The standard of business reporting in Lebanon came under attack during a two-day workshop in Beirut in mid-October. Speakers identified a shortage of skills, understaffed newsrooms, poor access to information and a lack of commitment by publishers to producing quality news as factors contributing to a "woeful" state of business coverage in the country.
Organised by Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) and the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the workshop reviewed business reporting in the Arab World and provided practical training for around 10 Lebanese journalists taking part.
OSB's dean, George Najjar, listed problems, including a shortage of skills, and said the AUB and Reuters were seeking to create awareness and involve the constituencies in achieving a sustainable and qualified local workforce. Guest speaker Anthony Hilton, founder and chair of the Newsdesk Media Group, outlined the causes of the current global financial crisis, arguing that western capitalism faced a crisis of legitimacy which journalists would have to confront. "There has never been a better time to be a business journalist. The need for good business journalism has never been greater than it is today," he stated.
The publisher of Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper, Jamil Mroue, accused Lebanon's news publishers and television station owners of having a greater interest in creating "edifices for glory" than in providing reliable sources of news. He identified poor access to information and a lack of specialised training for business journalists as special problems. The chief economist of Byblos Bank, Nassib Ghobril, said there was an imbalance between the three key stakeholders in Arab business journalism: the journalists, industry analysts and the business community. The imbalance was in favour of the analysts and the business community, he said, unlike the situation in the United States where journalists held the greatest power.
On the second day of the workshop, TRF's Nigel Stephenson shared skills with participating journalists on planning their stories, choosing and developing sources and reporting accurately.
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