Negative press coverage can lead to positive change: study
By Shel Holtz | Posted: April 15, 2013
We’re looking for that seat at the management table.
我們正在管理桌當中尋找座位
It’s one of the most frequent refrains among communicators who often feel they don’t get enough respect in their companies. In the executive C-suite, leaders make decisions about company strategy. Outside views that are reported in the press but never weighed by leaders can lead to bad decisions.
這是傳播者經常覺得他們沒有得到足夠的尊重裡最需忍耐的項目之一。在C級領導者對公司戰略做出決策，外界的看法在付印新聞報導中，領導人從未衡量此事可能會導致錯誤的決策。
* Definition of 'C-Suite'
A widely-used slang term used to collectively refer to a corporation's most important senior executives. C-Suite gets its name because top senior executives' titles tend to start with the letter C, for chief, as in chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief information officer.
一種廣泛使用的俚語術語，用來統稱一家公司的最重要的高級管理人員。C-系列領導因此得名，因為最高級行政人員的職稱往往開始的字母 C，作為行政總裁，首席營運官和首席信息官，首席，也被稱為“C級高級主管。”
Without a communications officer at the table, who will direct leaders’ attention to the coverage the company has been getting? Depending on their level of interest, individual executives may read some of the articles covering the organization, but it’s the PR department’s job to monitor coverage, analyze it, and convey its meaning. Leaders who grasp what’s coming out of the press use that information to shape strategy.
若沒有傳播者在管裡列表上，誰將引領領導者的注意去重視該公司可獲得的覆蓋範圍？這將根據個別高管自己的水平，興趣，可以閱讀一些文章涵蓋了組織，但監控覆蓋範圍是公關部門的工作，分析它，並傳達其含義。領導者掌握什麼是即將付印出，使用信息來塑造戰略。
That’s the finding of a rigorous academic study, Burr Under the Saddle: How Media Coverage Influences Strategic Change (free registration required). Negative media coverage may be unpleasant and set teeth to grinding in the C-suite, but it also can serve as the catalyst for companies to make significant strategic course changes that lead to organizational improvements.
伯爾下鞍：媒體報導如何影響戰略變化（需要免費註冊）是嚴謹的學術研究。
媒體的負面報導可能是不愉快的且設置部位令高管人員難以忍受，但它也可以成為提供服務去運作顯著戰略策略課題改變，成為讓公司組織改進的催化劑。
That’s entirely consistent with what many PR practitioners may feel is one of the more unpleasant facets of the job: sharing and interpreting bad news and even advocating for the press’s point of view. (Academics call it “boundary-spanning.”)
這絕對是許多公關專業從業者覺得最不愉快的作業方面之一：分享和解釋壞消息，甚至鼓吹為出版記者的觀點。（學者稱它為“跨越邊界”。）
The researchers, from the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona, studied 250 firms from the S&P 500 over five years. They scrutinized 40,000 articles from major business publications, seeking negative keywords and phrases that signified negative coverage. The reporters’ words were frequently the source of the negativity, but sometimes it was contained in quotes from CEOs and other company sources. The volume of downbeat coverage correlated to the odds that the company would revise its strategy in response to the issues that drove the coverage.
伊利諾伊大學和亞利桑那大學的研究人員，研究250家公司，在五年內的S＆P 500指數。他們審議主要商業出版物40,000條，尋求標誌著負面報導裡的負面關鍵字和詞組。記者的話經常是消極的來源，但有時它是從CEO轉述來的和其他公司的資訊。相關悲觀報導量的券冊可能與機會相連，使該公司將修正其策略以響應駕馭的新聞報導問題。
“Negative media coverage about a firm is a salient trigger that suggests to top managers that the current strategy needs to be changed,” the authors assert. The greater the number of independent directors who sit on the board, the more likely the negative coverage produced that effect, because external board members are more inclined to pay attention to external reporting.
作者斷言: “關於公司負面的媒體報導表明是讓高層管理者需要改變目前的戰略的一個顯著觸發事項“。位在董事會的獨立董事數量越多，負面報導就越有可能產生那種影響，因為外部董事會成員更傾向於要注意外部報告。
“When there are board members with familial or business ties on the board, they are less likely to be influenced by … outside perspectives, including the media,” according to the researchers. “That relationship between negative media coverage and strategic change gets stronger when you have outsiders on the board.”
“但若是家族成員或業務關係成立的董事會成員，他們則不太可能受到......外界的觀點，包括媒體的影響，“根據研究人員。“當你有外人在板上，媒體的負面報導和戰略變化會使之間的關係變得更加牢固”
This finding offsets the chicken-or-egg possibility that leaders would have changed the strategy anyway.
這一發現把先有雞還是先有蛋的可能性並列 領導人可能已經改變了策略。
There are three ways negative media coverage can drive change:
負面的媒體報導可以推動變革的方式有三種 ：
• Exposing tangible actions, such as an initiative that isn’t paying off.
• Providing a channel for stakeholders (such as investors) to amplify their messages. For instance, the coverage of opposition to bank decisions to impose a fee for ATM use.
• Revealing company misbehavior, such as unsafe working conditions.
• 凸顯有形的動作，如不還清付款的行動。
• 提供利益相關者（如投資者）一個渠道，以擴大他們的訊息。例如，反對銀行徵收 ATM 費用決策
的負面新聞報導。
• 揭示公司的不當行為，如不安全的工作條件。
Not surprisingly, the study also finds that the more success a company is enjoying, the less likely it is to make changes no matter how harsh the media spotlight. Strategy+Business magazine concluded, “Positive stock performance can paper over bad news to an extent, but ignoring the warning signs is a missed opportunity to correct problems that could become even more damaging down the line.”
令人驚訝的是，研究還發現，無論多麼惡劣媒體的聚焦，越成功的公司愈是享受，且不太可能做出改變， 戰略+商業雜誌認為，“正股價表現可以在一定程度上抵銷壞消息的廣度，但無視警告標誌，是錯失糾正問題的機會，甚至有可能成為更具破壞性的事件而下市。
Even when a communicator is part of the C-suite, is he or she providing the kind of media analysis that can drive positive change? Most of what we hear about media relations is focused on earning positive coverage, not synthesizing negative reporting. The study also didn’t address social media, where non-journalist bloggers and participants in online discussions have a similar impact.
即使傳播者是C級領導者，他或她提供什麼樣的媒體分析，以推動積極的變化？
我們聽到媒體關係大部分的重點是獲得正面報導，而不是合成負面報導。這項研究還沒有解決社會媒體相關事務，在非記者的博客和網上討論的參與者也有類似的影響。
Nestle, for example, found a new source for palm oil after environmental activists took to its Facebook page. Yet research from The Conference Board and Stanford show that boards of directors and C-suites aren’t getting social media reports. I wonder if they’re not getting reports of mainstream business reporting, either.
例如，雀巢，其Facebook頁面發展新的環保活動為其棕櫚油發現新的資源。
然而，從經濟諮商局和斯坦福大學的研究表明，董事會董事和C-級領導者並沒有得到此社會媒體報導。我質疑他們也沒有得到主流業務報告的報導。
The old clip book was a useful way for leaders to stay abreast of how they were being reported and perceived.
舊的剪輯簿讓領導者如何被報導及感知保持並列是一個有用的方法。
Do your leaders get updates on negative media coverage?
你的領導人對媒體的負面報導得到更新了嗎？
Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. A version of this story first appeared on his blog a shel of my former self.
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