Business News

SRMG Becomes First Arab Media Group to Have a Board of Trustees

Monday 18. August 2008 - Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), the largest publishing group in the Middle East, announced the creation and appointment of an independent board of trustees, whose task will be guarding its publications' editorial independence.

With this announcement, the Riyadh based company becomes the first Arab media group to have such a board, only 2 years after it became the first Arab media group to go public, when it became listed in the Saudi stock market in 2006.
Speaking at the 30th ‘Assilah Cultural Forum’ in Morocco, Prince Faisal Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz – Chairman of SRMG, explained that the Group’s board of trustees would consist of a diversified committee, whose members are both specialized and experienced, with different professional backgrounds.
The members of this board, whose names are to be announced within days, would help in assessing the editorial performance of all of the Group’s publications, Prince Faisal explained, adding that they will also evaluate the performance of the editors of the Group’s publications, and their commitment to the balanced editorial policies SRMG has adopted.
“This will ultimately give editors more professional independence with a clear separation between ownership, management and the newsroom,” he said.
Prince Faisal also explained that despite that this step would eventually mean a number of the Chairman’s and Board of Directors’ powers would be ceased, the step is going to be implemented due to the importance of the role of the board of trustees, “We will work to make the board’s job a success,” he said, elaborating that this is done in accordance to what many media companies are doing internationally.
The announcement was part of SRMG’s participation in the Assilah Forum marking the 30th anniversary of the group’s flagship publication; the London-based international Arab daily, “Asharq Al-Awsat”.