“Silly and Superficial”: Headline Tone in Press TV and Voice of America Coverage of the U.S. Withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

On May 8, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. President Trump had campaigned on removing the U.S. from the nuclear agreement, but the announcement still caught Iran and other parties to the JCPOA by surprise. This research analyzed three days of JCPOA-related news headlines from two international broadcasters: Press TV, headquartered in Tehran, and Voice of America, located in Washington, D.C. The majority of headlines published by both news organizations exhibited negative tone. Considering that reading a headline often substitutes for reading an entire news report, examining the headlines these international broadcasters used to present this event to their global audiences is a worthwhile pursuit. Keywords: Iran, United States, nuclear, headline, tone

An analysis of students’ response to changes in financial situation during the pandemic by digital traces in the VKontakte social network

В статье представлены результаты исследования круга проблем и вопросов финансового положения студентов в период пандемии по цифровым следам в социальных сети ВКонтакте студенческой аудитории. Для анализа были использованы тексты постов в сообществах студентов и комментарии к ним за период второго учебного года в условиях пандемии. Для оценки контента обсуждаемых тем и вопросов в сообществах использованы результаты НИР Консорциума исследователей больших данных «Образование в условиях коронавируса: большие данные как инструмент измерения реакции общества» за февраль – июнь 2020 г. Подготовка данных для анализа включала выгрузку данных из социальных сетей, отбор релевантных сообщений, выявление категорий и тематических сюжетов, определение тональности сообщений. По предварительно выгруженным с использованием специализированного программного обеспечения (Polyanalyst, библиотек машинного обучения) сообщениям сообществ вузов региона была проведена разметка всех сообщений по релевантности изучаемой темы, что позволило в дальнейшем систематизировать сообщения по тематике и тональности. Контент анализируемых релевантных сообщений позволили выделить четыре основные тематические категории такие, как стипендия и материальная помощь, стоимость образовательных и дополнительных услуг, возможность получения дополнительных доходов, разное. В группе сообщений по вопросам стипендии и материальной помощи были выделены тематические сюжеты о размере и сроках выплаты стипендии и материальной помощи и о процедуре начисления стипендии. В группе сообщений по вопросам стоимость основных и дополнительных услуг были выделены тематические сюжеты о цене-качестве образовательных услуг, возврата стоимости за обучение в условиях дистанционного формата работы, а также ценообразование образовательных услуг. В группе сообщений по возможности получения дополнительных доходов студенты рассуждали преимущественно о размере стипендии в сопоставлении со сложившимися ценами на товары и услуги и о необходимости поиска дополнительных источниках доходов. В группе разное были рассмотрены низкочастотные сообщения по различным тематическим сюжетам. Тональность сообщений, в которых студенты высказывали свое мнение и оценку, преимущественно нейтральная, но негативная тональность доминировала на начало каждого учебного семестра. Полученные результаты исследования на основе выборки данных социальной сети ВКонтакте за анализируемый период могут послужить обоснованием для дальнейшего исследования сообщений в социальных сетях с целью выявления и анализа обратной связи студентов о качестве, эффективности и развитии дистанционного образования в стране, а также мониторинга появления/развития/отмирания проблем и вопросов в сфере финансового состояния студентов. The article presents the results of a survey on the range of problems and questions of students regarding financial situation based on digital traces in the VKontakte social network. The analysis was based on posts in student communities and comments to them during the second academic year during the pandemic. To assess changes in the content of the discussed topics and issues in the communities, the results of research work of the Consortium of Big Data Researchers “Education in the context of coronavirus: big data as a tool for measuring the reaction of society” for February – June 2020 were used. Preparing data for analysis included downloading data from social networks, selecting relevant messages, identifying categories and thematic plots, and determining the sentiment of messages. According to the messages from the communities of the universities in the region, previously unloaded using specialized software (Polyanalyst, machine learning libraries), all messages were marked up according to the relevance of the topic being studied, which made it possible to further systematize messages by topic and tone. The content of the analyzed relevant messages allowed us to single out four main thematic categories such as scholarships and material assistance, the cost of educational and additional services, the possibility of obtaining additional income, and miscellaneous. In the group of presentations on the issues of scholarships and material assistance, thematic stories were highlighted on the amount and timing of payment of the scholarship and material assistance and on the procedure for awarding the scholarship. In the group of messages on the cost of basic and additional services, there were highlighted thematic stories about the price-quality of educational services, the return of the cost of training in a distance format of work, as well as the pricing of educational services. In the group of messages about the possibility of obtaining additional income, students talked mainly about the amount of the scholarship in comparison with the prevailing prices for goods and services and the need to search for additional sources of income. In the Miscellaneous group, low-frequency messages were considered on various thematic topics. The tone of the messages in which the students expressed their opinion and assessment was predominantly neutral, but the negative tone dominated at the beginning of each academic semester. The results of the study based on a sample of data from the VKontakte social network for the analyzed period can serve as a rationale for further research of messages on social networks in order to identify and analyze student feedback on the quality, efficiency and development of distance education in the country, as well as monitor the emergence / development / withering away problems and questions in the field of the financial condition of students.

Tone, readability and financial risk: the case of GCC banks

PurposeThe authors investigate the impact of disclosure tones and financial risk on the readability of annual reports in the banking sector. The authors also examine the moderating effect of banks' financial risk on the tone–readability relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies on the agency theory and the social psychology theory to formulate its testable hypotheses and explain the empirical findings. It uses a sample of 390 bank-year observations from banks listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Stock Exchanges during the period 2014–2019. It also employs random effect regressions to analyze the data and to examine the reverse causality/endogeneity in order to obtain robust findings.FindingsThis study’s results demonstrate that easy (difficult) to read annual reports is significantly associated with positive (negative) tone. Bank managers characterized as “too positive/optimistic” and banks with higher financial risks publish less readable annual reports. The results also show that the interaction between negative tone and a bank's financial risk is inversely associated with reading difficulty, indicating that managers prepare easy text to clarify causes of their banks’ high risks, yet they communicate this easy text with a negative tone that reflects their feelings/emotions towards the financial risks of their banks.Practical implicationsThis study’s findings call for the use of a plain English text that bears a neutral tone and urge financial analysts to go beyond the financial aspects of annual reports. They also stimulate policymakers to draft policies, which ensure the presence of audit committee members who possess a broad expertise to uncover the linguistic issues embedded in the annual reports.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study dedicated to exploring the tone–readability association in the GCC's banking sector.

The Reputational Dividends of Collaborating with a Highly Reputable Agency: The Case of the FDA and Its Domestic Partner Agencies

What, if any, dividends do agencies reap from collaboration with a highly reputable agency, such as the FDA? Utilizing a dataset covering 30 U.S. federal agencies over a period of 34 years (1980–2013), we estimate the short and long-term reputational effects of interagency collaboration. Collaboration is measured by the number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in effect between each agency and the FDA, while agency reputation is assessed using an automated measure of media-coverage valence (positive/negative tone) for each agency-year. To account for potential reverse and reciprocal causality, we utilize cross-lagged fixed-effects models. We find evidence of moderate rises in reputation due to increased collaboration with the FDA. These effects persist significantly for two years, before decaying to null after four years. Employing similar analyses, we furthermore estimate reversed causality – of reputation on the level of consequent collaboration – finding no evidence of such effects.Research SupportMoshe Maor and Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Israel Science Foundation under grant 1002/11.

Effect of Media News on Radicalization of Attitudes to Immigration

Recent years have witnessed a growing aversion to immigration worldwide and, at the same time, radicalization of public opinion on the issue. This paper explores the relationship between media news and individual attitudes to immigration. We run an empirical analysis whereby an index capturing individuals’ pro-immigration attitude, measured in 19 countries, is regressed over indexes capturing the coverage and tone of media news about immigration. We find that pro-immigration attitudes are negatively correlated with media coverage and the negative tone of news. However, this correlation is significant only for those with high trust in the media. In the case of low trust, higher coverage of immigration and a negative news slant make previous preferences and beliefs vis-à-vis immigration more extreme, yielding a lower pro-immigration index for those politically on the right, while the opposite applies to those on the left. The pro-immigration index is constructed by means of fuzzy methods to account for the many aspects defining attitudes to immigration.

Digital conversations about depression among Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the US: a big‐data, machine learning analysis identifies specific characteristics of depression narratives in Hispanics

Background Digital conversations can offer unique information into the attitudes of Hispanics with depression outside of formal clinical settings and help generate useful information for medical treatment planning. Our study aimed to explore the big data from open‐source digital conversations among Hispanics with regard to depression, specifically attitudes toward depression comparing Hispanics and non-Hispanics using machine learning technology. Methods Advanced machine‐learning empowered methodology was used to mine and structure open‐source digital conversations of self‐identifying Hispanics and non-Hispanics who endorsed suffering from depression and engaged in conversation about their tone, topics, and attitude towards depression. The search was limited to 12 months originating from US internet protocol (IP) addresses. In this cross-sectional study, only unique posts were included in the analysis and were primarily analyzed for their tone, topic, and attitude towards depression between the two groups using descriptive statistical tools. Results A total of 441,000 unique conversations about depression, including 43,000 (9.8%) for Hispanics, were posted. Source analysis revealed that 48% of conversations originated from topical sites compared to 16% on social media. Several critical differences were noted between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. In a higher percentage of Hispanics, their conversations portray “negative tone” due to depression (66% vs 39% non-Hispanics), show a resigned/hopeless attitude (44% vs. 30%) and were about ‘living with’ depression (44% vs. 25%). There were important differences in the author's determined sentiments behind the conversations among Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Conclusion In this first of its kind big data analysis of nearly a half‐million digital conversations about depression using machine learning, we found that Hispanics engage in an online conversation about negative, resigned, and hopeless attitude towards depression more often than non-Hispanic.

The impact of COVID-19 on online product reviews

Purpose The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to drastic changes in the lives of customers. Social isolation, financial difficulties, fear of being infected and many other factors have caused the psychological well-being of customers to deteriorate. By taking up the role of online reviews in the regulation of consumers’ moods, this study aims to examine the changes that have occurred in online product ratings, as well as the negative tone and word counts of product reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the online reviews of 321 products in the pre-COVID, immediate COVID and extended COVID periods. This paper compares the changes that have taken place in product evaluations via various analysis of variance analyses. The authors also test the effect of COVID-related deaths on product evaluations via regression analyses. Findings The results indicate that online product ratings decreased sharply just after the outbreak of COVID-19. The study also found that the tone of reviews was found to be more negative and the length of reviews appeared to be longer in comparison to the pre-COVID-19 period. The results also revealed that the product type (experience vs search) moderated the effect of the pandemic in online reviews and the impact of COVID-19 on online product reviews diminished in the later stages of the ongoing pandemic. Practical implications Managers should be aware of the detrimental impact of pandemics on online product reviews and be more responsive to customer problems during the early stages of pandemics. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the effects of a pandemic on online product ratings and review content. As such, this study offers a timely contribution to the marketing literature.

RELATION BETWEEN NEGATIVE TONE IN NEWS RELEASES OF WHO AND INDUSTRY RETURNS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

We analyze the relationship between the negative tone in news releases issued by the WHO and industry returns during the Covid-19 pandemic. We construct our news tone measure as the ratio of negative words to the total number of words present in news releases of WHO. The news tone shows to be significantly associated with returns for the majority of industries. Bad news announced by the WHO translates into good news for consumer nondurables, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors. Negative tone in news releases of WHO is on average bad news for consumer durables, manufacturing, energy, and other industries. Our findings suggest that the news tone-return relation varies significantly throughout our Covid-19 sample.