tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/financial-times-18905/articlesFinancial Times – The Conversation2023-02-03T18:52:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992152023-02-03T18:52:13Z2023-02-03T18:52:13ZThe Wall Street Journal, Economist and Financial Times all now have female editors – what does it mean for business?<p>February 1 was a date to celebrate for women in business everywhere. It happened to be the day that water group Severn Trent became the first large UK quoted company to be led by an all-female team by appointing Helen Miles as chief financial officer. That’s certainly worthy of celebration – but not what I had in mind. </p>
<p>Instead, I was thinking of Emma Tucker starting work as editor of the Wall Street Journal. It means that for the first time ever, women are in charge of what I believe to be the three most influential organs of financial commentary: the Economist, Financial Times (FT) and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). </p>
<p>When I commented on this on Twitter, it was the first time that one of my posts has gone viral. People pointed out many more women in positions of editorial command – Alessandra Galloni is editor in chief of Reuters, Sally Buzbee is executive editor of the Washington Post, Deborah Turness is CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, Julie Pace is executive editor of Associated Press. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1620849920608714758"}"></div></p>
<p>I could carry on – Victoria Newton edits the Sun, Alison Phillips edits the Daily Mirror, and indeed Jo Adetunji edits The Conversation UK. Tucker herself arrives at the WSJ after being in charge of the UK’s Sunday Times. Perhaps we should speak about female dominance rather than representation.</p>
<h2>The effect on business</h2>
<p>All of that is fantastic progress, and more likely to inspire other female journalists to want to be editors – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2020.1862984">after all</a>, it’s hard to be what you can’t see. The Economist/FT/WSJ trio, though, is the most critical for women in business. Full disclosure: I wrote a weekly column for the FT for 17 years under (three) male editors, before giving up when I became a full-time academic. My final editor, Lionel Barber, was fully supportive of women’s careers – he did, after all, help to appoint Roula Khalaf as editor in January 2020 when he left. </p>
<p>Khalaf spoke in <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/interview-with-financial-times-editor-roula-khalaf-a-1ab6d01e-9051-4b72-94ae-79c675e83d12">an interview</a> in 2021 about taking the paper in a more female-friendly direction, striving towards a 50-50 male-female management split, as well as increasing the proportion of female columnists and subscribers. I took a look at the prestigious Lunch with the FT profile that appears each weekend, for instance, which featured 101 men to 56 women in the three years before Khalaf took over, while the divide has been 93:64 in the three years since. </p>
<p>Meanwhile at the Economist, where Zanny Minton Beddoes took over in 2015, the keywords “women in leadership” yielded 30 articles in the eight years before her appointment. In the eight years since, there have been 53.</p>
<p>More women at the top increases the likelihood of women rising through the ranks. Are these appointments more important in this respect than the increased number of women on boards? I think so. I was one of the small group of women who, in 2010, under the leadership of the financier Baroness Helena Morrissey, founded the <a href="https://30percentclub.org/">30% Club</a>, which successfully campaigned to raise the proportion of women on boards. </p>
<p>The proportion of women on FTSE 100 company boards back in 2010 was 12%, having been flat for over a decade. These days it is <a href="https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/femaleftseboardreport">over 40%</a>. But that’s only 100 companies out of 2,000 listed on the London Stock Exchange, and doesn’t include private businesses. There <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2022/business-population-estimates-for-the-uk-and-regions-2022-statistical-release-html#:%7E:text=At%20the%20start%20of%202022%3A,4.1%20million%20had%20no%20employees">over 5 million businesses</a> in the UK, with 45,000 employing more than 50 people, and no reliable data available on their gender progress.</p>
<p>Even if we had that data, that’s just businesses in the UK – these three publications cover the world. The FT, WSJ and Economist are so much more influential than the women that lead the UK’s businesses. </p>
<p>The work of the 30% Club – which has gone from focusing on board-level appointments to challenging the makeup of the executive committee, and the pipeline behind it – has shown me that the thing that matters most in trying to change any inequity is to give it the oxygen of publicity. Women leading the most respected financial commentary in the world can’t fail to help other women in this regard. </p>
<p>Women in business are more likely to be known by women in the media, something that <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415">academics call “homophily”</a> (the tendency for people who are similar to seek out each other’s company). Success breeds success, so being appointed to these jobs means that the women taking them are more likely to meet other successful women, a concept known as “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378437120303617?casa_token=rdAX-EwNnaAAAAAA:PAQ5blxdMGRtCuE0NeyyhDHYC35j7n86QvDR0TQBVCsHy89x9peswRfS3TQAZ0GWE2oIKt1xy6I">preferential attachment</a>”. </p>
<p>The high-profile nature of these appointments will also have drawn the attention of others to the merits of a woman editor. Arguably the biggest change that the appointment of Minton Beddoes made was that Khalaf and now Tucker were able to follow.</p>
<p>Strangely, round about now seems a popular time for female leaders of major financial and business media organisations to start work. Minton Beddoes started in her current role on February 2 2015, Khalaf on January 20 2020. </p>
<p>Returning to Severn Trent, Helen Miles does not join until April 1, so that is when the company’s all-female top team will get going. I am sure that they will be pleased that their progress, and the value that they will hopefully deliver to all their stakeholders, will be closely observed – by women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather McGregor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Emma Tucker’s arrival as editor of The Wall Street Journal means that there are women running the three most important outlets for financial commentary.Heather McGregor, Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808342017-07-12T13:42:27Z2017-07-12T13:42:27ZBig business prioritises climate change over labour rights – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177718/original/file-20170711-14468-tknf52.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to get noticed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/cartoon-characters-workers-wearing-overall-yellow-264933164?src=2S3YesBxoW5tH1Ie_mlk0A-2-26">Fred Ho</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Trump administration was <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-decision-to-quit-the-paris-agreement-may-be-his-worst-business-deal-yet-78780">still deciding</a> whether America should remain in the <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">Paris climate agreement</a>, the president’s closest officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/trump-advisers-paris-climate-accord.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcoral-davenport&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=16&pgtype=collection">lined up</a> on different sides of the debate. Those in favour of the agreement included Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, a career property developer, and the secretary of state and former chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson. </p>
<p>The lifelong political operatives in the opposite camp were Scott Pruitt of the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Mike Pence, the vice president. They said the accord threatened the US economy and was based on questionable science, arguments Trump himself had made during the 2016 election campaign. </p>
<p>It might seem surprising that the advisers with business backgrounds were the ones who wanted the US to maintain its commitment to cutting emissions. Of course Trump, the other businessman in the group, opted to leave the agreement. But his decision went against what has come to be the mainstream view of climate change in US corporate circles. </p>
<p>At the same time that Tillerson and Kushner were making their case, 30 chief executives of large corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange including Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical Company and Coca Cola <a href="http://bteam.org/announcements/30-major-ceos-call-on-trump-stay-in-paris/">took out an ad</a> in the Wall Street Journal urging the president not to withdraw. </p>
<p>This chimes with new research findings that we are presenting at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/11-meetings-and-conferences/269-24th-international-conference-of-europeanists-call-for-proposals">International Conference of Europeanists</a> being held at the University of Glasgow. These <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0007650315613966">confirm that</a> multinationals are heavily engaged with environmental issues. On the other hand, they have largely neglected calls to discharge social responsibilities through the likes of the living wage, collective bargaining or taking action against forced labour in their supply chains. Why this difference? And what can be done about it? </p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>We analysed sustainability reports published by 150 large multinationals from Germany, the UK and the US from the late 1990s until the present. We found that firms from all three countries engaged earlier with environmental than social sustainability issues. They continue to publish higher quality data on their environmental impacts and have more ambitious improvement plans. </p>
<p>And firms from all three countries have converged around common environmental commitments while their commitments for most social issues are still substantially determined by the laws and the state of the debate in their home <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1449403515000478">countries</a>. </p>
<p>It is worth emphasising that this commitment to environmental responsibility is a sea change: for years big business, perhaps mainstream corporate America in particular, fought against climate action. Now many of these businesses are backing (some forms of) global climate regulation even in the absence of pressure from the US government. </p>
<p>This difference in attitudes to their environmental and social impacts is despite the fact that activists and NGOs have promoted the two issues in a similar manner. In both cases they have used voluntary certification schemes along the lines of the Fairtrade logo, for example. </p>
<p>According to interviews we carried out with a small sample of multinationals’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers, the difference is that their employers have come to view climate change as a future business risk. Investors are increasingly demanding evidence of plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To help guide them, global standards to measure this risk <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638180802489121">are</a> being <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2015.1051325">developed</a>. </p>
<p>By contrast, labour rights issues are rarely seen by business as market imperatives. There is <a href="http://www.ilo.int/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_162117.pdf">little evidence that</a> market actors such as the investor community exert significant pressure on multinationals to improve their practices in this area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pink pulpit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-apr-24-2017-emmanuel-639839071?src=kDs8pcKrYz469Hbde8gZpw-2-19">Hadrian</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To explore this difference, we analysed how the Financial Times has covered climate change and the living wage – two prominent sustainability issues from opposite sides of the divide. By looking at coverage over the same period as the corporate reports, we found that the FT’s business section had paid far greater attention to climate change than wage equality – even after the financial crisis of 2008-09. </p>
<p>At one point in 2007, the FT business pages published more than 1,400 articles on climate change. The highest point of its coverage of wage-related issues was as long ago as 1997, and amounted to just 268 articles. </p>
<p>This corroborates what the CSR managers had suggested in our interviews. Investors and customers seem to be putting much more pressure on multinationals to deal with emissions and more broadly climate change. They appear to have turned these issues into a nascent, albeit still contested, market imperative. </p>
<p>Prominent business actors still frequently deny that addressing wage inequality is their primary responsibility. Warren Buffett, the star American investor, recently came out against excessive increases to the minimum wage in an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/better-than-raising-the-minimum-wage-1432249927">op-ed piece</a> for the Wall Street Journal. The working poor would be better served by earned income tax credits rather than “distortions to the market”, he argued. </p>
<p>If firms’ sense of social responsibility is ever to catch up with their sense of environmental responsibility, these kinds of attitudes will have to change. Persuading investors that labour rights issues are in the interests of big business is a major part of the battle. If it becomes the same kind of mainstay in the international business press as climate change, things might begin to look entirely different. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of a series on sustainability and transformation in today’s Europe, published in collaboration with <a href="http://www.europenowjournal.org">EuropeNow Journal</a> and the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org">Council for European Studies (CES)</a> at Columbia University. Each article is based on a paper presented at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/2017-ces-conference">24th International Conference of Europeanists</a> in Glasgow.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Kollman has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alvise Favotto receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Once investors put their shoulders to the wheel, everything changes.Kelly Kollman, Senior Lecturer, Politics, University of GlasgowAlvise Favotto, Lecturer in Management Accounting, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/503382015-11-09T05:06:14Z2015-11-09T05:06:14ZHow Twitter can see the financial future – and change it<p>Scottish financial trader James Alan Craig <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/06/scottish-man-used-twitter-as-part-of-failed-stock-market-scam-says-us-jury">has been</a> charged in the US for allegedly using Twitter to manipulate share prices. According to the US Department of Justice, the 62 year old, from Dunragit in Dumfries and Galloway, caused shareholders to lose more than $1.6m (£1.1m) after allegedly spreading “fraudulent” information about companies on the social network. According to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/11978882/Scottish-man-charged-in-US-for-using-Twitter-to-manipulate-share-prices.html">newspaper reports</a>, the DoJ has charged him with securities fraud, while the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a separate complaint charging him with the same offence. </p>
<p>Most of us would probably find it very hard to believe that information on the likes of Twitter, Facebook or Google Blogs might have the power to influence financial markets, but this is not the first time such a story has hit the news. Astonishingly, a fake tweet on April 23 2013 from a hacked Associated Press account, asserting that explosions at the White House had injured Barack Obama, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21576671-hacked-tweet-briefly-unnerves-stockmarket-newscrashrecover">wiped more than</a> $130bn off the value of the S&P 500. Research into the economic crisis the same year meanwhile <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426613002690">suggested that</a> financial markets are more influenced by negative press rumours than fundamentals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101102/original/image-20151106-16253-5mgjxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fake tweets, real impact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=financial%20markets&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=166527866">Stylus Data</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The new meeting place</h2>
<p>Social media has become a popular open forum for analysing economics/finance and, equally important, it reflects public sentiment minute by minute. It has long since become essential for economic commentators, policymakers and their faithful followers. Leading economist Paul Krugman runs a <a href="https://twitter.com/NYTimeskrugman">Twitter account</a> with approximately 1.5m followers, for instance. IMF chief <a href="https://twitter.com/Lagarde">Christine Lagarde</a> has around 320,000 followers. Also updating in real time are dedicated websites by the likes of <a href="http://www.wsj.com/europe">The Wall Street Journal</a> and <a href="http://www.ft.com/home/uk">Financial Times</a>, discussing the hot economic topics in great detail. Not surprisingly, people pay attention. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101103/original/image-20151106-16258-16l4w12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google power!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=4w1IZvtnZvIsYpNDuCjDfg&searchterm=house%20for%20sale&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=293904707">Cherezoff</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Academics have found plenty of evidence that social-media topics of conversation predict what will happen in markets. This is especially true in periods of negative economic news when traditional models that use only financial variables might prove inadequate. For instance, recent research <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169207011000021">found evidence</a> that online search activity predicts price movements in the US stock markets – <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/jrer/papers/pdf/past/vol35n03/02.283_312.pdf">and even</a> in the less liquid residential property market. Both these papers argued that the greater the search intensity as buyers appraise the available information, the greater the effect on prices. </p>
<p>I co-authored a recent paper that <a href="http://oep.oxfordjournals.org/content/67/2/406">showed that</a> during the recent eurozone crisis, social-media discussion and Google searches related to “Grexit” affected the spread in borrowing costs between Germany and peripheral eurozone countries Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. This was over and above the effects of the latest economic data. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101104/original/image-20151106-16253-156bhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the economic news is bad, social-media power grows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=1l2AFHzgTECdcBgh_sJhGQ&searchterm=%23grexit&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=305524142">Imilian</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also found that Google and Facebook search queries on “Grexit” had less market impact than the “#Grexit” keyword on Twitter. This is not surprising. People are much <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1694174/twitter-crushing-facebooks-click-through-rate-report">more likely to</a> click on links on Twitter than Facebook. Facebook users <a href="http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2012/mobile-devices-and-news-consumption-some-good-signs-for-journalism/what-facebook-and-twitter-mean-for-news/">get</a> the majority (70%) of news links from family and friends, and only a tiny share (13%) from news organisations or journalists. Contrast Twitter, where 36% of news links are from family/friends and 27% from news organizations/journalists. This broader mix of sources means that Twitter provides a greater range of information. Facebook users also track with the general population very closely whereas Twitter users are more educated.</p>
<p>It is not a stretch to say that the information that appears and is shared on social media plays a vital role in strengthening the efficiency of financial markets – unless of course people abuse it by posting disinformation. The case of James Alan Craig, whether guilty or not, demonstrates Twitter’s power to move markets for ill gain as much as it can predict what they will do next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Costas Milas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The £1m alleged fraud case of James Alan Craig is a salutary warning of the financial power of social media. Here’s what we know so far.Costas Milas, Professor of Finance, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/451682015-07-28T04:24:37Z2015-07-28T04:24:37ZNewspaper ownership: political influence trumps the promise of profits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89799/original/image-20150727-7656-1mdommz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Financial Times newspaper has been bought by Japanese media house Nikkei. Does the ownership of a newspaper make a difference? It certainly does.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Peter Nicholls</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Financial Times, one of the great global journalism institutions, has been sold by the <a href="https://www.pearson.com/">Pearson Group</a> to the Japanese media company <a href="http://www.nikkei.co.jp/nikkeiinfo/en/">Nikkei</a>. </p>
<p>This ends 60 years of benign custodianship, which has allowed the pink paper to be one of the more successful of the newspapers dealing with the challenges of the internet. The 127-year-old FT now has 70% of its <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/02/newsonomics-the-financial-times-triples-its-profits-and-swaps-champagne-flutes-for-martini-glasses/">audience paying</a> to read it online and made a £25m profit this year.</p>
<p>The FT is looking healthier than most newspapers, partly because it occupies a valuable niche, but also because it has had the shelter of a large parent company. Now the Pearson Group says it wants to concentrate on its core educational publishing business. </p>
<p>Nikkei chairman Tsuneo Kita – who paid a whopping £844m for the FT - was quoted <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1d49d566-31e0-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html#axzz3h5oTKkvC">reassuring staff</a> and readers:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We share the same journalistic values.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So a major British institution becomes Japanese. Or does it? Is this a recognition that the FT is now truly global? Does the identity of the owner make a difference?</p>
<h2>Why ownership matters</h2>
<p>Of course it does, but not always in the obvious way. There is no reason to believe that Nikkei is going to turn things on their head. After all, they know this business well and will be fully aware that the best thing to do with a successful media product is allow it to continue on its track. </p>
<p>But there will come a time when they have to appoint a new editor, and that is when an owner exerts the greatest influence. The most respected owners choose someone they trust and let them get on with it, giving them the freedom to interpret their mandate, knowing only that they can be fired if they go beyond it. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/the-scott-trust/2015/jul/26/the-scott-trust">The Scott Trust</a>, which owns the Guardian of London, famously instructs its editors only to continue “as heretofore”. </p>
<p>Other owners are famous for interfering. <a href="http://global.britannica.com/biography/Rupert-Murdoch">Rupert Murdoch</a> ensures his many editors follow his political choices. He uses his newspapers to give him political clout, and uses his political clout to manipulate governments and regulators to the benefit of his broadcasting interests.</p>
<p>Clearly the power to hire and fire the key editorial decision-maker gives a great deal of power to the proprietor in whatever form they choose to exercise it.</p>
<h2>When the going gets tough</h2>
<p>In recent years, we have seen that in a time of <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/media/2013/08/14/sas-newspapers-under-pressure-as-circulation-drops">financial pressure </a> on the industry a key factor in ownership is not just the individual in charge, but the structure of the company. In the good times, those newspapers that were part of listed companies made <a href="http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=69">good money</a> for shareholders. In tough times, though, the ones surviving best are those with ownership structures that lend themselves to the pursuit of long-term goals, rather than the relentless cycle of short-term results demanded by the stock exchange.</p>
<p>The best example of this is the trust-controlled Guardian. During the boom years when newspapers were making huge margins, the Guardian’s cautious trustees were considered something of an albatross around the newspaper’s neck. Now, in tough times, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/the-scott-trust/2015/jul/23/the-purpose-of-the-scott-trust">Trust</a> has been able to sell other assets to build a war chest of more than £650m. This has allowed the Guardian to pour money into building a global internet audience and keep access to its site free and open. </p>
<p>They have gone from being a relatively small British left-leaning paper to a leading global brand which measures its audience in tens of millions. They have carried serious losses to achieve this (about £30m last year), but these appear to be decreasing. The hands-off approach of the Trust has also allowed the Guardian to take serious risks on recent stories, such as the Wikileaks and <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22837100">Edward Snowden</a> revelations.</p>
<p>In the US, many of the papers have been controlled by families, and the best of these recognise their ownership as a public trust rather than as a source of quick profit. Although the New York Times is a listed public company, it has been protected by a <a href="http://time.com/105004/at-the-new-york-times-its-all-in-the-family/">family</a> which has taken a long view on their investment, even with a falling share price.</p>
<p>The problem with family control, however, is when things get tight families can run out of money, or squabble. This is what happened at the Washington Post, where they sold to Amazon founder <a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bez0bio-1">Jeff Bezos</a>, who had the deep pockets to sustain it, and the Wall St Journal, which was sold to Murdoch.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89801/original/image-20150727-7646-1llaor1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Voters read newspaper headlines during the recent Nigerian elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Joe Penney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This points to another form of ownership: newspapers which are part of large conglomerates where other lucrative media – such as pay television – can sustain the newspapers in difficult times. This has its limits, though, as shareholders question the wisdom of carrying low-profit newspapers when their other assets are pumping money. Murdoch was forced to move his newspapers into a separate company. </p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="http://www.media24.com/">Media24</a> group in South Africa, - which owns papers such as the Daily Sun, City Press and all the Afrikaans language titles – is part of the giant <a href="http://www.naspers.com/group-profile.html">Naspers group</a>. The fortune Naspers is making from pay television across Africa and its internet investment in China could sustain its newspapers, but shareholders – particularly those around the world who have no reason to care much about one country’s newspapers – are likely to question why they are holding low-performing assets.</p>
<p>Naspers, though, is firmly controlled by its South African directors, notably chairman <a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/People/koos_bekker">Koos Bekker</a>, and this may offer medium-term protection. It has certainly enabled them to experiment on the internet more than their rivals.
Most other South African newspapers are part of listed companies, forcing management to chase short-term results. <a href="http://www.independentmedia.co.za/en/our-company/about-us/">Independent News and Media</a> is not listed, but its new owner carries a huge debt which is likely to constrain spending.</p>
<h2>A return to where it all began</h2>
<p>The bottom line is that most newspapers are <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/media/2013/08/14/sas-newspapers-under-pressure-as-circulation-drops">no longer</a> the lucrative investment they once were. There are a few owners (and even fewer in South Africa) who do it because they believe their papers play an important role in a democracy, and treat it as a public trust. Others will do it for the political clout it gives them.</p>
<p>This is, oddly, a return to where newspapers began a couple of hundred years ago, before advertising made newspapers so lucrative.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As head of Wits Journalism, I fundraise from all local media companies. We have received support from Media24, Independent Newspapers, Caxton, Primedia and Kagiso Media.</span></em></p>The sale of the Financial Times marks the end of 60 years of benign custodianship, which has allowed the pink paper to be one of the more successful in dealing with the challenges of the internet.Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/451412015-07-24T09:33:57Z2015-07-24T09:33:57ZJapanese media giant Nikkei bets £844m on a rosy future for the Financial Times<p>Business reporting has always been one of the most global forms of journalism, with economic and business news leaping continents in a globalised economy dominated by multinational countries. But business news organisations have still always had a strong national flavour, with even the global business news wire services reflecting their national origins.</p>
<p>But recent developments, culminating in the news that the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d7e95338-3127-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html#axzz3gk22jvH3">Financial Times was being acquired by the Nikkei group</a>, which owns Japan’s largest financial newspaper, suggest that business journalism could become even more global.</p>
<p>This follows the purchase of the other flagship business newspaper, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118589043953483378">the Wall Street Journal</a>, by Rupert Murdoch in 2007, and the acquisition of Business Week magazine by Bloomberg News in 2010.</p>
<h2>Global presence</h2>
<p>The FT is in many ways the premier global business news brand, with its depth of sources and superb analysis by its well-respected columnists. It is also one of the more successful newspapers in making the transition to digital, with its large <a href="https://www.pearson.com/news/announcements/2015/july/pearson-to-sell-ft-group-to-nikkei-inc-.html">online subscriber base contributing a large proportion</a> of its revenue, as well as providing advertisers with ready accessibility to a group of super-rich individuals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89557/original/image-20150723-22852-27h479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nikkei newsroom in Tokyo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nikkei</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it has faced challenges in its attempt at global expansion and, in many ways, the Nikkei’s Asian strength could provide a boost for the new global group. </p>
<p>But they will face a challenge in making the merger work because of the very different corporate cultures in Japan and Britain – and the fact that the Nikkei group also has major television interests. A key to the success will be preserving the FT’s independence while leveraging the additional distributional and financial resources of its Japanese parent company.</p>
<h2>Was the price right?</h2>
<p>The Japanese conglomerate probably paid above the odds to acquire the FT, with the US$1.3 billion (£844m) purchase price representing a significantly higher multiple than most recent sales of newspapers. Rupert Murdoch was also prepared to pay substantially more for the Journal, given the prestige it gave his group, and a trophy acquisition will undoubtedly enhance the global profile of the Nikkei group. The fact that another important regional media group, Germany’s Axel Springer, was <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc96456e-315e-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html#axzz3gk22jvH3">also actively in the bidding</a> shows the attractiveness of this strategy.</p>
<p>From the point of view of Pearson, which never seemed like an obvious fit with the FT, weakness in its core <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2014/jan/23/pearson-2013-results-us-education-market">educational business in the US</a> has probably encouraged the lucrative sale ahead of its own earnings statement.</p>
<h2>Emerging rivals</h2>
<p>Despite the success of the FT both as a brand and as a business model, global business newspaper groups still face significant threats from rivals in the digital age.</p>
<p>On one side, the commodification of business news online means that unless newspapers have a scoop or exclusive news story, information from wire services is likely to be available for free. And even in relation to the key competitive advantage of the FT, in its analysis and commentary, new internet companies such as <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/">Business Insider</a> are growing fast with a combination of news and speculation, and have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/apr/05/business-insider-blodget-bezos">attracted significant venture capital investment</a>. </p>
<p>Global business media groups are going to have to be fleet of foot to capitalise on the growing market particularly in emerging market countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Schifferes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>High price reflects the fact that the Pink ‘Un is adapting to the digital world better than most other newspapers.Steve Schifferes, Professor of Financial Journalism, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.