USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) through its Deputy Chief of Party Carol Swan and the CEOs of six companies have signed individual indefinite quantity agreements to provide the marketing communications series for the coming four years.This is in line with SABEQ's objective to create opportunities for Jordanians.

The six companies were selected after an open competition process beginning with a request for proposal that was issued in June 2007. The companies selected to support the USAID-funded SABEQ Program in its initiatives are: Asdaa', Insight, I Relations, Borouj-momentum DDB, Prisma, and Razorview.

The selected companies will provide services in support of the SABEQ Program objectives in a variety of communications consulting activities, including, but not limited to the strategy development and planning for the public awareness campaigns as called for in SABEQ's Year 2 work plan. These awareness campaigns will support the efforts in key sectors such as Agriculture, Medical Services, Pharmaceuticals, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) which concerns Contact Centers as a segment. In addition the campaigns will work to change mindsets among Jordanians relative to the perception of employment barriers.

Speaking at the event, SABEQ Program Chief of Party Rodrigo Ortiz noted the importance of such partnerships with local firms, 'The focus of our work in Jordan is in part to increase people's awareness regarding opportunities in the various areas of employment, and to encourage them to take pride in their work and to do that work well. We all have here an opportunity to tap into the talents and expertise of Jordanian firms to reach this goal.'

SABEQ's focus on various sectors is designed to improve productivity each on the sector to facilitate growth of the Jordanian economy. The other sectors the program is focusing on include: architecture and engineering, ICT, packaging, financial services, local economic development, as well as apparel and light manufacturing. The program is also involved in the crucial topics of water, energy and environment conservation.

The USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, to support the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.

The corporate communications industry in the Middle East needs to become more targeted and sharpen up the way it deals with the media, according to the results of a major survey published today.

The online poll, conducted jointly by Insight and MediaSource, canvassed the opinions of 139 journalists working for Arabic and English-language newspapers and magazines in the UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 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 provide a revealing insight to the true state of the working relationship between journalists and corporate communications professionals, and makes stark, yet essential, reading for the region's PR community.

'We set out to discover the main pressures bearing on journalists throughout the region, and to find out how successfully organisations from all sectors are communicating with them,' explained James Mullan, joint managing partner of media training consultancy, Insight.

'While some of the journalists are highly critical of the region's 'PR machine', there is a great deal of constructive criticism and occasional praise, which will help agencies and corporate communications departments better understand the day-to-day concerns and frustrations of the journalists they deal with.'

Among the key findings of the survey are:

• Nearly two thirds of journalists receive up to 20 press releases a day, yet 55% say they actually use less than 10% of the releases they receive. Asked to rate the importance of press releases as a news source, 74% of the Arabic-language media believe them to be either 'very' or 'somewhat' important, compared with just 56% of the English-language media.

• 80% of English-language journalists admit to either 'often' or 'sometimes' deleting emails from PR agencies without actually reading them, while a more forgiving 60% of Arabic media confess to the same practice.

• 'On the record' briefings are the most significant source of stories for the region's journalists with 85% of all respondents rating them as either 'very' or 'somewhat' important.

• When asked whether they would be more likely to use a press release if it came with a gift, 41% of Arabic-language journalists and 19% of English-language journalists replied 'yes' or 'maybe'.

Ben Smalley, managing director of MediaSource, which publishes the Middle East & North Africa Media Guide and represents global PR tool Mediadisk in the region, said: 'When asked 'what is the most irritating practice that PR professionals engage in?', both the Arabic and English-language press were unanimous in the opinion that sending material which has no relevance to their publication was the single greatest annoyance.

'The 'scattergun' approach adopted by some PR practitioners of sending a release to everyone in the hope that those which find it relevant may use it, can be highly counterproductive - one editor even confesses to blocking the receipt of emails from PRs with a history of sending irrelevant releases 'despite the risk of missing out on genuinely good material'.'
While the survey primarily focused on the relationship between journalists and the communications industry, the questions were also designed to reveal insights into regional journalism.

'When asked to comment on the current state of their own profession, the Arabic-language media have a brighter view than their English-language colleagues,' stated Oliver Blofeld, managing partner, Insight.

'More than half of the Arabic-language press (57%) rate the quality of journalism in the region as either being 'very good' or 'fairly good', but the majority of the English-language press (56%) believe it is only 'okay'.

'Conversely, 80% of the English-language press believe standards of journalism are 'improving', while only 40% of the Arabic-language press feel the same, with 29% believing standards are 'staying the same' and 31% thinking they are 'getting worse'.'

When it comes to the external pressures journalists feel when writing stories the way they want to, the majority of both the Arabic and English-language press (41%) felt they were under no external pressure, although a substantial minority (32%) found government rules and regulations to be a factor.