Mutual funds and money managers have recently come under fire for their inability to beat market level returns since the Great Recession. With the recent trend towards passive money management through ETFs and other market-based securities, many investors have come to doubt whether above market returns are realizable in today’s economic climate. This paper examines whether business news has any predictable impact on stock price. Specifically, the paper explores the impact of analyst reports, mergers & acquisition news, legal affairs, insider buying and selling and changes to executive leadership on a stock’s excess returns. The results show that optimistic analyst ratings are correlated with positive excess returns before, during, and after the ratings are released. Furthermore, pessimistic analyst ratings are correlated with negative excess returns over the same time frame. These results provide support for a short term trading strategy that mirrors analyst opinions.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Television is the favoured news source for most Australians and is regarded as having the potential to influence public opinion. From its inception however, television has been regarded as ill-suited to cover economic and business issues because of a perceived reliance on visual material and an inability to deal with complex issues. This tyranny of vision has been mitigated by technological developments such as electronic news gathering (ENG) and satellites that provide large amounts of varied material as well as improvements in production tools that assist the visual presentation of abstract concepts. The presentation of complex issues has also been enhanced by the increased skills and knowledge among newsworkers. Economic and business news has become a staple in television news programs and has evolved from ritualised reporting of data such as market indices and exchange rates to a genre that shares broader news values such as consequence, conflict, proximity, human interest, novelty, prominence, political controversy and scandal. Economic and business news also shares the normal imperatives of television such as a strong reliance on scheduled occasions and reliable and prolific sources. In between occasions of economic, business and political controversy or scandal, these programs are able to rely on a steady supply of economic, business and investment information. Dedicated economic and business segments and programs and now even whole channels meet two sets of demands. One is those of niche audiences seeking news and information on economic and business conditions, economic debate and policy making, the activities of economic and business leaders and an opportunity to hear and observe economic and business leaders. The other is from broadcasters seeking to maximise their profits by attracting viewers in the AB demographic (those with the greatest disposal income) to otherwise poorly-performing time slots, by broadcasters seeking an inexpensive and dependable supply of programming material and by broadcasters seeking to promote their institutional role and specific programs through presenting material that is followed up by other media. Economic and business reports however, continue to portray issues in a limited way that neglects business’s interaction with workers and the larger social environment. Economic events are often framed as political competition. These reports present a hierarchy of sources and privilege political and business elites. Television news favours debate that is presented by individuals as contrasting causal narratives. Political and economic sources have become adept at presenting brief causal narratives in response to the requirements of television. This approach highlights celebrities and favours the promotion of agency over structure. The increase in total economic and business reporting boosts the interdependence of television and political and economic sources. Technological development is continuing and traditional free-to-air television audiences are being eroded by pay television and the internet. Although these are altering the nature of political, economic and business debate their overall influence is difficult to determine.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Television is the favoured news source for most Australians and is regarded as having the potential to influence public opinion. From its inception however, television has been regarded as ill-suited to cover economic and business issues because of a perceived reliance on visual material and an inability to deal with complex issues. This tyranny of vision has been mitigated by technological developments such as electronic news gathering (ENG) and satellites that provide large amounts of varied material as well as improvements in production tools that assist the visual presentation of abstract concepts. The presentation of complex issues has also been enhanced by the increased skills and knowledge among newsworkers. Economic and business news has become a staple in television news programs and has evolved from ritualised reporting of data such as market indices and exchange rates to a genre that shares broader news values such as consequence, conflict, proximity, human interest, novelty, prominence, political controversy and scandal. Economic and business news also shares the normal imperatives of television such as a strong reliance on scheduled occasions and reliable and prolific sources. In between occasions of economic, business and political controversy or scandal, these programs are able to rely on a steady supply of economic, business and investment information. Dedicated economic and business segments and programs and now even whole channels meet two sets of demands. One is those of niche audiences seeking news and information on economic and business conditions, economic debate and policy making, the activities of economic and business leaders and an opportunity to hear and observe economic and business leaders. The other is from broadcasters seeking to maximise their profits by attracting viewers in the AB demographic (those with the greatest disposal income) to otherwise poorly-performing time slots, by broadcasters seeking an inexpensive and dependable supply of programming material and by broadcasters seeking to promote their institutional role and specific programs through presenting material that is followed up by other media. Economic and business reports however, continue to portray issues in a limited way that neglects business’s interaction with workers and the larger social environment. Economic events are often framed as political competition. These reports present a hierarchy of sources and privilege political and business elites. Television news favours debate that is presented by individuals as contrasting causal narratives. Political and economic sources have become adept at presenting brief causal narratives in response to the requirements of television. This approach highlights celebrities and favours the promotion of agency over structure. The increase in total economic and business reporting boosts the interdependence of television and political and economic sources. Technological development is continuing and traditional free-to-air television audiences are being eroded by pay television and the internet. Although these are altering the nature of political, economic and business debate their overall influence is difficult to determine.

The necessity of economic growth is a conventional wisdom of our time, assumed to lead to more prosperity and be a panacea for any societal problem. However, infinite economic growth is hard to reconcile with a finite planet, and there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that growth is no panacea nor inherently linked to prosperity. With the starting point that news media is of ideological importance, this study investigates how the hegemony of growth (as it has been called by Schmelzer [2016]) is perpetuated in news. Through a narrative analysis of articles from 2017, from Dagens Nyheter (DN) and Times of India (TOI) it analyses how news describes benefits of GDP growth, constructs stakeholders in relation to it, and discusses the ideological implications of these portrayals. The results show that the basic narratives are similar in both newspapers and primarily describe economic growth as desirable, without any references to contested status of the ability of growth to lead to prosperity – perpetuating the hegemony of growth. Many position the state as responsible for generating growth, others describe corporate growth as something good in and of itself, and the narratives create a ‘we’ in relation to ‘the economy’. These are narratives with implications for how societies negotiate between economic growth and competing goals, e.g. keeping within the planetary boundaries. Further, as growth cannot be assumed to automatically lead to ‘better’, this has implications for how journalistic autonomy should be perceived in relation to economic reporting.

本論文主要在瞭解財經頻道的可信度。可信度是社會的資產；國內財經頻道成立至今12年，有其特殊的發展需要和歷程；本論文之研究期間，正值主管當局對財經頻道進行換照審議工作，財經頻道可信度的瞭解因此更為需要。本研究以文獻探討及財經頻道之前驅研究建立財經頻道可信度之架構，並以修正式德菲法對專家學者小組進行兩回合問卷調查，及四位學者專家的深度訪談，試圖建構國內財經頻道可信度面向及量表。 / 本研究將財經頻道可信度可分為可信賴性、專業性、正確性、多元性及社會責任等5個面向共38項題項，其中可信賴性有9項題項、專業性有9項題項、正確性有8項題項、多元性有4項題項、社會責任則有8項題項。 / 研究顯示，社會責任面向中的「從業人員不涉及股市內線交易」與「經營者以大眾利益為考量」等兩個題項是財經頻道可信度最重要的量表題項，相較於過去國內對一般新聞媒體可信度研究的結果對社會責任面向的不確定性，本研究認為社會責任面向為財經頻道可信度的面向之一；在可信賴性面向中，「平衡報導、多方並陳」因應財經頻道特質所納入的題項，也成為此面向中最重要的題項。可信賴性與社會責任兩個面向較偏向一般性的媒體可信度面向，專業性、正確性及多元性等三個面向則偏向財經頻道特有的可信度面向。研究發現，財經頻道的可信度與一般電視可信度的量表題項的確略有不同，理論界與實務界應將兩者區分開來，不應一視同仁。以此研究反觀國內八家財經頻道，大部份頻道的現況與本研究結果相去甚遠，值得欲永續經營的財經頻道經營者及從業人員深思。 / 研究建議，財經頻道應以中立的態度多方並陳、平衡報導，提升從業人員對自我的道德要求及專業訓練，加強議題的選擇、處理、追蹤的能力，並在組織內控上善盡把關之責，不但需要多元的內容呈現，也希望提供訊息來源並經過驗證，最後，對社會責任的認知及製作品質精良的節目是財經頻道未來應持續發展的方向。本研究結果期望能對財經頻道業者在經營及操作上提供參考，並提供閱聽眾在選擇收視財經頻道時做為評鑑之參考指標。 / This study aims to build evaluation criteria of financial news channel credibility. In comparison of news channels, there are comprehensive approaches to evaluate their credibility, but those approaches may not fit precisely with the feature of the financial news channel. Based on literature review and pilot study, a framework of credibility specific to financial news channels is built within this study. The scale of credibility evaluation is conducted by two rounds of questionnaires and in-depth interviews with professionals through Delphi method. / Through a total of 38 questions, this study categorizes financial channel credibility into five dimensions of trustworthiness, professionalism, accuracy, diversity, and social responsibility. It consists of 9 questions regarding trustworthiness, 9 questions on professionalism, 8 questions related to accuracy, 4 questions on diversity, and 8 questions on social responsibility. / In the social responsibility part, two issues of “no insider trading conducted by personnel in the business” and “managers make considerations based on public benefits” are the most important on the scale for financial channel credibility. To compare with the uncertainties on news media credibility in past domestic studies of social responsibility, this study reveals that social responsibility is one of most important dimensions of financial channel credibility. In the trustworthiness dimension, “balanced reporting and description of multiple sources” is incorporated in response to the features of financial channels, and is the most important issue in this aspect. In comparison with other media credibility studies, “trustworthiness” and “social responsibility” belong to general media credibility dimensions, while the three dimensions of professionalism, accuracy, and diversity are more unique to financial channel credibility. This study discovers that the credibility of financial channels indeed shows differences from issues on the credibility scales of general television; the two should be separated in theory and in practice. / The report suggests that financial channels should keep a neutral attitude to describe diverse sources and make balanced reports; elevate the ethical requirements and professional training for personnel in the business; strengthen the ability in selecting, treating, and tracking issues, and have adequate control in organizational change. Not only content diversity is necessary, but also the information source should be given and confirmed. Finally, perception of social responsibility and production of quality programming is a direction financial channels should develop in the future. It is expected the results of this study can provide a framework for financial channel business in operation and management, and also an evaluative indicator for members in public who choose to watch financial channels.

L’instauration des relations humaines dans l’entreprise a suscité de nouvelles méthodes de gestion, et dans lesquelles la communication a été le mobile fondamental. Ainsi, le facteur humain a pu être reconsidéré dans l’organisation du travail, et la participation des salariés dans la marche de l’entreprise, a été éveillée. Nous avons choisi d’analyser la représentation des relations humaines, à travers le journal interne, au sein du Groupe Elf, afin de révéler l’ensemble des pratiques et techniques, mis en oeuvre pour permettre aux salariés de s’épanouir dans l’entreprise. Mis à part son rôle d’information, avec pour but de sensibiliser les salariés aux objectifs et aux enjeux de l’entreprise, le journal interne est également un espace d’expression, dans lequel les dirigeants et les salariés, se reconnaissent dans une démarche collective. Il reproduit les relations humaines qui y naissent, à travers l’organisation et les enjeux professionnels de l’entreprise. A travers les représentations de l’entreprise qu’il véhicule en son sein, de par son contenu, il semble accompagner cette dernière dans son rôle sociétal. De la sorte, il reste un lien d’échanges qui maintient une relation triangulaire entre l’entreprise, ses salariés et son environnement externe. / The institution of human relations in the company has created new management methods, and in which the mobile communication was fundamental. In this way, the human factor could be reconsidered in the labor’s organization and employees’ participation in the operation of the company was awake. We chose to analyze the representation of human relationships, through the internal newspaper within the group Elf, to reveal all the practical and technical implementations to allow employees to be happy within the company. Apart from its role of information, with the aim to sensitize employees to the objectives and challenges of the company, the internal newspaper is also a space for expression in which managers and employees identify themselves with an approach collective. It reproduces the human relationships that are born, through the organization and the professional challenges of the business. Because of its content, the newspaper group Elf seems to accompany the company in its role in society through human figures, it carries within it. Such like, there remains an exchange link which supports a triangular relation between the firm, its employees and its external environment.