Editing in Saudi

Rob Wagner, who wrote Red Ink, White Lies about the early history of L.A. newspapers, recently left his job as features editor at The Stockton Record to serve as managing editor of the English language Saudi Gazette in Jeddah. He has sent Rip Rense a report on his first week in Saudi Arabia. A sample:

I work 12-hour days, six days a week, and the paper is very unorganized. Reporters are pretty lazy and it’s difficult to get work out of them. I’m trying to organize the national desk and get people to produce work. It’s quite a job and I haven’t had an opportunity to get out around town as much as I would like.

Part of the problem is the Saudi culture. People work from 9 a.m. to noon, do prayers, have lunch, take a nap, then return to work at 4 p.m. And work until 5. The mantra here is anything you can do today can be put off until tomorrow.

There are about five nationalities in the newsroom -- Saudi, Pakistani, Indian, Jordanian, American and a few others I can't identify. Understanding each other is a little difficult. And if you thought newsroom politics can be bad, just imagine a similar situation here, but with newspeople from five different countries trying to get along.