The Middle East Journalist Survey provides a revealing insight to the true state of the working relationship between journalists and corporate communications professionals in the Middle East and makes stark, yet essential, reading for the region's PR community.
The 2009 survey, conducted jointly by Insight and MediaSource, canvassed the opinions of 219 journalists working for Arabic and English-language print, broadcast and online media in 13 countries across the Middle East, covering topics ranging from press releases, press conferences, PR practice, the sources journalists use for stories, and the current state of journalism in the region.
The findings have been compiled as a 115-page report which will help PR agencies and in-house corporate communications teams better understand what journalists really want and what annoys them about the way they currently receive PR material. By analysing the concerns of journalists, PR professionals can adapt their current practices and improve their working relationships with the media. The report also contains over 1,300 direct quotes from journalists answering key questions such as:
- What generally is the major weakness of the press releases that you do not use?
- If so, why do you delete emails from PR agencies without reading them?
- How do you view a good press release?
- Do PR agencies and their clients hold unnecessary press conferences?
- What do PR agencies need to do more of to improve the way they work with you?