Publication: News and Corporate Governance : What Dow Jones and Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship
Loading...
Published
2007-12
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Corporate governance in the media faces an intractable problem. There is an important public interest in the integrity of news, which is the lifeblood of an open society. Yet the shareholder value model of governance offers no guarantee that the integrity of news will be protected. Indeed, conflicts of interest abound in a business where dominant CEOs often put their own private interests before those of other shareholders, reflecting the principal/agent problem, as well as before those of society. In this paper Donald Nordberg, a former senior editorial executive at Reuters who also worked as a consultant for Dow Jones, explores the respective governance of these two media giants, which received bids last year respectively from Thomson Corp of Canada and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The perception that Rupert Murdoch had given in to pressure from the Beijing government to drop news channels from his company's television transmissions into China raised the issue of conflicts of interest very starkly for executives and journalists on the Wall Street Journal, the crown jewel of the Dow Jones group.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. News and Corporate Governance : What Dow Jones and Reuters Teach Us About Stewardship. Private Sector Opinion; No. 7. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11160 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Who's Running the Company?(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2012-10)The media guide aims at helping business journalists report on corporate governance and raise public awareness of the impact it has on businesses, shareholders, and the broader community of stakeholders. This report will help journalists develop clear and compelling stories that examine how a company is governed. It was produced by IFC's Global Corporate Governance Forum in partnership with the International Center for Journalists, an organization that advances quality journalism worldwide. Topics include the media's role reporting on corporate governance, how a board of directors functions, what financial reports reveal, and how to track down information that sheds light on a company's performance in an informed way.Publication Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Kenya(Washington, DC, 2007-12)Good corporate governance ensures that companies use their resources more efficiently, protects minority shareholders, leads to better decision making, and improves relations with workers, creditors, and other stakeholders. It is an important prerequisite for attracting the patient capital needed for sustained long-term economic growth. This report provides an assessment of Kenya s corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Kenya.Publication Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Malaysia(Washington, DC, 2012-07)This report assesses Ghana s corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Ghana. It is an update of the 2005 Corporate Governance ROSC. Good corporate governance enhances investor trust, helps to protects minority shareholders, and can encourage better decision making and improved relations with workers, creditors, and other stakeholders. Better investor protection can lower the cost of capital and encourage companies to list and raise funds through equity markets. Investor protection is also crucial to protect retirement savings as pension funds invest more in listed companies. Good corporate governance also helps to ensure that these companies operate more transparently and efficiently.Publication Firms Behaving Nicely : Incentives and Commitment(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2013-09-26)Ever since the rise of large firms in the 18th century, debate has been raging about how to combine economic efficiency and productivity with socially desirable behavior of firms. This paper reviews the debate starting with the classic corporate governance argument about shareholder rights. It discusses the potential incentives to exploit other stakeholders unduly and examines some mechanisms, beyond contracts and regulation, to cope with this exploitation. In this light it considers reputational mechanisms, using the example of corporate social responsibility, and changes to the constitution of firms, with emphasis on the nonprofit form of enterprise. Based on evidence so far, the for-profit firm with mechanisms assuring sound shareholder rights remains preferable to the alternatives. However, scope for experimentation with mechanisms such as different classes of shareholders with differing voting rights may be socially useful, which suggests that global corporate governance principles thus should not be prescriptive in detail.Publication Responsible Boards(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2015-02)As external pressures - including resource scarcity, globalization, and access to information - continue to increase, the way corporations respond to sustainability challenges will determine their long-term viability and competitiveness. In this paper, the author traces the development of a corporation s attitude toward sustainability from its being an add - on that is nice to have and may enhance corporate reputation, through an approach that sees it more as a tool of risk management, to considering it a builder of value not just for the corporation but for all its stakeholders as well. The paper focuses on the essential role of the corporate board, bringing very practical guidelines to stimulate and assist any board of a corporation embarking on the journey toward greater sustainability and value creation. The paper concludes with a detailed and invaluable checklist of questions for any board to ask itself. This list helps a board build assurance that it is on the right track. It is as useful to a company just starting on the journey as it will be to those companies already well advanced in creating sustainable shared value and that want to make sure one is not missing any opportunities.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Using Immunization Coverage Rates for Monitoring Health Sector Performance : Measurement and Interpretation Issues(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-08)Immunization against childhood diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio and measles is one of the most important means of preventing childhood morbidity and mortality. Despite the low cost of basic childhood immunizations, nearly 3 million children still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. Achieving and maintaining high levels of immunization coverage must therefore be a priority for all health systems. In order to monitor progress in achieving this objective, immunization coverage data can serve as an indicator of a health system's capacity to deliver essential services to the most vulnerable members of a population. This note discusses the use of trends in immunization coverage data, and argues that immunization is a health output with a strong impact on child morbidity, child mortality and permanent disability. This note discusses measurement and interpretation issues for coverage data collected through surveys and administrative records.Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-18)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy. These stakeholders include port authorities and operators, national governments, supranational organizations, development agencies, and other public and private players in trade and logistics. The index highlights where vessel time in container ports could be improved. Streamlining these processes would benefit all parties involved, including shipping lines, national governments, and consumers. This fourth edition of the CPPI relies on data from 405 container ports with at least 24 container ship port calls in the calendar year 2023. As in earlier editions of the CPPI, the ranking employs two different methodological approaches: an administrative (technical) approach and a statistical approach (using matrix factorization). Combining these two approaches ensures that the overall ranking of container ports reflects actual port performance as closely as possible while also being statistically robust. The CPPI methodology assesses the sequential steps of a container ship port call. ‘Total port hours’ refers to the total time elapsed from the moment a ship arrives at the port until the vessel leaves the berth after completing its cargo operations. The CPPI uses time as an indicator because time is very important to shipping lines, ports, and the entire logistics chain. However, time, as captured by the CPPI, is not the only way to measure port efficiency, so it does not tell the entire story of a port’s performance. Factors that can influence the time vessels spend in ports can be location-specific and under the port’s control (endogenous) or external and beyond the control of the port (exogenous). The CPPI measures time spent in container ports, strictly based on quantitative data only, which do not reveal the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times. A detailed port-specific diagnostic would be required to assess the contribution of underlying factors to the time a vessel spends in port. A very low ranking or a significant change in ranking may warrant special attention, for which the World Bank generally recommends a detailed diagnostic.