Researchers often assume that a firm’s media coverage is an exogenous result of actual news about the firm. In this paper I show that firms actively manage the quantity of media coverage they receive, increasing coverage of good news and decreasing coverage of bad news. Firms do this media managing by including “media experts” on their board of directors. That is, coverage in the news media is, in part, a choice that firms make. Here is an example that describes the expectations of firms from media experts I consider in this paper:
In 1985, former Philip Morris chief executive Hamish Maxwell wrote the following in an internal memo: “A number of media proprietors that I have spoken to are sympathetic to our position – Rupert Murdoch [who was on the Philip Morris board at that time] and Malcolm Forbes are two good examples. The media like the money they make from our advertisements and they are an ally that we can and should exploit.” Another Philip Morris employee stated the following in the appendix of the same memo: “Murdoch’s papers rarely publish any anti-smoking articles these days.”
The idea that the media cater to corporations with media connections is Herman and Chomsky’s (1988) propaganda theory, which postulates that business connections between media and corporate world determines the type of news that is presented in news media. I exploit a novel dataset that allows me to infer the connections between the firm and the mass media: existence of insiders (Media Experts) on a firm’s board who have mass media experience at an owner/board member/editor/journalist level as a measure of the firm’s willingness to actively manage relation to media. I show that this indicator predicts future press coverage. Furthermore, I ...
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... on these firms, then reduced information availability would reduce coverage by newspapers regardless of any effort by media experts. To attempt to disentangle these effects, I instrument press coverage with the media experts’ ownership in firms. Since media experts will spend resources in lobbying the press only if they have some skin in the game, media expert's ownership can be considered a good measure of the exogenous component in news coverage. When I instrument coverage with this exogenous determinant, coverage’s estimated impact on illiquidity does not disappear. This suggests that relation between increased illiquidity and existence of media expert is causal.
The paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 describes background and hypothesis development. After discussing sample characteristics in section 3, I present the results in Section 4. Section 5 concludes.
Michael Parenti (2002) declares media in the United States is no longer “free, independent, neutral and objective.” (p. 60). Throughout his statement, Parenti expresses that media is controlled by large corporations, leaving smaller conglomerates unable to compete. The Telecommunications Act, passed in 1996, restricted “a single company to own television stations serving more than one-third of the U.S. public,” but is now overruled by greater corporations. (p. 61). In his opinion, Parenti reveals that media owners do not allow the publishing of stories that are not beneficial and advantageous. Parenti supports his argument very thoroughly by stating how the plutocracy takes control over media in multiple ways: television, magazines, news/radio broadcasting, and other sources.
Menashe, L. (1998). An analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Tobacco Issues. Journal of Health Communication, 3, 307-325
The news media rejects the fact that they are biased. They claim that they are the “middle of the road,” and are neutral on the stories that they cover. Publishers also claim that they are the watchdog for the political system, and they make sure that the system is free of any corruption, or wrongdoing. Th...
Murrow states “one of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news” (7). Top management does not have time to give mature and thoughtful consideration to the abundant problems that confront those who are charged with the responsibility for news and public affairs, but they still do any ways and put little to none effort towards doing so. According to Murrow if there is a disagreement between the public interest and the corporate interest it will always go the way of the corporate almost every
Over the last 50 years, smoking and the public image of smoking has changed dramatically. Americans have learned the harmful effects of smoking and have put a heavy disdain on the use of it. The number of new smokers has drastically dropped over the years and many that had previously smoked have stopped. Some have turned to electronic cigarettes as a safer way to intake nicotine. Over the years, smoking advertisements have changed drastically. Nowadays, tobacco advertisements are virtually non-existent in our society, but when they were abundant they depicted smoking as a cool and sophisticated activity. Today, smoking advertisements are shown by electronic cigarette companies. These companies emphasize the healthier lifestyle these products
"Smoking Bans and the Tobacco Industry." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 1 July 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. .
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
This exorbitant amount of money being spent by one of the largest tobacco companies can be attributed to the government's recent threats made against the industry. Philip Morris is obviously trying to cohere anyone into believing in their case. Big Business seems to have dramatically impacted the political system of this country. The United States is a country of equality and freedom of speech.
There are many explicit premises in this article that I will examine. The first premise is that, Tobacco companies have been and continue to be involved in undermining scientific evidence that documents the health hazards of secondhand smoke. This is more than an hidden assumption, reference from the Los Angles Times reported in November 1999 that the major cigarette companies "are engaged in a far-reaching campaign to discredit evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to human health." This is my second premise. Here, there is an implied notion that the Los Angels Times conducted a study to find these findings true. The third premise states, Tobacco industry allies recycle old myths and propaganda - and continue to plant the seeds of confusion and doubt as to the economic effects of smoke free air policies - before legislatures and city councils. Here we see the strong initiative that the tobacco companies especially Philips and Morris take to attack policies that go against their business. The next premise is the fourth premise, As in the past, tobacco companies have continued to create and hide behind front groups to lobby against tobacco control and public health policies. This is another implied notion, which we can say that tobacco companies are trying to control the regulations on tobacco.
Many people believe that liberal media bias is very relevant in this day in age, but really it is just a myth. Conservatives, also known as republicans, tend to forget that most of the American media is influenced heavily by corporate business owners(Schaller 49). Topics such as issues of war and peace, taxes and spending, and government regulation are heavily favorable to the conservatives. A study done by Media Matter for America shows that over sixty percent of U.S. daily newspapers publish conservative journalists rather than liberal(Schaller 49). On the other hand, it is obvious that some hot topics in the news are liberally skewed.
The contributors of mass media hold a great amount of power on determining what viewers see. Mass media is assembled with many key components such as the owners of media, journalist and the government. This essay will examine the impact of policy ownership in regards to modern mass media. Mass media is owned by many large corporations that contribute in deciding what media should entail and how media content is delivered to the audience. Therefore, media owners, journalist and the government contribute greatly to the delivery of Canadian mass media. There are many contributors to mass media in Canada, therefore, examining the importance of each contributor allows audience members to gain more knowledge about media contributors and the impact
One way that the tobacco industry can be more ethical is changing their advertising strategy. I believe that today’s advertising strategy is very misleading about cigarettes. Examples of this unethical advertising is in Argentina, here 20 percent of television advertising is spent on smoking commercials, as well as in countries in and around Africa there are billboards that depict a man in a business suit stepping out of a black Mercedes as a chauffeur holds the door. This displays that cigarettes make people classy and sophisticated, making cigarettes look not only harmless but stylish. Another good example of unethical depiction on cigarettes is in Nigeria; here they promote a cigarette for graduates, with a picture of a university and a student in a cap and gown. As if this wasn’t a misleading visual they add a slogan that says, "A very important cigarette for very important people." These ads and slogan are ...
The price of the stock will easily affected by press. Positive news usually lead to increase the price of stock and negative news may cause deduction to the stock price. Fang, Peress and Zheng (2014) give an interesting point that investors are affected by the broadcast. They may influence by the media easily and change their investigating plan. Individual investors are shown that they rely to message and follow the advice from the media. Even experienced investor cannot resist the bias. It is an interesting point that bias resulted by press will cause investors focus on companies with positive news and fund those companies. Furthermore, the companies which was reported to have a negative image may lose the concentration for investors (Hooghiemstra, 2000). It will cause a reduction to the price of companies. Therefore, press without control may cause confusion but it provide an unsuspecting stocking
Cigarette advertisements give the feeling that smokers are "bursting at the seams with joy" and that smoking is useful to you. Shockingly, nothing could be further from reality. The U.S. government has marked cigarettes as an unsafe medication that causes lung malignancy, coronary illness, and numerous different genuine sicknesses and conditions. Numerous individuals everywhere throughout the nation are discussing whether tobacco organizations ought to be permitted to publicize cigarettes or even to make cigarettes in today 's general public ("Analyzing Assorted Tobacco Advertisements").
Throughout the previous years, the effect of mass media has produced exponentially with the innovation of technology. Initially there were books, tabloids, journals, photography, movies, broadcast, TV, New Media of the Internet, and now mass media. Nowadays, each individual are most depended on the news media and gossips to preserve their lives moving within everyday accomplishments. We trust the mass media for the existing newscast and evidences concerning anything that is significant and what we must be conscious of. We rely on the media as a consultant for gossip, info, and amusement. The amount of authority varies on the obtainability of media. All of the customary mass media partake excessive impact throughout our existence. For example the 20th century port...