Journalists need to make complex economic issues comprehensible for their readers. One possibility to do so is using personalization and putting company representatives (e.g. CEO, spokesperson) instead of the company as an organization in the focus of their work. Especially in times of crisis, the use of personalization could increase because crises are often associated with great uncertainty and complexity. Therefore, this study examines personalization in corporate coverage during crisis and non-crisis periods. To this end, we analyzed the coverage of four different German print media before, during, and after six selected corporate crises using a quantitative content analysis. The study shows that journalists focus more on internal stakeholders of companies at times of crisis compared to non-crisis periods. In general, the internal stakeholders journalists focus on are the CEOs as well as members of the board and supervisory board. Interestingly, in times of crisis, the coverage about the CEO declines, whereas the members of the board and supervisory board receive more attention.
Since 1997, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) role in surveillance of member countries has changed dramatically. Surveillance, as mandated in Article IV of the Articles of Agreement, has moved from a private process to a public one, with documentation from the consultation freely available at the Fund's Website. But does this public process of surveillance make a difference in generating policy debates? To answer this question, we evaluate whether the Fund's Article IV review was referenced on Capitol Hill and by the White House during two consecutive reviews in the summers of 2010 and 2011. Given the debate about the debt ceiling, the summer of 2011 is a most likely case for the Fund's advice to enter into the policy process. There is little evidence that findings from these reports percolated into the public sphere, casting doubt on the effectiveness of IMF surveillance in developed countries.
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