitarian solidarity. This obviously doesn't sit very well with the infamous decision of the pro-Israel Murdoch-owned Sky TV and its right-wing 'news' channel not to broadcast the DEC appeal for Gaza. We sent the following question to the airline: I would like to ask the CEO, Mr Al Baker, about Qatar Airways's advertising, through its sponsorship of the weather segment, on Sky News. The airline recently brought into service a Boeing 777 which it named 'Gaza' in solidarity with the suffering people there. Given this, why is the airline advertising on a station that refuses to show a humanitarian appeal for Gaza? We sent the followi...

Hopefully there aren't too many watchers of Sky TV out there but if you have happened upon their output doing your channel hopping exercises you might have come across sponsorship advertising from Qatar Airways. I'm sure this is a valuable advertiser for Sky so the ad sales bosses should be sweating over the recent refusal to show the Disasters Emergency Appeal for Gaza. Why? Because Qatar Airways buys advertising with Sky. Sure, the government of Qatar and its national carrier may well hope to play a duplicitous game - wearing their pro-Palestine sentiment on their sleeves at home but carrying on in the same old way abroad, and hope their own population doesn't notice. But if the people of Qatar knew that their national airline was a sponsor of this pro-Israeli channel you would expect it to cause outrage despite the undemocratic nature of that state. In fact just this week Qatar Airways brought into service its second Boeing 777, and guess what the plane has been called? ...

Begin forwarded message: GAZA – FAILED BY THE MEDIA Media Workers Against the War     www.mwaw.net In this mailing: 1. GAZA – FAILED BY THE MEDIA 2. Melanie Phillips wrong on Gaza aid 3. Dispatches: Unseen Gaza 4. Latest protests over Gaza aid appeal 1. GAZA – FAILED BY THE MEDIA PUBLIC MEETING With speakers: Ghada Karmi, Palestinian writer  Richard Horton, The Lancet    Jeremy Dear, general secretary, NUJ      Lauren Booth, Press TV    Jane Shallice, Stop the War Coalition            Monday February 2 7pm Old Cinema lecture theatre Westminster University 309 Regent Street London W1B 2UW Nearest tube: Oxford Circus Map: http://tinyurl.com/dj6ywh More info: info@mwaw.net , tel 07801 789 297 Hosted by Media Workers Against the War    www.mwaw.net 2. Melanie Phillips wrong on Gaza aid On Jan 26, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips wrote that Hamas "has intercepted dozens of aid ...