企業財務危機前之媒體管理

Media Management Before Corporate Financial Distress

本文檢定企業之媒體管理與後續發生財務危機之相關性。以台灣50成份股為訓練樣本，使用支援向量機的演算法建立正負面新聞分類的依據。針對台灣證券市場在1995年至2010年所發生的財務危機公司為觀察公司及其配對的對照公司為研究樣本，檢定企業在爆發財務危機前是否會抑制公司負面新聞的揭露或者進行塑造正面形象的新聞報導等媒體管理。實證結果顯示財務危機事件日前一年，負面新聞會在各季持續揭露，然而，財務危機事件日前一季，企業也會進行塑造正面新聞報導。

This study examines the relationship between media management and subsequent corporate financial distress. Applying a Support Vector Machine algorithm to the component stocks on the TSEC Taiwan 50 index could establish a rule for classifying positive/negative news. By examining the behavior of these companies during periods of financial distress from 1995 to 2010 and that of control firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, we examine whether firms suppress negative news or whether they attempt to mold a positive image before exposing news of financial distress by means of media management. Our findings show that negative news would be continuously exposed in several quarters of the first year before financial distress occurs, but the positive image would be molded in the first quarter prior to the onset of financial distress.