Beyond J-School: Prudential helps business reporters hone their craft

Since 1968, more than 2,000 reporters, including some well-known names like CNN’s Poppy Harlow, The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin and Marketplace Radio’s Kai Ryssdal, have participated in an intense four-day training workshop at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Philadelphia. Prudential has been a sponsor of the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists for the last four of those years.

Prudential sponsors the Wharton program because it helps journalists develop a better understanding of complex financial topics on which they report every day. It also provides us the opportunity to develop good relationships with the media that cover the company and its businesses.

Earlier this month, Clifford Kim, a managing director with Prudential Advisors in Los Angeles, and Supriya Sanyal, a project manager in Global Strategic Research, addressed the 2016 crop of 37 reporters, who represent such media outlets as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, Reuters and The Washington Post.

Kim and Sanyal spoke about the findings of the company's latest research on the Asian American Financial Experience. One of the study’s key findings was that although the Asian American community in general has more financial knowledge than the general population, few engage financial professionals. Kim, who works directly with the community, cites two reasons: financial advisors do not exist in many home countries as they do in the U.S., so there is a lack of understanding. That also leads to a lack of trust, which is the second reason.

“As a reporter who covers housing and real estate, I’m well aware of the impact the Asian American community has,” says Kathy Orton, a Washington Post reporter. “The insights they provided on Asian Americans will help me cover this at times overlooked community in a smarter way.”

“Maintaining strong relationships with the media is critically important as it helps us accurately convey key messages across each of our businesses,” says Linda Fung, a vice president with Prudential Global Communications. “The more we can help them better understand their topics, the more informed their coverage becomes.”

“We rely on corporate sponsors like Prudential to bring these educational sessions to journalists,” adds Connie Sellers, a business administrator for the Wharton School, responsible for Seminars sponsor relations.” And we know not just from the engaging questions asked during the sessions but the formal feedback provided afterward that the journalists find them informative and insightful.”

Following the presentation, Kim and Sanyal took audience questions before speaking individually with reporters during lunch. Prudential launched "The Asian American Financial Experience" on Aug. 25 at the Asia Society in New York City.

Republished with permission of Prudential – October, 2016.