Dubai Press Club concludes training for business journalists

The timely training program, conducted Randolph Walerius, a veteran financial journalist of more than 20 years of experience, has comprised the basics of the capital markets and company affairs, including the analysis of the income statements, the cash flow statements and the balance sheets of private companies.

The participants were also trained in writing business news with clarity and tightness. Besides, the three-day workshop dealt with the role of Central banking, money markets and interest rates as well as the functioning of derivatives.

Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club, said the club is planning to hold a series of specialized training programs for journalists throughout the current year with a view to enhance the professional expertise of the regional media.

"We will bring internationally reputed trainers from a variety of specializations to cover subjects that are crucial for the media here," she added.

"The participants came with a range of experience of company accounts and market practices. The diversity made the sessions much more interactive than they would have otherwise been and made them both more interesting and entertaining than is often the case. As a result, the participants were often able to supplement the lessons with illustrations and examples from local and regional markets and companies," said Randolph Walerius at the end of the session.

"Effective training relies not just on a good trainer, but also on active participants in the sessions. This group was excellent. The three days sped by and it was often difficult to cover the many relevant issues and questions raised by them. I enjoyed the sessions thoroughly. I wish all of them success in their careers and hope our paths cross again in the future. Kudos to the Dubai Press Club for organizing this," he added.

Randolph Walerius, who worked for 10 years as one of the senior editors at Dow Jones Newswires in London, reported in the course of his career on the foreign exchange markets in New York and London, the finance ministries and central banks of Germany and Britain, and a wide range of European and U.S. companies.

As a Dow Jones editor, he supervised coverage of all asset classes in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. He edited prize-winning stories on subjects as diverse as safety on North Sea oil platforms, corporate governance shortcomings in Italy, Saudi Arabian attempts at reform in the aftermath of Sept. 11, and many more.