Why read an Arabian blog about money and finance

Welcome to this new financial blog born in Dubai at a very difficult time for many financial institutions, individual investors and home owners around the world. So why launch at such an inauspicious time?

This is clearly not a route to instant financial success for the blogger. But it is a time when independently written advice is even more valuable than ever, and when one good idea gleaned from an obscure financial blog could literally end up being worth its weight in gold or more.

Tough times

These are tough times for the traditional media, although they continue to have a special role as journals of record and as the voice of the establishment and officialdom. Reporting becomes very difficult in falling markets as companies are naturally protective of their reputations and will go to any lengths to gag the mainstream media.

This can come down to a threat to pull advertising in a falling market, or more menacing threats of legal action. In recessions the ‘grey area’ of defamation suits is a nice little earner for lawyers. Be warned before you go there. It is simply not worth the time or expense and in the long-run journalists always win!

However, editors cowering under the pressure of financially challenged publishers are likely to be less adventurous in tougher markets, and that means that the quality of financial journalism suffers.

So this leaves a gap for the informed financial blog. And in financial markets it is the quality and not the quantity of information that matters. You might spend an hour pouring over The Financial Times and learn less than in five minutes spent reading a perceptive blog.

Remember too that the humble blogger does have one major advantage over the mighty global financial press: time. Without the layers of editors for copy to pass through, to say nothing of the lengthy physical process of printing and distribution, an Internet blog can be much more up-to-date than any other media, and challenge the wire services for instant comment if not data.

Time is money for investors. Even the major financial websites have morphed into bureaucratic organisations that are inherently slow on the uptake of new content, if they are bold enough to publish it. Therefore you should consider adding selective blogs to your business reading diet.

They generally come for free on the Internet and are available at anytime, anywhere you happen to be in the world. Now why should you trust this blog? Probably for the same reason that you would trust any other media: the track record of the author or authors.

The journalist behind the blog is Peter Cooper, the former founding editor of the Gulf Business magazine in Dubai, and former editorial partner of www.ameinfo.com, the Dubai Media City business and financial website sold to Emap plc for $27 million in July 2006.

Claim to fame

Before moving to the Gulf in 1996 this blogger spent more than a decade in the City of London as a business journalist; and still writes columns for www.ameinfo.com as well as Dubai’s newest paper Emirates Business 24/7 www.business24-7.ae/cs.

You therefore have the benefit of considerable financial and business experience with the added twist of a vantage point from the now booming Gulf markets, and it is fair to say that a proven track record in spotting business and investment opportunities is always a measure of credibility and clearly adds weight to the value of subsequent advice.

How will this blog develop? Well, watch this space for a uniquely Arabian perspective on finance. Blogs will be posted regularly and in quick response to major events. But you might find one visit a week is enough to catch up. And please do send me your comments and suggestions!