Media Attention Research Articles

Media attention and electric vehicle adoption: Evidence from 275 cities in China

Media attention and electric vehicle adoption: Evidence from 275 cities in China

Investing during a Fintech revolution: The hedge and safe haven properties of Bitcoin and Ethereum

Global financial markets have witnessed significant transformations in response to the worldwide spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in heightened risk and alterations in inter-market relationships. Both cryptocurrency markets and conventional equity markets have been influenced by these changes. This study aims to investigate the potential hedging and safe haven benefits of Bitcoin and Ethereum against risks in Asian emerging stock markets under various Covid-19 pandemic contexts including the onset of the pandemic, varying levels of panic, the extent of media attention, and sentiment analysis. Utilizing the dynamic correlation coefficients derived from the DCC-GARCH methodology, our analysis indicates that, both Bitcoin and Ethereum do not effectively serve as hedges or safe havens for major Asian emerging stock markets during the Covid-19 outbreak. These results remain robust during more extreme periods characterized by high panic, intense media attention, and negative sentiment. Nevertheless, an noteworthy exception is the case where Ethereum exhibits strong hedging properties specifically in the context of the Pakistan equity market. Recognizing these unique hedge and safe haven potential of cryptocurrencies can contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of investment strategies and risk management practices during periods of market turbulence.

Perception Matters: Attitudes Toward Transgender Inclusion in Campus Recreational Sports

The participation of transgender individuals in sporting spaces continues to receive increased attention in both popular media and in academic scholarship. However, while attention is growing, little is known about the attitudes the general public holds toward transgender sport participation. This is particularly true when it comes to attitudes participants hold toward transgender persons and their participation in recreational sport programming. As such, this study quantitatively explores the attitudes of intramural and club sport participants across the United States toward transgender persons and transgender participation in recreational sport programming. Specifically, results emphasize (a) the general attitudes of recreational sport participants toward transgender persons, (b) the attitudes of recreational sport participants toward the participation of transgender persons in recreational sport programs, (c) differences in attitudes by gender, and (d) differences in attitudes by program area (intramural vs club sport). Discussion of these differences and practical implications for recreational sports are considered.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize and its potential for developing library tourism

Star architecture is becoming a popular strategy for urban solutions, and exclusive projects are being constructed to create an image and increase media attention. The term describes buildings designed by famous architects who often capitalize on their popularity for marketing purposes in tourist destinations. The visibility of these sites effectively attracts tourists and capital to specific places. It is common for landmark buildings and their leading architects to be paired with the Pritzker Architecture Prize. This paper reviews all 72 libraries designed by prize winners from the first edition in 1979 to 2023, analyzing their potential for library tourism. The research methodology includes a documentary and content analysis (internal and online desk research) of websites, newsletters, and publications. It can be concluded that these libraries have a vast collection of resources that can entice tourists, and now they are destinations for millions of visitors. On the other hand, the authority of these architects guarantees the more significant popularity of libraries as tourist destinations. However, given the financial resources needed to implement these projects, their tourism potential can mainly benefit large cities in developed countries or traditional academic centers.

Metaverses and virtual real estate markets: The commodification and assetization of the digital

The recent development of metaverses and virtual real estate markets (VREMs) has garnered a lot of media attention in the last two years. In this paper, we go beyond the discourse on the hyper-speculative nature of crypto markets to look at how the digitalization of virtual land (markets) is pushing toward new kinds of virtual spaces and real estate assetization. Doing so, we propose three analytical entry points for further research on VREMs, namely (1) the fabric of a market for virtual lands, (2) the encoded relations to virtual lands and (3) the digital assetization of virtual spaces.

Fluctuations and extreme events in the public attention on Italian legislative elections

The share of social media attention to political candidates was shown to be a good predictor of election outcomes in several studies. This attention to individual candidates fluctuates due to incoming daily news and sometimes reflects long-term trends. By analyzing Twitter data in the 2013 and 2022 election campaign we observe that, on short timescales, the dynamics can be effectively characterized by a mean-reverting diffusion process on a logarithmic scale. This implies that the response to news and the exchange of opinions on Twitter lead to attention fluctuations spanning orders of magnitudes. However, these fluctuations remain centered around certain average levels of popularity, which change slowly in contrast to the rapid daily and hourly variations driven by Twitter trends and news. In particular, on our 2013 data we are able to estimate the dominant timescale of fluctuations at around three hours. Finally, by considering the extreme data points in the tail of the attention variation distribution, we could identify critical events in the electoral campaign period and extract useful information from the flow of data.

From China to Malaysia: Understanding The Cultural and Economic Dynamics of Imported Chinese Films

The connection between China’s diplomatic engagements abroad and its trans-border film trade holds considerable importance. Inherent in this dynamic is cross-cultural interaction and inter-cultural communication. Malaysia’s support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative has fostering a growing cultural exchange, particularly through the trade of Chinese films, some of which have aschieved significant box office earning success in Malaysia. Despite occasional media attention, there is a notable lack of scholarly literature addressing the impact of these films on Malaysian audiences. This study examines the cinematic consumption of the films imported from China by Malaysian distributors for exhibition to its cinemagoers, using Song Hwee Lim’s framework of conceptualization of transnational cinema. It seeks to better understand the phenomenon of the imported Chinese films for audience appeal, cultural influence and impact on box-office earnings. By collecting and analyzing relevant data from distributors through in-depth interviews with their representatives, this study identifies the approaches of film promotion and marketing activities that are reshaping the cultural experience of filmic storytelling in the Malaysian context. The implications of this study extend beyond film distribution, offering insights into how transnational cinema can shape cultural narratives and influence the cultural landscape in a globalized context. By examining the interplay between Chinese films and Malaysian audiences, the research highlights the role of transnational cinema in fostering cultural exchange and understanding, as well as its potential to impact the future direction of filmic storytelling within a multicultural society. Keywords: Transnational cinema, Chinese film, Malaysian cinema, film distribution, cultural trade.

Farmer Protests in Europe 2023–2024

SummaryIn 2023–2024, farmer protests swept across Europe, with tractors blocking roads and supermarkets, drawing significant media attention. Unlike previous protests, these events spread continent‐wide, suggesting a contagion effect. This paper documents the surge in farmer protests, explores their triggers and underlying causes, and emphasizes the need for a just transition to sustainable food systems. The protests were sparked by proposed policy changes, tighter environmental regulations, perceived pressures on farm incomes and increased trade competition. However, the root causes varied by country. Swift policy responses at both national and EU levels included retracting controversial measures like the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation, but these actions also hindered key initiatives for transitioning to more sustainable agri‐food systems. Moving forward, a comprehensive public debate on the future of Europe's agri‐food systems is crucial, focusing on balancing environmental sustainability with the economic viability of agriculture. A major political challenge will be moving beyond simplistic dichotomies to develop a vision for a food system that fosters synergies between farmer interests as well as environmental and social objectives.

Media Narrative of School Shooting in Russia

School shootings, defined as acts of mass armed violence perpetrated within educational institutions, elicit significant media attention. This extensive coverage, however, raises concerns regarding its potential contribution to the “copycat effect”, where subsequent crimes are inspired by media portrayals of previous incidents. Furthermore, media narratives can significantly influence public perceptions of both the victims and the perpetrators involved. This study aims to analyze the narrative of school shooting within four key categories: victim portrayal, perpetrator description, perceived motives, and the act itself. The results reveals a dominant narrative structure that closely follows the chronological sequence of the perpetrator’s actions. This mirroring effect, likely driven by the inherent demands of streaming media formats, results in a construction of victim narratives “through the lens” of the perpetrator. Consequently, information regarding the perpetrators and their actions tends to dominate the media landscape, potentially overshadowing the experiences and perspectives of the victims. These findings carry significant implications for the development of ethical guidelines within journalism and professional standards for reporting on mass gun violence in schools. Moreover, the identified patterns in media narratives could serve as valuable input for developing mathematical models that explore the potential link between media representations of school shootings and the occurrence of copycat crimes.

The dramaturgical infrastructure of counter-summitry – ethnographic insights from the Glasgow climate conference

ABSTRACT The annual UN climate conferences synchronize major social worlds, including politics, media, business, science, and law. They therefore attract anyone interested in high-profile performances such as protest action. With the post-Paris turn in global environmental governance, scholarly interest in theatrical aspects of climate governance is increasing. Activism at climate conferences, however, has not yet been studied through a dramaturgical lens. We propose the concept of ‘dramaturgical infrastructure’ to complement Goffman’s focus on self-presentation with the material and immaterial context beyond the micro-level of situated interactional practices. Based on fieldwork at the 2021 climate conference in Glasgow, we describe how activists draw on and mobilize a dramaturgical infrastructure of scripts, spaces, rituals, and requisites for their performances, and how this results in role-taking on the Glasgow stage. We identify the roles of the watchdog, the participant, the disrupter, and the connector, each with distinctive patterns of compliance with or distancing from post-Paris climate governance and the news media. The dramaturgical perspective suggests that climate conferences provide encounters that educate activists to be aware of the component of self-presentation in their activism and to design performances for high public, policy, and media attention.

Unleashing the impact of environmental information disclosure on corporate green innovation: The role of audit quality and media attention

Green innovation is critical for enterprises to achieve sustainable development, although academics and entrepreneurs often associate it with financial performance. However, more research is needed on the boundary and mechanism of the effect of environmental information disclosure on corporate green innovation. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from the years 2008–2022 in China, this study discusses the impact of environmental information disclosure on green innovation. It analyzes the moderating effects of external audit quality and media attention. The results show that environmental information disclosure promotes green innovation. Further, audit quality and media attention have a positive moderating effect. In addition, this effect is more evident in non-state and heavily polluting industries. Finally, alleviating financial constraints is a critical mechanism for how environmental information disclosure affects green innovation.

Awareness of everyday effects of climate change: The climate change perceptual awareness scale (CCPAS)

Climate change is intrinsically complex and demands a certain degree of abstraction. However, different individuals report a wide range and degree of tangible and sensory experiences of climate change. As perceptual and sensory awareness of climate change has important consequences for the promotion of sustainable behaviors, pro-climate policies, and clinical interventions for climate-related disorders such as climate anxiety, new specific tools are required: herein we detail the development of a psychometric measure of perceptual awareness of climate change, as well as provide evidence for its discriminant, convergent, and predictive validity for sustainable behaviors. The administration of this scale on a representative sample of the UK population (Study 1) yielded a 4-factor structure, with items measuring perception of temperature changes and those measuring perception of humidity changes loading on separate factors, and two additional factors identifying the awareness of own feelings and perception of media attention on climate change. A second administration (Study 2) to an independent sample gathered from the Italian population supports the reliability of this factorial structure. As the rising field of climate neuroscience starts to investigate the determinants of perceptions of climate change, this novel scale will allow assessing the perceptual features affecting awareness of climate change.

Green vs. brown: Climate risk showdown – who’s thriving, who’s diving?

Increasingly complex climate change poses unprecedented risks and challenges. We attempt to analyze the strategic responses of firms in dealing with climate risk and whether green firms outperform brown firms by exploring the relationship between climate risk and firms’ cash flow. To this end, this paper uses the high-dimensional fixed-effects model for empirical analysis based on panel data of Chinese listed firms from Q1 2010 to Q4 2022. We find that firms have the motivation to hold more cash in the face of climate risk, and that brown firms will be more proactive in cash flow management compared to green firms. In addition, there are significant industry and seasonal effects of climate risk on firms’ cash flow. Mechanism tests find that climate risk prompts firms to increase cash flow by forcing them to reduce financial leverage and erode operating costs, as well as by inducing increased media attention to the firm. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of climate risk on cash flow is more significant among low digital transformation firms, high financial constraints firms, firms with low managerial myopia, and SOEs. An analysis of the economic consequences shows that climate risk leads firms to be more aggressive in capturing market share, increasing productivity and strengthening ESG performance. The above findings help to enlighten firms on how to manage their risk exposures and adjust their internal governance structures as a way to maintain stable operations in an environment of intensified uncertainty. In brief, this paper highlights the differentiated financial decisions that green and brown firms make in response to climate risk, providing empirical evidence and policy implications for advancing the green transformation of firms.

Transcend local for global: ESG as a legitimacy signal in the global expansion of emerging multinational enterprises

Emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) are under increasing pressure to demonstrate robust environmental, social, and governance (ESG) as they expand globally. However, existing research has not thoroughly examined the theoretical relationship between ESG disclosure and the degree of internationalisation of EMNEs. This study addresses this gap by integrating institutional and signalling theories, revealing that superior ESG is positively associated with higher levels of EMNE internationalisation. This relationship is mediated by international financing capabilities and moderated by media attention. The study demonstrates that strategic initiatives related to ESG disclosure can serve as signals of legitimacy for EMNEs navigating institutional complexities on a global scale. These findings are supported by an empirical analysis of panel data from 2011 to 2020, providing theoretical insights into ESG signalling mechanisms. Practically, proactive ESG strategies can offer a competitive advantage for EMNEs as they manage complex foreign expansions amidst growing demands for responsible business conduct.

Promotional Press Releases and Investor Processing Costs

Press releases are a primary disclosure channel firms use to communicate with investors. However, firms can also use press releases to self-promote to improve their public image. Promotional press releases are, on average, significantly less value relevant than those focused toward investors. They also contain more positive and emotional language as well as less specific and financially oriented language. Based on theories of disclosure processing costs and investor attention, we predict and find that firms’ recent high usage of this disclosure channel to self-promote is associated with increased investor attention and more efficient reactions to subsequent investor-focused disclosures. This effect is concentrated in less visible firms, whereas promotional press releases appear to have no effect on the pricing efficiency of more visible firms. We also provide evidence consistent with media attention being one channel through which these effects operate. Our findings deepen our understanding of how firms use press releases as a disclosure channel and contribute to the literature on disclosure processing costs. This paper was accepted by Eric So, accounting. Funding: This work was supported by resources at the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center. C. Rawson gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Sam M. Walton College of Business. B. J. Twedt gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Mays Business School. J. C. Watkins gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Mendoza College of Business.. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.01903 .

Media attention, negative reports and textual information of banks’ ESG disclosure

This paper applies text analysis method and Baidu sentiment tendency analysis model to identify the text characteristics of bank ESG information disclosure, and explores the impact of media attention and negative reports on the text of bank ESG as well as the influence mechanism. The study finds that the higher the media attention, the stronger the positive sentiment of bank ESG information disclosure text, and the lower the readability. Similarly, negative media coverage is positively related to the sentiment of bank ESG text, and negatively related to the readability of the text. Mechanism analysis shows that media attention and negative reports can inhibit banks' active risk-taking, increase analysts' attention to banks as well, and then affect banks' ESG disclosure behavior. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of media attention and negative reports on ESG disclosure text is more obvious for banks with higher capital adequacy ratio and lower weighted risk assets ratio. This paper examines the impact of media governance on bank ESG disclosure behavior from the perspective of text big data analysis, which is a useful supplement to the research on ESG disclosure.

Quran Desecration Rallies in Scandinavia and the Netherlands: The Formation and Transnational Diffusion of an Anti-Muslim Protest Tactic

ABSTRACT Since 2019, Quran desecration rallies have proliferated across Northern Europe, leading to geopolitical tensions with Muslim-majority countries and domestic debates about freedom of speech. This article traces the diffusion trajectories of Quran desecration acts from their initiation in 2019 until November 2023 across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Combining protest event analysis and process tracing based on mainstream media reporting and far-right social media, it shows how the desecration tactic spread from Denmark to remnants of the transnational Counter-Jihad Movement through a within-movement diffusion process involving both indirect and direct channels. Following Rasmus Paludan’s Quran-burning outside Turkey’s Embassy in Stockholm in January 2023, the tactic attracted massive international media attention. In Denmark and Sweden, the tactics’ repurposing toward geopolitical issues led to a spillover to actors unaffiliated with the far right, while in Norway and the Netherlands, the tactic hardly diffused beyond the anti-Islam activists. Drawing on far-right transnational diffusion literature, the article provides an empirically grounded and theoretically informed mapping of the recent wave of Quran desecration rallies, showing the various ways the same tactic spread throughout and into different domestic settings.

The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence.

Science is humanity's best insurance against threats from nature, but it is a fragile enterprise that must be nourished and protected. The preponderance of scientific evidence indicates a natural origin for SARS-CoV-2. Yet, the theory that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in and escaped from a lab dominates media attention, even in the absence of strong evidence. We discuss how the resulting anti-science movement puts the research community, scientific research, and pandemic preparedness at risk.

Safe Sex and the Debate over Condoms on Campus in the 1980s: Sperm Busters at Harvard and Protection Connection at the University of Texas at Austin.

During the 1980s, college students in the United States helped to destigmatize the distribution and use of condoms. They shifted their aims from preventing unwanted pregnancy to stopping the spread of sexually transmitted infections including the newly identified acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Two student-led initiatives to deliver condoms after hours at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the University of Texas at Austin show regional and temporal differences in sexual mores as awareness of AIDS increased. These male students adopted a non-pharmaceutical intervention to prevent pregnancy and disease in the context of increased marketing of Trojan® brand condoms. Interviews with co-founders reveal how the students grappled with backlash from family members and campus administrators less enthusiastic about their popularization of condoms. Co-founders described how media attention affected their college experiences and how condom companies changed campus culture. Overall, large non-pharmaceutical companies such as Trojan® and small condom-resellers such as those at Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin reshaped cultural norms around safe sex as awareness of AIDS grew between 1985 and 1987.

Impact of media attention on corporate green innovation: What is the role of dual environmental regulation?

This study explores the intricate interplay between media attention, dual environmental regulation, and corporate green innovation quality using a comprehensive dataset of Chinese A-share listed companies. Thus, our rigorous empirical analysis reveals that media visibility significantly affects corporate environmental sustainability efforts, with formal and informal environmental regulations moderating its impact. Media attention acts as a powerful catalyst for green innovation during growth and mature stages of a company's lifecycle; however, its effect diminishes during recessions. We determine significant heterogeneity across industry types and ownership structures. Non-high-polluting industries and non-state-owned enterprises show stronger positive responses to media scrutiny in their green innovation efforts than high-polluting sectors and state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, formal environmental regulations amplify the positive effect of media attention on green innovation, suggesting a synergistic potential that encourages companies to exceed baseline environmental standards. In contrast, while having no direct impact on green innovation, informal environmental regulation significantly moderates the relationship between media attention and innovation quality. These findings add to the literature on environmental innovation by demonstrating the conditional effectiveness of media attention and the critical role of regulatory frameworks in fostering sustainable corporate practices across industries and ownership contexts, with implications for policymakers, corporate strategists, and environmental advocates.