The representation of nano as a risk in Swedish news media coverage

Focusing on the role of language in categorization and on the broad conceptual field centred on the morpheme nano, this study addresses the association between phenomena referred to by words having nano as a constituent and risk in Swedish newspaper reporting. The study raises the question of how nano-associated phenomena (e.g. nanotechnology and nanoparticle) are represented as risks? Articles considered for analysis contain both a word having nano as a constituent and the Swedish words for risk or danger. Articles representing nano-associated phenomena (e.g. nanotechnology and nanoparticle) as risks mainly fall into one of five groups: (I) nanotechnology, without reference to particles, materials or products; (II) nanotechnology, nanoparticles, nanomaterials and/or products containing such particles and materials; (III) nanoparticles in products, but without reference to nanotechnology; (IV) nanotechnology and nanorobots; and (V) non-nanotechnological nanoparticles. For each group, using a theoretical approach addressing the relational nature of risk, the paper analyses representations of objects at risk, bad outcomes, causal conditions, reference to applications and sources cited. Various patterns of these categories emerge for the five groups, indicating a diversified set of associations between nano and risk. In certain respects, the findings support the results of other studies of media reporting on nanotechnology, suggesting certain international patterns of newspaper coverage of nanotechnology drawing on both science and science fiction.     

论媒介融合趋势下报业发展导向

媒体融合趋势下内容和渠道的分离,也正彰显了传统媒体和新媒体各自的优势所在,报业应坚持以内容为王为导向,利用数字化平台制作出全媒体的融合新闻,借助新媒体传输手段和接收终端的多样化拓展渠道,变挑战为机遇,保存实力进行长足发展,为未来的产业融合和所有权融合做好充分准备。     

媒体为什么会报道上市公司丑闻?

本文以违规公司为样本,研究了媒体为什么会报道上市公司丑闻。研究发现,在我国资本市场,媒体发挥了一定的监督职能,一般表现为在处罚公告公布前,媒体已经深入报道了其中24.7%的样本的违规行为;但另一方面,媒体的监督却又显得比较有限,这表现在媒体自身发掘有价值新闻的数量非常有限,媒体更多的是对市场已有信息的收集、整理、加工与重新包装。进一步的研究发现,反映市场关注度的媒体覆盖率对媒体报道上市公司丑闻的行为影响显著,这说明媒体总是热衷于关注那些明星公司或热点新闻,媒体具有追求轰动效应的倾向。政府对媒体报道的影响只有在一定条件下才会成立,具体来说就是,只有终极控制人为国有时,会对媒体报道丑闻产生显著影响;在市场关注度较低的条件下,终极控制人国有的性质会对媒体报道影响显著,这是因为在市场关注度较低的条件下,政府影响媒体给其带来的声誉损失也相对较低。     

Dimensions of strategic intervention for risk reduction and mitigation: a case study of the MV Sewol incident

Organizations in disaster management system should learn from previous experience and strategically use their lesson for the refinement of a system’s competencies for risk management. However, the MV Sewol incident revealed the absence of the organizational learning in the Korean disaster management system. With mixed methods of content analysis, in-depth interview, and social network analysis, this study identified key failure factors in response to the incident and categorized them by managerial, structural, and institutional domains. While the Korean government took bold steps to rebuild its risk management system, those efforts were biased to structural reforms and lacked fundamental changes in human and informational resources management. Based on the findings, this study suggests the balanced efforts for system refinement for effective risk management.     

Reporting entity concept: a case study of the failure of principles-based regulation

Since 1990 a key element of Australia's regulatory arrangements has been reliance on a 'principles-based' rule to the effect that all 'reporting entities' should prepare general purpose financial reports (GPFRs) that comply with accounting standards. The concept of reporting entity was defined in terms of whether it was 'reasonable to expect the existence of users' who were dependent on GPFRs for information which will be useful to them when making and evaluating decisions about resource allocation. Australia's differential reporting arrangements are reviewed so as to highlight the extent to which reliance is placed on practitioners to apply the 'reporting entity' rule for entities other than publicly listed corporations or borrowing corporations. Illustrations are provided of how this 'principles-based' rule has been ignored. This experience suggests that there is little reason to expect full observance of a principles-based rule, if reliance is placed upon practitioners to ensure compliance.     

以新闻为例浅谈新媒体的传播发展

本文从介绍新媒体人手,着重探讨了在新媒体环境下新闻传播的发展情况.不同于以往的纸媒,电视等传统传播媒体,新媒体的出现给新闻传播带来了不小的改变.本文从新媒体新闻在价值取向上的变化展开讨论,在新闻价值要素、新闻价值侧重点、正在形成新的价值取向三个方面解析了如何变化及变化趋势.接着又解释了新媒体在信息传播中的作用与影响,从宏观把握了这一主题.最后,展望在新媒体环境中新闻传播的前景,并预测其趋势.     

Science vs. fear: the Ebola quarantine debate as a case study that reveals how the public perceives risk

This study focuses on newspaper coverage of the Hickox quarantine incident, using it as a case study to examine how the media characterized the spread of disease in an ongoing crisis situation characterized by uncertainty. The study builds on Slovic et al.’s research, who argue that risk perception is comprised of both emotional and analytical aspects. We employed a qualitative approach, first examining articles on Hickox’s story in The New York Times and New York Daily News between October 25 and 31, 2014; and second, readers’ comments in response to these articles. The findings from the newspaper articles show that in their treatment of the quarantine debate, the media did not address the issue of uncertainty, and thus continued the health authorities’ neglect of this issue. Although the media gave expression to various sides of the debate, it emphasized those who objected to the quarantine policy, thus raising the claim that the conflict was between ‘science’ and the public’s ‘irrational fears,’ and that the governors decided on quarantine in response to the public’s panic and fears. From our analysis of readers’ comments, it appears that these claims are unjustified. First, we found that the public did not speak in a single unified voice, but rather, was divided into supporters and opponents of quarantine. Both sides used scientific arguments and resorted to similar terminology, and tended to cite and present studies backing their arguments. As for irrational fears, although quarantine supporters expressed emotions, they indicated mainly concerns, not panic or hysteria.     

Financial reporting by charities: a matched case study analysis from four countries

This paper analyses financial reporting requirements applicable to charities in four jurisdictions—Australia; England; Ireland; New Zealand—using case study analysis which compares the actual financial statements of four charities operating in the same field and with similar levels of total income. The authors highlight common issues and implications in terms of the concepts underpinning not-for-profit organization (NPO) financial reporting and argue the case for harmonized international NPO accounting standards.     

Risk reporting: A study of risk disclosures in the annual reports of UK companies

The concepts of risk and risk management have received considerable attention lately, but this has yet to be reflected in empirical research examining firms’ risk reporting practices. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature and explores risk disclosures within a sample of 79 UK company annual reports using content analysis. A significant association is found between the number of risk disclosures and company size. Similarly a significant association is found between the number of risk disclosures and level of environmental risk as measured by Innovest EcoValue`21™ Ratings. However, no association is found between the number of risk disclosures and five other measures of risk: gearing ratio, asset cover, quiscore, book to market value of equity and beta factor. The paper also discusses the nature of the risk disclosures made by the sample companies specifically examining their time orientation, whether they are monetarily quantified and if good or bad risk news is disclosed. It was uncommon to find monetary assessments of risk information, but companies did exhibit a willingness to disclose forward-looking risk information. Overall the dominance of statements of general risk management policy and a lack of coherence in the risk narratives implies that a risk information gap exists and consequently stakeholders are unable to adequately assess the risk profile of a company.     

论新媒体对高校青年学生政治社会化的影响及对策

新媒体日益深刻地改变了原有的社会传播模式,逐渐波及政治上层建筑和社会思想领域.对当代高校学生生活的渗透也无处不在,这对以马克思主义为核心的主流意识形态的传播,对当代高校青年学生政治社会化的影响是深刻的、复杂的、全方位的.我们只有积极应对新媒体所带来的巨大变化,重新建构适应大学生全面发展的思想政治教育工作体系,才能真正做到最大限度地促进社会公平、实现社会和谐,完成培养德智体美劳全面发展的新时代青年的历史使命.     

The use of the Internet for corporate reporting in the Mercosur (Southern common market): The Argentina case

This study examines disclosure practices on the websites of companies listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. We perform content analysis to provide evidence on Internet reporting practices by 84 publicly traded firms. We also identify the characteristics of firms that communicate financial and non-financial information on the Internet. We find that companies in the financial and insurance, services and mining industries disclose more financial and non-financial information on their websites than companies in other industries. The average concentration of ownership is 68%, with 27% of the companies being controlled by foreign groups. Those companies with higher concentration disclose more financial and non financial information than companies with less concentration. Companies in the financial and insurance and service industries, utilize their websites for commercial purposes to facilitate access to customers to their accounts and also to sell services. This e-commerce usage of websites is less developed in other industries. About 71% of companies in the financial and insurance industry are included in the Merval25 index and are audited by Big 4. These companies are both larger in size and less profitable than companies in other industries. We find that profitability and leverage do not have significant effect on corporate Internet reporting practices and that growth has negative effect on corporate Internet reporting practices. We also find that companies in the mining sector provide significantly more disclosure about social responsibility indicating a desire to improve the public image of harming the environment. The results documented, herein, extend the literature on voluntary disclosure of financial and non-financial information using the Internet in emerging markets.     

A comparative study of stakeholder risk perception and risk communication in Europe: a bovine spongiform encephalopathy case study

The ‘Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) Roadmap’ was published by the European Commission on 15 July 2005. The TSE Roadmap proposes the relaxation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) measures in the short, medium and long term. According to the Roadmap, any relaxation of BSE measures following the scientific assessment should be initiated by an open discussion with all stakeholders and supported by a strong communication strategy. This paper discusses the risk perception, risk communication and risk management of TSEs in Europe, exemplified by the TSE Roadmap. The main conclusion is that in general, BSE is no longer a ‘hot’ topic for stakeholders, but there are slight differences between countries with respect to specific measures. Another important conclusion is that the TSE Roadmap is a very effective tool for risk communication with stakeholders.     

The temporal nature of legitimation: the case of IFRS8

Legitimation can operate on an episodic or continual basis [Suchman, M.C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610]. We examine the temporal legitimation of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)’s actions during the adoption and review of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 8 ‘Operating Segments’. We conceptualise the controversy surrounding IFRS8 as an episode when the IASB sought segmental reporting convergence with the US standard, Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 131. Interpreting evidence from 15 (20) semi-structured interviews undertaken in 2009 (2011), before (after) entities reported under IFRS8, reveals its adoption precipitated an episodic legitimacy threat from selected audiences to the actions of the IASB. We discuss the IASB's attempt to influence legitimation for this episode through commitment to a post-implementation review [IFRS Foundation. (2011). Post implementation reviews: Plan for developing the framework for conducting post-implementation reviews. IASB Board meeting February 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2011, from http://www.ifrs.org/NR/rdonlyres/3E1502E4-F1E8-4907-838B-FFB20C7268ED/0/PIR02111st2ndb04obs.pdf] of IFRS8. Interpreting legitimacy concerns across diverse audiences about specific actions of the IASB (the introduction of IFRS8) enables us to draw conclusions about the resilience of the IASB as a standard setting organisation, in itself.     

The social amplification of risk on Twitter: the case of ash dieback disease in the United Kingdom

It has long been recognised that the traditional media play a key role in representing risk and are a significant source of information which can shape how people perceive and respond to hazard events. Early work utilising the social amplification of risk framework (SARF) sought to understand the discrepancy between expert and lay perceptions of risk and patterns of risk intensification and attenuation with reference to the media. However, the advent of Web 2.0 challenges traditional models of communication. To date there has been limited consideration of social media within the SARF and its role in mediating processes of risk perception and communication. Against this backdrop, we focus on the social media platform Twitter to consider the social amplification of risk in relation to ash dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus); a tree health issue that attracted intense media attention when it was first identified in the UK in 2012. We present an empirical analysis of 25,600 tweets in order to explore what people were saying about ash dieback on Twitter, who was talking about it and how they talked about it. Our discussion outlines the themes around which talk about ash dieback was orientated, the significance of users’ environmental ‘affiliations’ and the role of including links (URLs) to traditional media coverage. We utilise the notion of ‘piggybacking’ to demonstrate how information is customised in line with group/individual identities and interests and introduce the concept of the ‘frame fragment’ to illustrate how information is selected and moved around Twitter emphasising certain features of the messages. The paper affords a detailed consideration of the way in which people and organisations simultaneously appropriate, construct and pass on risk-relevant information. A conclusion is that social media has the potential to transform the media landscape within which the SARF was originally conceived, presenting renewed challenges for risk communication.     

The real effects of a new accounting standard: the case of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers

International Financial Reporting Standard 15 (IFRS 15) Revenue from Contracts with Customers has significantly changed the philosophy of revenue recognition, not only to provide a fairer representation of corporate revenues, but also to inhibit the use of revenues for ‘earnings management’ purposes. We provide a framework to analyse the various effects of new and amended accounting standards. Changes in how companies recognise, measure, present and disclose their revenues (accounting effects) can affect how companies and their transactions are understood, both internally and externally (information effects), can change security prices (capital market effects) and can change how companies operate, and their costs and cash flows (real effects). We provide empirical evidence, based on a review of corporate annual reports, comment letters and interviews, on the effects of IFRS 15. We find evidence of accounting, information and, to a lesser extent, real effects, although, outside a few industries, IFRS 15 has had relatively little impact on the recognition and measurement of revenue.     

A half-century of Accounting and Business Research: the impact on the study of international financial reporting

This paper celebrates the contribution of this journal, over its first 50 years, to research on international financial reporting, defined as comprising writings on comparative or harmonisation topics. The paper examines the journal’s output in that field and how it contributed to the field’s development. Even though the journal was sympathetic to international financial reporting, less than 1% of output in its first decade (the 1970s) related to it. In its first 35 years, a large proportion of the journal’s limited output in the field was produced by two small groups of researchers. However, during its fourth decade, the field gradually became dominant as the accounting world changed. By then, the journal had already published the seminal papers on several central topics in international financial reporting, including measuring harmonisation, using reconciliations to measure international accounting differences, assessing international differences in the influence of tax on financial reporting, and measuring international difference in the application of international standards. These topics were later taken up by many researchers in several other journals.     

Storm surge disaster risk management: the Xynthia case study in France

In recent years, a series of catastrophic storm surges have occurred in Europe. The large number of fatalities and high material damage are mainly due to an increase in vulnerability and exposure to coastal flooding of hit regions. It is, therefore, necessary to intensify research activities in order to better understand this kind of disasters, to reduce their impacts and to reinforce risk management. This study describes the consequences of Xynthia windstorm that hit France in 2010: strong wind gusts, associated to high-coefficient tides and very low pressure, caused a phenomenon of storm surge in the Atlantic coastal area of France. Sea walls, lacking maintenance and originally built to defend agricultural land, were not able to protect houses. Fourty-seven people were killed, most of them from drowning, and direct losses amounted to more than 2.5?billion Euros. Around 10,000 people were forced to evacuate after the inundation of their properties. Uncontrolled urbanization was involved in the increase of stakes, as demonstrated by the fact that all the 29 victims in the city of la Faute-sur-Mer were living in houses built after 1980. The paper describes the event considering the aspect of increased vulnerability in the affected area, the lack of preparedness that exacerbated the final damage, the emergency response phases and the adaptation strategies adopted by the French Government after the disaster. We conclude that an attentive governance should include a balanced approach to risk protection, to reduce vulnerability and exposure.     

Perceptions of pre-service teachers on seismic risk and their implications for science education: a comparative study between Spain and Portugal

Abstract

This study investigated the importance given by two groups of pre-service teachers of primary education from Spain and Portugal to seismic risk in a framework of different natural risks, both in personal terms and as future teachers. A questionnaire was used for data collection. Some questions about the seismic phenomenon were also included. The sample groups consisted of 110 students from an institution in Spain and 121 from one in Portugal. Both institutions are in cities affected by the historic Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The results showed that the risk of forest fire was the first choice for classroom study in both cases. The Spanish group was also more focused on the importance of other risks like flood and drought. The Portuguese group showed a greater concern with seismic risk, frequently referring to their own historic earthquake of 1755. A few gaps in knowledge concerning earthquake prediction and comparing seismic risk in different regions of their own countries were also found. In accordance with the results, it is suggested that training courses for primary school teachers should include Disaster Risk Education in Science Education for a better understanding of the impact of various hazards and a greater concern with seismic risk due to its particular features, especially in regions where the seismic pattern is characterized by long seismic cycles with major earthquake episodes.     

The global institutionalization of financial reporting: The case of the United Arab Emirates

Almost 100 countries have agreed to adopt or work towards convergence with the International Accounting Standards Board's international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Applying an institutional theory framework at a nation state level, and using publicly available data about the emerging economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a case, this paper identifies some of the global coercive, normative and mimetic pressures which have contributed to this widespread adoption. The challenge for emerging economies such as that of the UAE is whether the reality of IFRS implementation can match the image of IFRS adoption.     

The impact of financial reporting quality on debt maturity: the case of private firms

We examine whether the debt maturity structure of privately held firms is associated with the quality of their earnings numbers. We argue that earnings numbers that are better able to predict future cash flows lower information asymmetry between privately held firms and their creditors, improving privately held firms’ access to long-term debt. Furthermore, we examine whether the relationship between privately held firms’ earnings quality and their debt maturity differs between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and larger privately held firms. Using detailed financial statement information from a sample of privately held Belgian firms, we find that earnings quality is positively associated with the likelihood of having long-term debt and with the proportion of long-term debt in total debt. Further, we report evidence that these associations are more pronounced for SMEs than for larger privately held firms, which is consistent with smaller firms entailing more fundamental risk for creditors.