A friend wrote an article in Media Week that looks back at lessons learned by the UAE in 2008. How he limited it to 9 I have no idea, as it's been a bumpy ride and a steep learning curve for the Middle East as it realises that it's no longer immune to the fluctuations of the global economy.

Over the 12 months that I've been here, I have been in alternate states of awe and frustration at the changing - dare I say maturing? - media environment. Self censorship and opening up of the media from governmental influence is a pet subject of mine, but not one for this post.

No, this is about an article that talked of the spate of arrests and interrogations of senior executives in Dubai's real estate and finance industries over allegations of corrupt business practices earlier this year. The article states 'The arrests prove beyond reasonable doubt that Dubai's PR industry just isn't up to the job when it comes to crisis management', and goes on to say that 'A mature, respected PR agency could've convinced its clients to talk to the media'.

Really? Are you sure?

The media industry is changing, and rapidly - it is becoming more investigative, less controlled, more critical and...as a result...more interesting! This is whipping the rug out from under all sorts of executives' feet, from comms directors to CEOs ,and making them very cautious. Gone are the days when 'no comment' is a good answer to make bad issues to go away, or issuing a really vague statement will do the job.

As PR consultants we spend a lot of time educating our clients on this new world order. But when we provide our best expert advice, based on experience and evidence, and fully laid out with consequences of alternative actions, to what extent can we actually make the client decision accept and approve our recommendation?

At the end of the day the professional recommendation is what we are retained to provide and - when our clients reject that in favour of their own solution - we are also retained to put their decision into action...as well as creating a back up plan for the fall out that inevitably follows.