Newsletters

Paris, May 27th, 2010. Corruption remains a major reputational threat for companies. In the period from July 2009 to May 2010, Daimler topped the list of companies that received unwelcome TV coverage on corruption issues. The involvement of blue chip companies like Daimler, Siemens or MAN in corruption scandals contributes notably to the loss of trust in business and the market economy. This is shown by the Media Tenor Trust Meltdown presented today´s OECD Forum in Paris.

“For a long time corruption has been perceived as a problem that affects only developing economies or the countries of the former Eastern Bloc”, explains Roland Schatz, founder and President of Media Tenor International, the Zurich-based research institute and OECD Knowledge Partner. “But a look at the well-known brand names that are now implicated in systems of graft and fraud, shows that corruption is one of the causes behind the worldwide financial crisis we are experiencing now.”

Overall coverage of corruption issues has not been on the rise over the last years, as the media tend to focus more strongly on personal failures than systematic defects. Management compensation for example received more awareness in international TV news than corruption issues in 2009. “Although the media is rather slow in following up on corruption cases, especially in Arabic or Chinese channels, the impact on a company´s reputation is severe”, Roland Schatz adds. “Siemens and MAN have experienced how long their media image can be overshadowed by the fallout from corruption, as the long-drawn legal review keeps it in the news for years.”

In the case of Daimler, even though the company reached a speedy deal with U.S. authorities, the company rose to the top of the list in 2010, followed by the UK aerospace and defense group BAE, as well as Goldman Sachs. “Corruption is a special risk for industries that get only little reporting in routine coverage”, Roland Schatz points out. “The health sector – ranging from medical doctors to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies – is especially at risk.” The impact of corruption stories has been especially strong for trade fairs and the aerospace industry. The third attempt at a new U.S. Air Force tanker tender has highlighted the extent to which corruption reaches business icons like Boeing.

“Managers and companies will have to go a long way to regain public trust – and the fight against corruption has to become a top issue for business leaders and journalists”, Roland Schatz concludes.

* Long-term analysis 2006-2010: 819,546 stories in 29 media 2006-2010.For the years 209/2010, 125,373 / 243,144 news stories in 36 / 40 international TV news programs and 54,154 / 71,786 reports about companies have been analyzed in 36 / 40 international TV news programs.All media content has been analyzed by trained human coders. Average inter-coder reliability equaled 87% in the IV. quarter of 2009.

<< back <<

Please login to get more in pdf