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Political Bias in Corporate News: The Role of Conglomeration Reform in China

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  • Joseph D. Piotroski
  • T. J. Wong
  • Tianyu Zhang

Abstract

Using textual analyses of 1.77 million articles, we find that, through the Chinese government's conglomeration reform that reorganizes official and nonofficial newspapers from the same locale into a news group under state control, there is an increase (decrease) in positive tone and political content in official (nonofficial) newspaper articles. The evidence is consistent with official newspapers becoming more concentrated on political goals and nonofficial newspapers becoming more focused on commercial objectives, thus better enabling the newspaper industry to pursue a dual role as the government's mouthpiece and an information institution supporting the market economy. Our results are robust to using a matched firm-month research design that examines the content of articles written about the same firm in the same month, a matched firm-event approach that examines concurrent newspaper articles published immediately following corporate earnings announcements, and a difference-in-differences approach to test for conglomeration effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph D. Piotroski & T. J. Wong & Tianyu Zhang, 2017. "Political Bias in Corporate News: The Role of Conglomeration Reform in China," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 173-207.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/693096
    DOI: 10.1086/693096
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    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Jun & Lu, Jing & Xiang, Cheng, 2020. "Do disclosures of selective access improve market information acquisition fairness? Evidence from company visits in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Sun, Yunpeng & Lu, Zhou & Bao, Qun & Li, Ying & Li, Haoning, 2022. "The Belt & Road Initiative and the public and private debts of participating countries: The role of China's economic policy uncertainty," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 179-193.
    3. Ito, Asei & Lim, Jaehwan & Zhang, Hongyong, 2023. "Catching the political leader's signal: Economic policy uncertainty and firm investment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Sun, Fangcheng & Dutta, Shantanu & Huang, Hui & Zhu, Pengcheng, 2021. "News media and insider trading profitability: An emerging country perspective," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    5. Jiamin Wang & Qian Li & Chenmeng Lai & Victor Song, 2024. "Corporate fraud, political connections, and media bias: Evidence from China," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 319-353, April.
    6. Minghui Li & Faqin Lan & Fang Zhang, 2019. "Why Chinese Financial Market Investors Do Not Care about Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Mergers and Acquisitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-34, June.
    7. Jerry Cao & Robert Faff & Jing He & Yong Li, 2022. "Who's Greenwashing Via the Media and What are the Consequences? Evidence From China," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(4), pages 759-786, December.
    8. Yi Ru & Jian Xue & Yuan Zhang & Xin Zhou, 2020. "Social connections between media and firm executives and the properties of media reporting," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 963-1001, September.
    9. LIM Jaehwan & ITO Asei & ZHANG Hongyong, 2023. "Policy Agenda and Trajectory of the Xi Jinping Administration: Textual Evidence from 2012 to 2022," Policy Discussion Papers 23008, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    10. Li Huang & Oliver Zhen Li & Yang Yi, 2021. "Government disclosure in influencing people’s behaviors during a public health emergency," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Lei, Adrian C.H. & Song, Chen, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and stock market activity: Evidence from China," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    12. Lixiang Wang & Wendi Hou & Yupei Liu, 2023. "How do co‐shareholding networks affect negative media coverage? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4221-4249, December.
    13. Zhiqi Cao & Wenfeng Wu, 2023. "Difference of opinion among investors versus analysts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2347-2381, June.
    14. Xu, Zhiwei & Li, Jiaqi & Hua, Xia & Ren, Pengyue, 2024. "Is the tone of the government-controlled media valuable for capital market? Evidence from China's new energy industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Wu, Chunying & Xiong, Xiong & Gao, Ya, 2022. "The role of different information sources in information spread: Evidence from three media channels in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 327-341.
    16. Ma, Rui & Guo, Fei & Li, Dongdong, 2024. "Can public data availability affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Guo, Shijun & Yu, Xin & Faff, Robert, 2021. "Political connections and media slant," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 58-80.
    18. Ren, Wentao, 2023. "Retail investors' accessibility to the internet and firm-specific information flows: Evidence from Google's withdrawal," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 402-424.
    19. Liu, Zhuang & Wong, T.J. & Yi, Yang & Zhang, Tianyu, 2022. "Authoritarian transparency: China's missing cases in court disclosure," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 221-239.
    20. Liang, Qi & Sun, Wenjia & Li, Wenyu & Yu, Fengyan, 2021. "Media effects matter: Macroeconomic announcements in the gold futures market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-12.
    21. Yang, Shanye & Ying, Qianwei & Liu, Jinsong, 2023. "Does regulatory punishment improve financial media’s information intermediary role?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    22. Zijia Du & Alan Guoming Huang & Russ Wermers & Wenfeng Wu, 2022. "Language and Domain Specificity: A Chinese Financial Sentiment Dictionary [The effects of analyst-country institutions on biased research: Evidence from target prices]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(3), pages 673-719.
    23. Liu, Jun & Wu, Kai & Zhou, Ming, 2023. "News tone, investor sentiment, and liquidity premium," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 167-181.
    24. Deng, Xiaohu & Jiang, Christine & Young, Danqing, 2021. "Short selling constraints and politically motivated negative information suppression," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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