Instinctif Partners and Middle East IR Society host

‘Hold the Front Page’ workshop
 
Former Business Editor of The Daily Telegraph offered IR professionals an inside view into editorial processes within international media
 
Dubai, Wednesday 19 March 2014: Instinctif Partners, formerly known as College Group, a leading international business communications consultancy operating from 20 offices around the globe, partnered with the Middle East Investor Relations Society (ME-IR Society) hosted a workshop aimed at providing the IR community with an insider’s look at the life cycle of a business and financial reporting story from an editorial perspective.
 
Speaking at the event was Damian Reece, Deputy CEO of Instinctif Partners’ Capital Markets team in London, and previously Head of Business at The Daily Telegraph and City Editor of The Independent. Mr Reece revealed how editorial teams make decisions on which stories to write about and provided an overview of what additional information an editor might seek from the corporate entity or IR team once the makeup of the day’s pages have been decided.
 
Oliver Schutzmann, Vice Chairman of ME-IR Society said: “The Middle East has become more integrated into the global emerging markets universe. Accordingly, companies cannot avoid the implications of the growing scrutiny of the international financial and business media. No longer are those companies presumptively on the moral high ground with respect to generating positive headlines as the media are no longer accepting corporate information as fact. The burden lies squarely with Investor Relations Officers to build trusted relationships, not only with the investment community but also with the media.” 
 
Damian Reece, Deputy CEO of Instinctif Partner’s Capital Markets added: “It was a great pleasure to meet with and speak to local IR professionals. This was an excellent opportunity to engage with and discuss the media challenges and opportunities that exist for them. The Middle East’s financial markets are doing well at the moment and the region’s financial sector is growing and improving. Undoubtedly this is an exciting time for the investment community. I’d like to thank all those who attended – the discussion that followed our workshop was both interesting and constructive.”
 
The workshop highlighted best practice for IROs regarding financial media engagement. Topics covered included guidance for generating results driven news, an overview of how growth stories are covered, and which key ingredients differentiate a front page story from a diary piece. Of particular prominence was the importance of financial reporting from a media perspective. Key media groups were analyzed in detail and ‘first principles’ for IROs were drawn up from the conclusions made.