RIYADH: 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 two years after it became the first Arab media group to go public, when it became listed on the Saudi stock market in 2006.
Speaking at the 30th Assilah Cultural Forum in Morocco, Prince Faisal Bin Salman, chairman of SRMG, said the board of trustees would be a diversified committee of specialized and experienced people 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 explained that despite the fact that this would eventually mean that a number of the chairman’s and board of directors’ powers would be clipped, the step is going to be implemented due to the importance of the board of trustees’ role. “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 made during 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.
Saudi Research and Marketing Group is the leading publishing group in the Middle East, with main activities centered in Saudi Arabia. It has publishing, printing and distribution centers in seven major countries. The group operates through a number of subsidiaries, while being distinguished for vertical integration of its companies. SRMG is actively engaged in four key areas: publishing, advertising, printing and distribution.
