Cabinet Turbulence and Political Scandals—Accountability Under Pressure

This study empirically investigates the relationship between negative new media coverage and audit fees by collecting a sample of nonfinancial listed companies on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) from 2017 to 2019, along with data on negative new media coverage of official WeChat public accounts founded by the most influential national financial newspaper obtained using a crawler. This study revealed that: 1. Audit fees are significantly and positively related to negative news media coverage; 2. The increase in audit fees is due to the fact that if a listed company undergoes negative new media coverage, the accounting firm that audits the company will consequently increase risk premium and thus audit fees. We found no evidence that accounting firms spend more time and effort on audit work after a listed company experiences negative new media coverage; 3. Analyst-tracking has a moderating effect on negative new media coverage and audit fees, leading to an increase in audit fees; 4. Negative media reporting on non-state-owned enterprises is more likely to cause accounting firms to increase their audit fees than their state-owned peers, whereas "non-Big Four" accounting firms are more likely to increase their audit fees for companies with negative new media reports. This study, based on the differing impacts of negative new media coverage, intended to unravel the intricate relationship between different types of negative new media coverage and audit fees, help understand the mechanism whereby negative reporting impacts audit fees, and provides a benchmark for the development of a feasible audit fee system.

The FDA maintains the Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS) database, which contains product complaint reports for foods, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. Product line perception and subsequent adverse event reporting may be impacted by negative media attention. The purpose of this analysis was to use the CAERS database to analyze temporal trends in adverse event reporting before and after media coverage of alleged health effects, using WEN by Chaz Dean (WCD) cleansing conditioners as a case study. WCD cleansing conditioner adverse event reports from January 2005 to December 2018 were abstracted from the CAERS database. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were used to analyze the rate of adverse events (WCD events/10,000 WCD cleansing conditioner units sold/month), adjusted for temporal trends in CAERS. There was a statistically significant higher rate of adverse event reporting after negative media coverage in December 2015 (IRR 16.71 [95% CI: 7.89-35.39]) when compared to the rate of adverse event reporting before December 2015. This analysis highlights the importance of assessing potential external factors, such as negative news media coverage, that may alter reporting behaviors due to societal shifts in product-specific risk perception. Consideration of these factors in post-market surveillance programs would result in more comprehensive safety evaluations.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship among negative media coverage, law environment and tunneling of controlling shareholders. Design/methodology/approach – Under the Chinese especial institutional background, this paper empirically test the relationship among negative media coverage, law environment and tunneling of controlling shareholders with the sample of 2009-2011 Chinese listed companies. Findings – The empirical results demonstrate that negative media coverage can reduce tunneling of controlling shareholder, and compared with state-owned listed companies, negative media coverage have a greater effect on tunneling in non-state-owned listed companies; and negative media coverage have a greater effect on tunneling in areas with better law environment. Further study shows that the reduction of controlling shareholder’s behavior of tunneling can improve company performance, and the improvement is more significant in non-state-owned listed companies and areas with better law environment. The research results indicate that media coverage play a very active role on restraining stakeholder’s behavior and perfecting corporate governing. Originality/value – First, this paper will study of tunneling from the perspective of media coverage for the first time. Second, this paper further analyzes how the decrease of tunneling improves corporate performance following the research of how media coverage influence tunneling. Third, this study enrich literatures about the effects of media coverage on corporate governance in Chinese capital market.

Governmental crisis communication is one of public relations functions to deliver government crisis messages to public. Of late there were rising concerns on negative media coverage by international media toward the country's recent financial performance. The unfavorable news reporting from these international regulatory bodies can be seen as polemic issue which has potential to weaken the government integrity and ability in overcoming its economic crisis. The objective of this study is to examine the governmental crisis communication practices to reduce public uncertainty toward international negative media coverage on the financial crisis. To address this issue, the study integrates two models in social media crisis communication namely the networked crisis communication model (NCC) and the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC) to build a governmental crisis communication framework. The framework also incorporates two crisis communication elements such as negative online media coverage and public trust/distrust. The study will employ quantitative approach which involves survey on the perception among the Malaysian youth toward governmental crisis communication efforts and tests the hypotheses that has been put forward. This study contributes to enhance and establish a scientific, evidence-based guideline to fully utilise online public communication in conveying the government's initiatives and policies. The implication of the study emphasises on protecting national security through significant roles of effective public relations practices in managing governmental crisis communication to regain public trust.

Repairing damaged reputations through targeted poverty alleviation: Evidence from private companies’ strategies to deal with negative media coverage

Research Summary Prior research indicates that negative media coverage of business activities encourages a firm to engage in strategic change, but the conditions for this strategic focus have drawn less scholarly attention. Considering a firm's business model design (BMD) with distinct sources for value creation, we argue that the effect of negative media coverage on strategic change is contingent on the BMD. An analysis of longitudinal data from 96 established firms shows that novelty‐centered BMDs reduce strategic change in response to negative media coverage. We contribute to research regarding strategic change in response to outside evaluations by explaining an important contingent factor related to strategy. We also expand on previous research indicating that managerial behaviors and attributes moderate the main effect of negative media coverage and provide a more nuanced understanding of this effect from a business model perspective. Managerial Summary Our study explores how negative media coverage affects strategic changes in large firms, focusing on the role of the BMD. We found that firms with a novelty‐centered BMD prioritizing innovation are less likely to alter their strategies in response to negative media coverage, suggesting that these firms are confident in their innovative approaches despite external criticism. Conversely, efficiency‐centered BMDs, which focus on operational efficiency, did not show a meaningful moderating effect. For managers, this implies that firms with innovation‐oriented business models may need less frequent strategic adjustments in the face of negative media. However, they should still communicate strategically to address potential long‐term reputational risks.

Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as a research sample, this paper examines the relationship between negative media coverage and corporate ESG performance using a two-way fixed-effects model. It is found that, first, negative media coverage can effectively promote corporate ESG performance. Second, the mediation mechanism study shows that negative media coverage positively promotes corporate ESG performance by increasing the degree of corporate financing constraints and information asymmetry and prompting corporations to change their ESG governance level. Third, the results of the heterogeneity test find that the positive relationship between negative media coverage and corporate ESG performance is more pronounced among firms without executives with overseas backgrounds, and the positive relationship between the two is more significant after the promulgation of China’s Code of Governance for Listed Companies in 2018. Fourth, further discussion revealed that negative media coverage has the strongest promotion effect on the performance of corporate environmental governance, followed by social governance performance, and lastly, corporate governance performance. The research in this paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the impact of negative media coverage on corporate ESG performance and provides empirical evidence to facilitate policy formulation related to the role of media monitoring and to fully utilize the media’s role in corporate ESG governance.

Resilience of HPV vaccine uptake in Denmark: Decline and recovery

As investors place increasing emphasis on non-financial information of listed companies, information on corporate environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) is increasingly becoming the basis for investors' investment decisions, and the media plays an irreplaceable role in providing information on corporate ESG. This study investigates the relationship between negative media coverage and corporate ESG performance using a two-way fixed effects model with a sample of Chinese a-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020. The findings indicate that negative media coverage can effectively enhance corporate ESG performance. Further research through mediating mechanism analysis shows that negative media coverage increases the financing constraints of companies and motivates them to improve their ESG governance, thus contributing to the positive enhancement of their ESG performance. This study contributes to an in-depth understanding of the impact of negative media coverage on corporate ESG performance, highlights the monitoring role of the media in promoting corporate ESG performance, and provides an empirical basis for the improvement and implementation of ESG-related policies.

This study investigates the relationship between negative media coverage and corporate social responsibility (CSR). We suggest that CSR can compensate for the loss of legitimacy in a firm only when it receives negative media coverage of a given magnitude. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, the results suggest that in relation to CSR, negative media coverage has an inverted U‐shaped curve. When we explore two industrial‐level boundary conditions, we find that this nonlinear relationship is more pronounced in firms with higher industrial concentration and dynamism. The results are robust after controlling for endogeneity. This study contributes to CSR and communication literature by deepening our understanding of the nonlinear impact of negative media coverage on firms.

The spread of foreign disinformation is widely believed to constitute a threat to democracy. Yet when the notion of disinformation is salient, partisan actors may strategically invoke disinformation to raise doubts about politically damaging information. This analysis investigates disinformation claims as a political tactic – as a means of deflecting responsibility. We conducted a survey experiment (n = 1200) on a nationally representative sample in Georgia, which has been targeted by Russian disinformation. Respondents are shown a vignette accusing a presidential candidate of corruption and are randomly assigned one of four denials relating to disinformation. We find that disinformation defenses, even ones implicating Russia, do not reduce perceptions of culpability. Respondents spurn the fictitious candidate regardless of his deflections and party affiliation. We conclude that domestic disaffection with politics rendered the candidate's political excuses ineffective. These results contribute to the literature on mis/disinformation, political scandals, and blame avoidance. They suggest that disinformation salience is not sufficient to make disinformation defenses compelling. Furthermore, externalizing blame can backfire if a scandal appears plausible. Ironically, societal resistance to political excuses may hinder politicians’ efforts to deceive the public, but it also makes it easier for Russia (or others) to successfully execute actual disinformation campaigns.

For all humanity, the sudden outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 has been an important problem. Timely and effective media coverage is considered to be one of the effective approaches to control the spread of epidemic in early stage. In this paper, a Sentiment‐enabled Susceptible‐Exposed‐Infected‐Recovered (SEIR) model is established to reveal the relationship between the propagation of the epidemic and media coverage. The authors take the positive and negative media coverage into consideration when implementing the Sentiment‐enabled SEIR model. This model is constructed by parameterizing the number of current confirmed cases, cumulative cured cases, cumulative deaths, and media coverage. The numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis are conducted based on the Sentiment‐enabled SEIR model. The numerical analysis confirms the rationality of the Sentiment‐enabled SEIR model. The sensitivity analysis shows that positive media coverage acts a pivotal part in reducing the figure for confirmed cases. Negative media coverage has an effect on the figure for confirmed cases is not as significant as that of positive media coverage, but it is not negligible.

PurposeThe impact of a mixture of positive and negative media coverage on long-run hotel survival remains unknown. This paper aims to investigate how the mixed positive and negative media coverage, namely, inconsistent media coverage, influences long-run hotel survival.Design/methodology/approachA yearly panel data set covering 792 news-reported hotels in Guangdong province of China, over the period 2010–2020, is analyzed using an inconsistency analysis framework consisting of text mining and survival analysis. The estimates of exponential models on the same observations and Cox estimates on alternative observations are used for robustness checks.FindingsThe inconsistency calculation method proposed here can measure the controversy degree well. There exists a U-shaped relationship between inconsistency of media coverage and hotel longevity, and hotel survival is significantly reduced only when the degree of inconsistency is within the range of 17.8%–53.6%. The U-shaped relationship is moderated by negative hotel image and by online media coverage on hotel operation strategy topics.Practical implicationsThis study provides suggestions for hotel managers to use media coverage inconsistency to increase long-run hotel survival in the digital era.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to investigate long-run hotel survival factors from the perspective of media coverage inconsistency. It also proposes a method to calculate the degree of media coverage controversy, which helps to quantify the relationship between the degree of inconsistency and hotel survival.

Emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) seem to face almost continuous negative media coverage in many Western countries. Our study scrutinizes this phenomenon to examine why and how EMNEs are confronting increasing negative media coverage. We empirically examine how the British newspaper media reported on the governmental banning of Huawei from fifth-generation network development in the UK. Our findings suggest that liabilities of origin (LOR) trigger negative media coverage of EMNEs, and that the geopolitical context and media framing make LOR more salient and harmful for EMNEs in developed countries. We propose a contextualized explanation for EMNEs’ legitimacy defeats in the media by identifying the cause (i.e., LOR), context (i.e., geopolitical rivalry), and process (i.e., media framing) in such a de-legitimization mechanism. Indeed, we crystalize the matter of how the media frames LOR and de-legitimizes EMNEs. We also examine EMNEs’ voice strategies for mitigating negative media coverage and defending legitimacy.

This study addresses the calls for research attention on corporate greenwashing and analyzes an environmental strategy in corporate impression management. We assume that negative media coverage triggers impression motivation and causes firms to adopt environmental strategies for impression construction based on the two-component model in impression management. Specifically, firms release credible signals, such as green investment, to cover concealed pollution emissions under the framework of a game with incomplete information. We posit that firms can select a window-dressing strategy under the pressures of negative media coverage by constructing two regression models, respectively. We also assess our underlying assumption of constraints from state ownership and institutional shareholdings by testing additional moderating relationships. Utilizing a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2000 to 2010, our empirical results suggest that negative media coverage increases corporate green investment, but pollutant emissions are reduced correspondingly, and state ownership aggravates corporate window dressing while institutional shareholdings curb it. Our findings reveal the corporate social irresponsibility in environmental protection and sustainable development, and they offer important implications for firm stakeholders.