Media and Communications

consolidating the Chamber's prestige as a serious, objective and trustworthy source of economic information and of business interest, with the following results:

1. VenAmCham's Frank Amador Award for journalism on matters of binational commerce and industry between Venezuela and the US. It is VenAmCham's recognition, beginning in 2005, for journalists who produce the best work on commercial and industrial relations between Venezuela and the United States.

To disseminate and promote the advantages of commercial and industrial relations between Venezuela and the US.
To contribute to the professional improvement of social communicators specialized in the areas of commercial exchange and international trade.
To deepen the Chamber's relations with the social communication media in matters of binational trade.
To guarantee the endurance of this award in time, for which a trust fund was opened in Banco Mercantil, where the funds obtained from the sponsors will go this year and in the years to come. Sponsors: Seguros Caracas de Liberty Mutual, Grupo Cisneros, Globovision, Banco Mercantil, American Airlines, Circuito Unión Radio, Procter & Gamble, Empresas Polar, Gillette, Cargill, El Nacional, El Universal and NotiTarde.

The Frank Amador Award was handed out for the first time on September 08, 2005, and the journalistic tour took place October 15 - 23. The award consists of a week-long journalistic tour for the winners to the United States (Washington and New York) for interviews and field work on economic relations between Venezuela and the US. A beautiful project with a great institutional value for the Chamber, which promises to be one of the most important journalistic recognitions in the country.

2 Media Coverage. VenAmCham is the synonym of credibility and relevant and timely information for the development of the country's commerce and industry, as well as in its commercial and industrial relations with the US. Corporate Communications is in charge of the continuous output of information from the Chamber through its solid links with the communication media and the national and international news agencies. The media cover amply the information concerning our events and activities. An average of 18 media sources covered our events and, on occasion, up to 34 media sources for our biggest events.

Our alliance with Radio Ateneo 100.7 FM, is part of this projection in the media, with interviews every Tuesday with Polo Troconis at 8:20AM. In 2005, there were 46 interviews with executives from VenAmCham and presenters from our events to update the listeners on the Chamber's activities, services and innovations. The results of these efforts can also be seen in qualitative terms in the credibility and the image of excellence that VenAmCham has in the public opinion.

3 Website. The informative instruments of Corporate Communications on our website allow our members and the public in general to become updated on the activities and reports from all of VenAmCham's departments. Our online space www.venamcham.org is one of the most visited in the cyberspace within the niche of Chambers of Commerce and every year the number of visitors goes up. According to the ranking of the web evaluator Alexa, VenAmCham's website places among the first five most visited American Chambers of Commerce in the world. In 2005, VenAmCham's home page received an average of 6,439 visits daily, surpassing by 45% the 4,443 visits in 2004.

I. Venezuela is news in the world: 233 issues in 2005, from Monday to Friday, 5935 hits daily average. (1175 h/d in 2004) + 405 %:

IV. Annual Report: Recompilation, editing and design of the annual recount of VenAmCham's activities and results. In its online version, it presents to members the report and recount of the work done by each and every one of VenAmCham's departments and committees during the year. This report's digital format allows users to access the information in a flexible, integral and accessible way that can only be obtained by members, using their password.

According to the firm Alexa, VenAmCham's website comes in at number 253,156 among all the millions of websites on the world wide web. Last year, it came in at number 272,400, which means that in 2005 it surpassed, in the number of visitors, more than 20,000 websites.

4 Media Committee. Corporate Communications coordinates VenAmCham's Communication Media Committee. The committee was consolidated in 2005 as the space for the country's most representative and influential media, in its objective to promote and support the communication media industry in Venezuela. The media committee is one of VenAmCham's most active committees, having organized in 2005 16 meetings, with a total attendance figure of 85% of its members.

2002 = 8 members VS 2005 = 14 members. It invited 15 personalities from the country's private and public sectors, as well as representatives from international organisms. Guests: US Ambassador William Brownfield; the Board of Directors of the Foreign Journalists Association; Marcelo Giugale, Vice-president of the World Bank; Maria Alejandra Díaz, Director of the Del Minci Legal Consulting and this office's main representative before the CONATEL's Content Law Directory; Luis Vicente León, Datanálisis; Asdrúbal Aguiar, Nelson Rivera from NR Communications; Leopoldo López, Mayor of the Chacao Municipality; José Luis Betancourt, President of Fedecámaras, among others. The Media committee's role in the Frank Amador Award initiative was crucial.

The president of the Media Committee is Antonieta Mendoza de López (Organización Cisneros). Ricardo Degwitz (Noti-Tarde) is the Vice-President.