Press Releases Research Articles

Analysis of the Actors, Patterns and Issues of School Closure Policy According to the Public Opinion on Corona-19 : Focusing on Newspapers Big Data and Government’s Press Releases

Analysis of the Actors, Patterns and Issues of School Closure Policy According to the Public Opinion on Corona-19 : Focusing on Newspapers Big Data and Government’s Press Releases

Are Investors Influenced by the Order of Information in Earnings Press Releases?

ABSTRACT We examine how the ordering of information within quarterly earnings announcements influences investor response to those announcements. Specifically, we examine whether earlier discussion of earnings information, and earlier discussion of qualitatively positive or negative information, is associated with stronger responses to that information. Controlling for the linguistic content of the earnings announcement, we find a positive relation between investor response to information and the prioritization of that information in the earnings announcement. We find no evidence of investor over-reaction and, to the contrary, find some evidence that investors under-react to prioritized information. Our evidence, in conjunction with experimental evidence in Elliott (2006), suggests that information placement influences investors' responses. However, unlike the experimental evidence in Elliott (2006), our archival results suggest that investor response to information placement is warranted, rather than the result of an unintentional cognitive effect. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G14; G41; M40.

Agency in Network Signaling: When Do Biotech Firms Signal their Alliance Formation in Press Releases

Social network research suggests that actors are strategic in forming and activating social structures. Actors strategically manage their networks in order to reap the direct benefits of networks such as access to information or resource. Yet, network research has not fully investigated the extent to which agency exists in reaping the indirect benefits of networks. I examine whether agency extends beyond formation and activation to also apply to the signals organizations send to audiences about the status of the partners with which they affiliate. I address the following research question: to what extent does partner’s relative status influence the organization’s choices of sending signals about their networks? In an analysis of press releases about strategic alliance formation by biotechnology firms, I find support for the claim that firms are strategic in sending signals to audiences about their alliance partner. This paper contributes to social network research by connecting research on agency in networks and signaling benefits of networks. The key implication advanced by the paper is that signals about partners constitute another source of network benefit, in addition to the direct materials resources derived from actors’ relations and positions within a social structure.

Proposing Minimum Requirements for Announcing Clinical Trial Results During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Recently, results from at least three major randomized clinical trials studying management of COVID-19 have been announced via press release without accompanying information. Given the unique nature of the pandemic, results of such trials often have immediate and worldwide relevance. Yet, while press releases serve the important purpose of disseminating top-level results quickly, they are inherently limited in scope, and rarely include sufficient data to inform practice. Herein, we propose a minimum set of trial characteristics and results to be released simultaneously with clinical trial announcements. This practice will ensure data related to management of COVID-19 can be used to appropriately impact care, while responding to the needs of diverse stakeholders in the scientific and publishing communities, as well as the public at large.

Sentiment Analysis Of Journal Articles, Press Releases, And News Articles Pertaining To Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

PURPOSE: Previous research has called for media balance when reporting on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in order to avoid harmful bias towards readers. This call is raised from concerns that the media’s representation of CTE has moved beyond what science has proven. The purpose of this study was to use word sentiments to directly compare journal articles with corresponding news articles to evaluate these concerns. The news articles were split into three groups: press releases reporting the articles’ findings, news articles about CTE from upper tier news outlets, and articles from lower tier news outlets. METHODS: Research articles (n=10) directly associated with CTE that were heavily covered in the media were selected for this sample. An equivalent number of press releases (n=10), upper tier articles (n=10), and lower tier articles (n=10) were collected in order to compare semantics. The “AFINN” sentiment analysis dictionary rates the emotional valence of each word with an integer between minus three (negative connotation) and plus three (positive connotation). Words not recognized by the dictionary or with a zero weight were omitted from the analyses. Mean sentiment score was adjusted for total word count. RESULTS: The mean sentiment scores, adjusted were words count, were as follows: 0.086 for journal articles, -0.096 for press releases, -0.122 for upper tier sources, and 0.026 for lower tier sources. An analysis of variance calculation yielded no significant differences between the groups (F = 1.058, p = 0.379). CONCLUSIONS: Despite recent calls for a less biased reporting of CTE in mainstream media, our analysis indicates essentially equal sentimental weighting between peer-reviewed journal articles and news reports on CTE, whether the report was a press release, an article from an upper tier source, or from a lower tier source. Additionally, these sentiment weights each approached a value of zero (true neutrality). Future research should take into account the context in which the words appears in the articles in addition to using sentiment averages.

Market reaction to banks’ interim press releases: an event study analysis

This study measures the effect of financial reporting on the prices and volumes traded of banks’ outstanding stocks around the disclosure of interim financial information, which is a critical issue in a bank strategy, its management and corporate governance as a whole. We investigate whether earning press releases are relevant for driving investor decisions by using a multi-model event study on a sample of 674 press releases disclosed during the period 2010–2017 from the 28 Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs). Our results show a negative statistically significant impact on stock prices and trading volumes in the very next days following the publication date of a press release. This calls for a reflection on the need to regulate earnings press release contents and propose a standardized framework of disclosure. The study extends a multi-dimensional insight for various stakeholders and contributes to the ongoing debate of financial disclosure in banking institutions.

Regulation by Shaming: Deterrence Effects of Publicizing Violations of Workplace Safety and Health Laws

Publicizing firms’ socially undesirable actions may enhance firms’ incentives to avoid such actions. In 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began issuing press releases about facilities that violated safety and health regulations. Using quasi-random variation arising from a cutoff rule OSHA followed, I find that publicizing a facility’s violations led other facilities to substantially improve their compliance and experience fewer occupational injuries. OSHA would need to conduct 210 additional inspections to achieve the same improvement in compliance as achieved with a single press release. Evidence suggests that employers improve compliance to avoid costly responses from workers. (JEL J28, J81, K32, L51, M54)

What’s in a name? A content analysis of environmental NGOs’ use of “iconic species” in press releases

There are many designations people give to species in the context of conservation, some ecological (e.g., umbrella, keystone) and some cultural (e.g., flagship). However, “iconic” is a term with uses in conservation discourse scholars have yet to examine. Environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) can shape public opinion on conservation issues; hence, understanding their use of the term “iconic species” could help conservation managers assess and respond to stakeholder’s attitudes regarding proposed conservation policies or efforts. This content analysis covered four years’ worth of press releases (n = 203) containing “iconic species” (or an equivalent phrase; e.g., “iconic wildlife”) from six large ENGOs. We examined the species referenced, affiliated terms (including referenced places), press release objectives, and conservation topics. Results indicate that within ENGO communications, the term iconic species is rarely explicitly defined but is generally used to describe species that share taxonomic similarities with the charismatic megafauna of flagship species. However, iconic species appear to represent specific geographic places and are referenced in relation to diverse conservation topics. Thus, iconic species may serve as conduits for communicating regional issues, such as development and species management policies.

Source Attribution: Recovering the Press Releases Behind Health Science News

We explore the task of intrinsic source attribution: inferring which portions of a derived document were adapted from an unobserved source document. Specifically, we model the relationship between news articles and their press release sources using a dataset of 64,784 health science news articles and 23,068 press releases. We approach the problem at the sentence level and work with science journalism professors to develop a four point Likert scale describing the extent to which a news article sentence is derived from the content in the corresponding press release. Because manual annotation of news article - press release pairs is time-consuming, we turn to a mix of expert, non-expert, and heuristic-based annotation to label our dataset. After a small pilot study, which found that humans, when only able to view the text of the news article, struggle to identify which content is derived or not, we compare four different sentence regression models on the task. We find that modeling a sentence's context in the entire document is important, with the best performing model, a sequence regression model with BERT token representations, achieving a spearman's ρ of 0.49 and NDCG@1 of 0.60 on the expert-labeled test set. Examining the model's predictions, we find that it successfully identifies copied or closely paraphrased sentences in articles with a mix of derived and original content, but struggles to differentiate between loosely paraphrased and original sentences in articles with mostly original writing.

Causal overstatements reduced in press releases following academic study of health news.

Background: Exaggerations in health news were previously found to strongly associate with similar exaggerations in press releases. Moreover such exaggerations did not appear to attract more news. Here we assess whether press release practice changed after these reported findings; simply drawing attention to the issue may be insufficient for practical change, given the challenges of media environments. Methods: We assessed whether rates of causal over-statement in press releases based on correlational data were lower following a widely publicised paper on the topic, compared to an equivalent baseline period in the preceding year. Results: We found that over-statements in press releases were 28% (95% confidence interval = 16% to 45%) in 2014 and 13% (95% confidence interval = 6% to 25%) in 2015. A corresponding numerical reduction in exaggerations in news was not significant. The association between over-statements in news and press releases remained strong. Conclusions: Press release over-statements were less frequent following publication of Sumner et al. (2014). However, this is correlational evidence and the reduction may be due to other factors or natural fluctuations.

Press Release Management around Accelerated Share Repurchases

ABSTRACT Accelerated share repurchases (ASRs) have gained popularity in recent years. At the inception of an ASR, a firm receives most of the shares that would be repurchased at the current stock price. At the completion of the ASR, the repurchase price is adjusted to the average stock price during the ASR contract period. I find that managers increase the media coverage of negative press releases before the inception date but not during the contract period. While prior research has documented that managers deflate stock prices before open market repurchase announcements to reduce subsequent repurchase prices, this paper suggests that, in ASRs, managers rank accelerating share delivery higher than reducing the repurchase price.

Causal overstatements reduced in press releases following academic study of health news

Background: Exaggerations in health news were previously found to strongly associate with similar exaggerations in press releases. Moreover such exaggerations did not appear to attract more news. Here we assess whether press release practice changed after these reported findings; simply drawing attention to the issue may be insufficient for practical change, given the challenges of media environments. Methods: We assessed whether rates of causal over-statement in press releases based on correlational data were lower following a widely publicised paper on the topic, compared to an equivalent baseline period in the preceding year. Results: We found that over-statements in press releases were 28% (95% confidence interval = 16% to 45%) in 2014 and 13% (95% confidence interval = 6% to 25%) in 2015. A corresponding numerical reduction in exaggerations in news was not significant. The association between over-statements in news and press releases remained strong. Conclusions: Press release over-statements were less frequent following publication of Sumner et al. (2014). However, this is correlational evidence and the reduction may be due to other factors or natural fluctuations.

Churnalism and Hype in Science Communication: Comparing University Press Releases and Journalistic Articles in South Africa

Against the background of a fast-changing media environment and increasing competition in the science arena, we explored how media outlets use science- based press releases issued by research-intensive universities in South Africa. We compared 40 science-related media articles to related institutional press releases. We found that most press releases are re-published with minimal journalistic input and no crediting of the original source, with indications of hype present in a third of the media articles. This could be a reason for concern because press releases issued by research institutions are written to serve the interests of the institution and not to reflect on science. When media outlets re- publish these press releases without editorial input, it means that the critical or investigative role of the media is lost. Given concerns about the long-term implications of churnalism and hype in science media coverage, we ask whether PR-driven communication of science, as practiced by university media offices, among others, serves the long-term interests of science and society. We suggest that universities should consider the options and benefits of moving towards a new science communication paradigm focused less on reputation-building and more on constructive public engagement and helpful dialogue with society.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Press Releases of the Prime Minister of Pakistan

The current research aims to critically analyse the official discourse of Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during his third tenure. It is an effort to unravel the implicit political propositions present in the prime minister's discourse and the way they relate to governance of present regime and manipulation of power as well as Pakistan's relations with the United States of America and Peoples Republic of China. The current research follows Norman Fairclough's model of Critical Discourse Analysis as methodology. The study concentrates on the role that grammar, vocabulary and structure of a text play in the ideological use of language. The current case study reveals that instrumental ideology of language is at work in Nawaz Sharif's official discourse and that his press releases are of undemocratic character. As he is a powerful personality, the structure of his discourse is affected by his social position. Nawaz Sharif is not satisfied with the standard of good governance of his executive and bureaucracy. The study also shows that Pakistan feels its sovereignty at stake in its relations with the United States of America and China is playinga key role in maintaining balance of power in South Asia.

Causal claims about correlations reduced in press releases following academic study of health news.

Background: Exaggerations in health news were previously found to strongly associate with similar exaggerations in press releases. Moreover such exaggerations did not appear to attract more news. Here we assess whether press release practice changed after these reported findings; simply drawing attention to the issue may be insufficient for practical change, given the challenges of media environments. Methods: We assessed whether rates of causal over-statement in press releases based on correlational data were lower following a seminal paper on the topic, compared to an equivalent baseline period in the preceding year. Results: We found that over-statements in press releases reduced from 28% (95% confidence interval = 16% to 45%) in 2014 to 13% (95% confidence interval = 6% to 25%) in 2015. A corresponding numerical reduction in exaggerations in news was not significant. The association between over-statements in news and press releases remained strong. Conclusions: Press release over-statements were less frequent following publication of Sumner et al. (2014), indicating that press release practice is malleable. However, this is correlational evidence and the reduction may be due to other factors.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right: Journalists’ Perceptions and Usage of Press Releases

Exploring reputation and organizational communication, this study tests how journalists perceive press releases containing grammatical errors. Journalists (n = 118) read a press release with or without errors from an existing or unknown company. Journalists ranked the press releases without errors more favorably, regardless of their perceptions of the company. Additionally, press releases from the existing company were ranked more favorably than those from the unknown one, regardless of errors. Notably, there were no interaction effects, which suggests that reputation cannot overcome negative error effects and that polished writing cannot overcome negative corporate perception effects. Implications for the public relations–journalism relationship are discussed, as is the legitimacy of using unknown organizations when testing reputation via experiments.

Caveats in science-based news stories communicate caution without lowering interest.

Science stories in the media are strongly linked to changes in health-related behavior. Science writers (including journalists, press officers, and researchers) must therefore frame their stories to communicate scientific caution without disrupting coherence and disengaging the reader. In this study we investigate whether caveats ("Further research is needed to validate the results") satisfy this dual requirement. In four experiments participants read news reports with and without caveats. In Experiments 1 to 3, participants judged how cautious or confident researchers were, and how interesting or comprehensible they found the reports. News reports with caveats were judged as more cautious that those without, but levels of reader interest and comprehensibility were unaffected. In a fourth experiment, we created a mock newsroom and recruited journalism students to make judgments about which press releases should be published. Here, neither caveats nor the introduction of qualifying expressions in headlines had an effect on judgments of newsworthiness, consistent with Experiments 1 to 3. The reasons participants gave for rejecting a press release rarely referred to the caveat. Our results therefore suggest that science writers should include caveats in news reporting and that they can do so without fear of disengaging their readers or losing news uptake. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Judicial public relations: Determinants of press release publication by constitutional courts

It remains unclear what institutional characteristics determine the publication of press releases by constitutional courts. Research has revealed that courts use press releases to disseminate information; however, little is known about when exactly courts choose to publish a press release on a ruling. By focusing on institutional elements, this study argues that press releases form a part of judicial public relations and are used to enhance openness and transparency surrounding specific court rulings. This argument is tested empirically via a novel dataset on the activities of the German Federal Constitutional Court. Based on 1131 senate rulings decided between 1996 and 2018, this study demonstrates that proceeding types and changes to the status quo are the main characteristics that determine the publication of court press releases, whereas intra-judicial and internal conflicts are revealed to be less influential.

Reconsidering churnalism: How news factors in corporate press releases influence how journalists treat these press releases after initial selection

AbstractThis study examines how news factors in press releases influence journalists’ decisions and the journalistic treatment of press release information after its initial selection for the news agenda: These journalists can transform press releases into a news story, which involves little journalistic capital investment, or use these releases for a unique news production, which requires significant journalistic capital investment. The data elicited from the content analysis show that the more profound the presence of certain news factors in press releases, the higher the chance that journalists will choose to invest their journalistic capital in these press releases. This result means that journalists will only invest journalistic capital in press releases that contain specific news factors.

The association between exaggeration in health-related science news and academic press releases: a replication study

Background: Exaggerations in health news were previously found to strongly associate with similar exaggerations in press releases. Moreover, such press release exaggerations did not appear to attract more news. Methods: Here we tested the replicability of these findings in a new cohort of news and press releases based on research in UK universities in 2014 and 2015. Press releases and news were compared to their associated peer-reviewed articles to define exaggeration in advice, causal claims and human inference from non-human studies. Results: We found that the association between news and press releases did not replicate for advice exaggeration, while this association did replicate for causal claims and human inference from non-human studies. There was no evidence for higher news uptake for exaggerated press releases, consistent with previous results. Base exaggeration rates were lower for human inference from non-human studies, possibly reflecting the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK. Conclusions: Overall, the picture remains that the strength of news statements is normally associated with the strength of press release statements, and without evidence that exaggerated statements get significantly more news.