Innovation a Blank in Editorial Content

A Content Analysis of Business Coverage in Leading German TV and Print Media,

2002 2006

Paper presented
to the 11th International Conference on Reputation, Brand, Identity and Competitiveness
Oslo, May 31st June 2nd, 2007

Dr. Christian Kolmer M.A.

MEDIA TENOR Deutschland GmbH
Am Kurpark 7
53173 Bonn
Deutschland

FAX: 0228 9 34 44 93
E-mail: c.kolmer@mediatenor.de
Abstract:
The paper analyses the role of media coverage for communicating information about

innovation to the public. The study is based on the comprehensive continuing standardised

content analysis of the German media research institute MEDIA TENOR. Reference to

innovation is rather low in the business sections of the news media. Only few companies from

the IT and automotive industries manage to be associated with innovation in editorial content.

Innovation is primarily connected with products, while innovation in production or

management procedures receives less awareness.

2
The Author:

Dr. Christian Kolmer M.A. is media scientist and historian working with the Media Tenor

Institute in Bonn. Born 1965 in Essen, he studied history, communication science and

economics in Bochum and Mainz. After his MA thesis on the ascent of Christianity as a

process of public opinion, he specialised on research on news selection and did extensive

research on the media image of the German Treuhandanstalt, the body in charge of the

privatisation of the East German state enterprises. After his graduation from Johannes

Gutenberg-University in Mainz with an input-output analysis on news selection he joined

Media Tenor, where he is responsible for science contacts and corporate clients as well. His

fields of interest centre on agenda-setting research and cross-country comparisons, especially

in the field of country images.

3
1. Introduction: Communicating innovation

Innovation has been acknowledged as one of the key factors for economic success in the

era of globalisation. German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted this approach in her

address to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2006: We can

maintain our affluence only when we give absolute priority to innovation.1 This demand

refers to the perceived lack of innovative power, especially in Germany, but also in other

European countries. In this context innovativeness is perceived as an especially positive and

desirable quality of business and national economies. This is quite evident from this years

conference theme, which is stated in the invitation: It reflects an awareness that innovation is

a central pillar of growth in the corporate sector, one that cannot be achieved without a

combination of visionary investments in the ability to create, not only new products and

services, but also to invent new ways of fulfilling the company's institutional mission.2

Moreover, propagating the image of innovativeness might be generally supportive for the

image of a business in the context of the positive notion of innovation in the governing

climate of opinion. Innovative products and processes might therefore be presumed to

constitute a significant element of the media image of companies.

Innovation, as opposed to invention, has become a leading concept of economic theory,

since Joseph Schumpeter popularized this concept in the early 20th century.3 Innovation in his

view is an essential element of competition and gives pioneer companies opportunities to

realize monopolistic gains by introducing new types of products or new production or for

this matter marketing processes into the market. The importance of innovation and its

contribution to the image of companies can be gauged from surveys of the most innovative

firms as perceived by the public (see table 1). Among the top innovators rank many

1
http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/nn_5296/Content/DE/Rede/2006/01/2006-01-25-rede-von-bundeskanzlerin-
angela-merkel-auf-dem-weltwirtschaftsforum-am-25-januar-2006-in-davos.html
2
http://www.reputationinstitute.com/conf/oslo2007_conference
3
Schumpeter, Joseph A.: Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. In: The American journal of economics and
sociology: publ. quarterly in the interest of constructive synthesis in the social sciences under grants from the
Francis Nelson Fund and the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. Vol. 61, No. 2 (2002), S. 405-437

4
companies from the consumer electronics sector, which depend on innovation for their

marketing success.

Table 1: Top 20 Innovative Companies in the World

2005 poll of 940 senior executives in 68 countries by Boston Consulting Group4
Apple 24,84%
3M 11,77%
Microsoft 8,53%
General Electric 8,53%
Sony 5,94%
Dell 5,62%
IBM 5,29%
Google 5,18%
P&G 4,21%
Nokia 4,21%
Virgin 4,00%
Samsung 3,89%
Wal-Mart 3,24%
Toyota 3,02%
Ebay 2,92%
Intel 2,70%
Amazon 2,70%
Ideo 2,16%
Starbucks 2,05%
BMW 1,73%

There are several channels for the communication of messages relating to innovations, the

principal being the products itself, advertising, and the news media. While the former might

only reach the part of the public with a strong interest in the respective product, editorial

content can link information about innovative products and processes actually link to the

overall strategy and performance of a business.

4
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_31/b3945407.htm

5
 This paper analyses the role of media coverage for communicating information about

information to the public. Research addresses the following questions: What is the overall

visibility of innovation in business coverage in the editorial politics/news and business

sections of leading German and U.S. TV and print media? What is the tone of coverage

towards business in connection with innovation? Which channels attach most importance to

innovation, which neglect the issues? Which industries and companies manage to

communicate innovation successfully, which fail?

2. Study Design

The relevance of previous research has been restricted by the incongruous and insufficient

data basis, in most cases consisting of only small samples of single weeks per year. This study

examines this thesis on a national level in a long-time perspective, as well as in an

international comparative perspective. It therefore combines a long-time comparison of print

and TV media in Germany ranging from 2002 to 2007 with a cross-country approach for

January 2007. The paper refers to the continuous content analysis of the opinion-leading print

media and main evening news of two public and three private TV programs conducted by the

MEDIA TENOR research institute starting in summer 1994 and continued until the present. The

data therefore have not been collected for this study specifically but originate from an

ongoing content analysis project that documents the entire content of the selected media

outlets, in order to compare the salience of single issues to the whole body of content

published in the analyzed media outlets.

For the analysis of business coverage, both the politics/news and the business section of

the newspapers are analyzed entirely, measuring the content matter and tone towards all

companies, managers and industries that achieved a significant coverage.

The relevant media outlets have been selected, by choosing the media opinion leaders, i.e.

the media that are used by journalists of other media outlets, thus exerting an influence on

6
public opinion widely exceeding their circulation. Their performance in terms of opinion-

leadership was measured by analyzing the extent to what media are being quoted by other

media.5

3. Methodology

For the period of January 2002 to January 2007 this study draws on the comprehensive

content analysis of a total of 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about

companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media. In January 2007, 24,589

reports have been analyzed in Germany and 5,631 reports in the U.S., examining the

following media:

Germany Die Welt (Quality Newspaper)

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Quality Newspaper)
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Quality Newspaper)
Frankfurter Rundschau (Quality Newspaper)
Bild-Zeitung (Tabloid Newspaper)
ARD Tagesschau (Public TV / News show)
ZDF heute (19:00) (Public TV / News show)
RTL Aktuell (Private TV / News show)
SAT.1 News (Private TV / News show)
ProSieben Newstime (Private TV / News show)
ARD Tagesthemen (Public TV / News magazine)
ZDF heute journal (Public TV / News magazine)
Der Spiegel (Weekly News Magazine)
Focus (Weekly News Magazine)
USA Wall Street Journal
NBC (Private TV / News show)
ABC (Private TV / News show)
CBS (Private TV / News show)
Fox (Private TV / News show)

5
Fischer, Corinna: Die blichen Verdchtigen. Media Tenor Zitateranking: Entwicklungen im Zitieren und
Zitiertwerden, MEDIA TENOR Nr. 154 (2. Quartal 2006), p. 74f.

7
 The content of the news stories has been analyzed on story level by the means of a

systematic content analysis by trained media analysts, which are working for MEDIA TENOR

on a permanent basis. Analysis is based on a comprehensive code book giving explicit rules

for the assessment of protagonists addressed, the issues referred to and the tone of coverage

towards the protagonists. Quality control is maintained by regular reliability tests and ongoing

spot checks. Overall agreement between coders and pattern solutions in August 2006 equaled

88.8% in August 2006.6 News stories are defined by their style, e.g. a change from

newsreader to film report constitutes a news story, even if both entities deal with the same

content matter. The analysis of topic structures on the story level concerning the main topic of

story the codebook at present provides for more than 3.000 topics organized in a hierarchy of

issues. As a reference to innovation only those statements have been counted, that addressed

the innovative quality of products or processes explicitly. This encompassed all references to

the novel quality of the products or processes addressed, thus not depending on the term

innovation or innovative. On the other hand, the simple designation of a product as new

was not defined as sufficient to describe an item as innovation, if the novel features are not

referred to.

For the analysis of business reporting, the reporting about all companies has been

examined on the story level: Reporting about all companies and management persons, which

were presented or described for at least five seconds, has been analyzed in terms of tone and

topic structure. All issues addressed in reporting have been recorded, while the main topic and

the evaluation of the company in reference to this main topic have been analyzed.

6
MEDIA TENOR Nr. 156 (4. quarter 2006), p. 2.

8
4. Results

4.1. Visibility of innovation in Germany and the U.S.

Innovation issues are surprisingly low down on the media agenda. Although innovation is

billed as an important factor of corporate success, only 0.10 to 0.15% of all reports about

companies, industries and managers focus on innovation as a main topic of the description

(see chart 1). In other words: companies mostly fail, when they try to communicate

innovation as an important aspect of their image via the news media. Moreover, even as an

additional aspect of reporting, innovation plays a rather minor role: Only 0.20 to 0.25% of all

reports address innovation explicitly. Focus on innovation as a main issue meets comparable

levels in the U.S. and in Germany, while overall reference to innovation is slightly higher in

Germany. This might be ascribed to the media sample, which is slightly smaller in U.S.

although, especially TV news, which is well represented in the U.S. media sample, takes up

innovation issues more readily than print media (see chapter 4.5.)

Share of all aspects mentioned, business coverage in leading German and US TV and print media, 01/2007

Chart 1: Visibility of innovation issues

0,30%

0,25%

0,20%

0,15%

0,10%

0,05%

0,00%
US Germany
main topics additional issues

Basis: 24.589 reports (at least five lines/seconds) with 93.368 topics in Germany, 5.631 (17.115) in the US

9
 Communication of innovation thus on the first impression cannot be billed as an easy task.

There may even be structural barriers towards the ready acceptance of innovation messages

by the journalists. Among others, skepticism towards the hype accompanying contentions of

innovativeness or misgivings to be made a channel of simple product PR might be an

obstacle on the side of the media.

Generally speaking, business coverage follows established rules, leading to a pattern of

routine reporting. Most reports are reported by routine events or communications from the

side of the companies. Besides the regular communication of financial results, spectacular and

exceptional events are by definition the main object of business news (see chart 2).

Main aspects of business coverage in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 2: Topic structure of business coverage

Strategy
Products
Situation in general
Other Topic
Politics/Society
Management
Image
Share Price/Stock Exchange
HR
Market Position
Production Process
Globalisation
Compensation
Customers
Investments
Environment
R&D
History
Innovation
E-Commerce
Corporate Culture
Ratings
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Share of all reports Innovation/R&D

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

In this chart, the individual topics referred to in the media have been aggregated in clusters

of image factors, based on the classification of image drivers, developed by

PriceWaterhouseCoopers under the guidance of Samuel DiPiazza.7 The division of issues

quite clearly illustrates the tendency of media reports to focus on a rather narrow range of

7
DiPiazza Jr., Samuel A./Eccles, Robert G.: Building Public Trust. The Future of Corporate Reporting
New York 2002.

10
issues. The three most often addressed image factors strategy, products and (financial)

situation account already for the main topic of more than 50% of all reports. Important

aspects like human resources or investment receive much less coverage. In this context the

peripheral role of innovation issues or R&D in editorial becomes quite obvious.

4.2. Rating of business with reference to innovation in Germany and the U.S.

Nevertheless the communication of innovative strategies and products holds great rewards.

While overall business reporting is characterized by a more or less marked trend to negativity,

innovation remained a winner issue over the last years (see charts 3 and 6). Even in the

general business and political/news sections the tone of reports was overwhelmingly positive,

when innovation was addressed as a main issue.

Rating of companies in reference to innovation issues in leading German and US TV and print media, 01/2007

Chart 3: Rating of companies re. innovation

6,5%
17,6%

35,2%

58,3%

82,4%

negative no clear rating positive

Basis: 108 reports (at least five lines/seconds) in Germany, 17 in the US

The positive tone originates not only from the inherently positive nature of innovation or

the general positive climate of the political discussion as mentioned in the introduction. While

on many issues corporate communication competes with other sources for the ascendancy in

11
the public debate, innovation topics are an owned issue for companies. While for instance

analysts have gained a marked influence on financial communication, partially framing

earnings figures through their forecasts,8 or the debate about corporate responsibility is largely

dominated by environmental or consumer activists,9 coverage of innovations is fed from the

business itself, thus giving ample opportunity to communicate innovation via selected

channels, preferably in-house experts or board members.

The overall positive disposition of the media towards innovation becomes even more

evident, when compared to the other image factors (see chart 4). Innovation has over the last

six year been the most positively rated topic for companies in Germany, followed by the

financial situation and the market position of the company.

Rating of companies in reference to the main aspects in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 4: Tone towards the image factors

Strategy
Products
Situation in general
Other Topics
Politics/Society
Management
Image
Share Price/Stock Exchange
HR
Market Position
Production Process
Globalisation
Compensation
Customers
Investments
Environment
R&D
History
Innovation
E-Commerce
Corporate Culture
Ratings
0%% 20%% 40%% 60%% 80%% 100%%
negative no clear rating positive

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

8
Albrecht, Christoph: Ntzliche Ineffizienz. Finanzmarktaufklrung warnt Investoren vor irrationalen
Ausschlgen des Marktes, MEDIA TENOR Nr. 154 (2. quarter 2006), p. 71-73.
9
Ghosh-Dastidar, Ranen: Eher linke Hnde als grne Daumen. Wenige Unternehmen bei Umweltthemen
positiv, MEDIA TENOR Nr. 154 (2. quarter 2006), p. 66f.

12
 Although this analysis expressly did not analyze technology or science sections, the results

suggest a definitely positive disposition of journalists towards innovation, although on the

other hand, general awareness is rather low.

Over course of the last two years the salience of innovation has risen slightly, reaching an

overall high in the first two months of 2007 (see chart 5), as innovative media products, like

social networking websites or the long-awaited i-phone have hit the media. At the same time,

media interest in R&D topics has flagged markedly, decreasing by more than 58% from 2005

to 2006, probably reflecting cutbacks in corporate R&D spending and the resulting re-

structuring and insecurity in the respective departments.10

Share of reports focusing on innovation/R&D in business coverage in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 5: Growing importance of innovation

0,60%

0,40%

0,20%

0,00%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Innovation R&D

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

Nevertheless, the overall tone of coverage did not change notably, with evaluation of

companies staying markedly positive in regard of innovation over the last six years (see chart

6). Over the whole period the balance of the shares of positive and negative news stayed more

or less at +50%, i.e. on balance every second story conveyed a clearly positive message about

the innovative activities of companies. Evaluation of R&D activities was more restrained, but
10
Out of the dusty labs, Economist Vol. 382, Nr. 8518 (03.03.2007), p. 69-71.

13
stayed positive nonetheless. After a slightly less positive period in 2006, which possibly

reflected the new constraints for corporate research and development, the tone became more

positive in the first two months of 2007.

Rating of companies in reference to innovation/R&D in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 6: Enthusiasm towards innovation

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

-10%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Innovation R&D overall rating

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

Overall rating of companies, industries and managers on the other hand has been slightly

negative throughout the whole period starting in 2002 after the end of the stock market boom

of the millennium. While the aggregated tone of business coverage in regard of all other

topics has been more or less critical throughout the last years, coverage of innovation has

marked a positive counter-trend.

4.3. Innovation in different industries

While innovation thus has offered vast communication opportunities to companies, only

few industries have been successful in leveraging innovation for their corporate image (see

chart 7). While the overall share of news reports focusing on innovation has only averaged

0.28% over the last six years in German TV and print media, only some industries have

14
managed to beat this mark. The fractional amounts that are depicted in the chart have to be

interpreted with regard to the overall volume of reporting about the respective industries.

Thus overall reporting with reference to innovation focuses on the IT and automotive

industries (see chart 8). While 37.5% of all news reports focusing on innovation deal with IT

companies, and further 14.6% refer to the automotive industry, the financial and energy

sectors are notably absent from this field.

Main aspects of business coverage in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 7: Industry comparison: Innovation vs. R&D

Sports goods/Toys
IT
Precision engineering
Glass
Industry in general
Textiles
Shoes
Shipbuilding
Automotive
Consumer Goods
Pharmaceutical
Chemical

0% 1% 2% 3% 4%
Innovation R&D

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

While the IT industry performs rather well not only with regard to the overall absolute

figure of reports focusing on innovation, but also in terms of the relevance of innovation

reports compared to the overall reporting about the sector, automotive companies seem less

successful in communicating innovation. Much to the contrary, the perceived lack of

innovation in this industry, mainly on the field of environmentally friendly products, has been

criticized quite severely in the first months of 2007.

On the other hand, producer of consumer goods, like textile or shoe manufacturers, have

maintained a more marked image of innovativeness, probably as a consequence of their

15
sponsorship deals with successful athletes and sports clubs, thus successfully communicating

their new products to TV stations that devote a much higher share of their news coverage to

sports reporting. The same effect holds true for the sports goods and toys industry, whose

exceptionally high share of innovation stories results primarily from reporting in the private

RTL and ProSieben stations while overall visibility of these companies could be neglected.

Altogether, all of the industries, that managed to achieve an above-average share of

innovation reporting, tended to benefit from this reporting.

Rating of companies in reference to innovation in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 8: Industry comparison: Innovation

IT
Automotive
other industries
Telecoms
Pharmaceutical
Aerospace
Sports goods/Toys
Chemical
Engineering
Media
Utilities
Clothing
Precision engineering
Nutrition
Retail

0 200 400 600 800 1.000

negative no clear rating positive

Basis: 2.502 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

This said, it is evident, that only few companies manage to generate sufficient media

awareness for their innovation messages, to profit from this with regard to their overall image.

Taking the number of stories addressing innovation as a main topic as an indicator for the

significance of innovation in the media image of a company, a small number of media

innovation leaders emerges (see chart 9). While the leading position of DaimlerChrysler may

be due to some extent to the paramount position of this company in German public opinion

and media reporting, epitomizing German engineering prowess, the relatively high number of

16
share points to the circumstance, that DaimlerChrysler communicated innovations like ABS

EPS or fuel cell drives quite successfully over a longer period, benefiting from its

innovation image even in the absence of new innovations.

Number of reports focusing on innovation in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 9: Most innovative companies

DaimlerChrysler
Microsoft
Siemens
Apple
Volkswagen
Nokia
Intel
Deutsche Telekom
General Motors
Philips
BMW
Toyota
Sony
Samsung
IBM
Bosch
EADS
Metro
Ford
Infineon

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Number of stories

Basis: 2.502 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

While quite a number of the companies named in the 2005 expert poll cited on page 4

figures in the media survey, some companies are notably absent. 3M for instance is despite its

awesome reputation among management thinkers, is an unknown factor in Germany, where

the products are much more conspicuous than the business behind Post-it notes or Scotch-

Brite sponges. Another instance is Dell, which stands for innovation in business processes,

pioneering computers built-to-order. The company did not manage to generate high media

awareness to the innovative quality of its business model. These examples show that

innovation messages are not taken up easily by the media, but have to be communicated in

connection with the messages focusing on the overall strategy. As with other

communications, a sustained and coherent effort is a pre-condition for the successful

projection of an innovative image.

17
4.4. Innovation reporting in different media outlets

The different media channels are rather diverse in their openness for innovation and R&D

communication (see chart 10). Despite its dominating time constraints, TV addresses

innovations significantly more often than print media. One reason for this is the visual appeal

of innovative products, another one the ambition to offer news to use, shaping a preference

for advisory-style programs focusing on the market segment of 14 to 49 year old people, that

are more interested in new cars and innovative IT or consumer electronic products.11

Main aspects of business coverage in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 10: Comparison of media types: Innovation vs. R&D

Dailies

TV News

Weeklies

0,00% 0,20% 0,40% 0,60% 0,80% 1,00%

Innovation R&D

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

Print media on the other hand devoted slightly more news to the coverage of R&D

activities than TV news. In the aggregate, the two weekly news magazines and the five daily

newspapers did not differ at all with regard to their awareness for innovation and R&D issues.

A closer look reveals significant differences between the individual outlets: In TV coverage,

the news of the private TV stations drive the preference for reporting about innovation in line

11
RTL Unternehmenskommunikation: DAS TV-JAHR 2006, http://www.rtl-
television.de/media/RTL_TVJahr_2006.pdf

18
with a news strategy focusing on a relatively younger public. Among the public broadcasters,

ZDF is on balance more open for innovation messages than ARD (see chart 11).

Main aspects of business coverage in leading German TV and print media, 2002-2007

Chart 11: Media comparison: Innovation vs. R&D

ProSieben
Sat.1 18:30
RTL Aktuell
heute
heute journal
Bild
Focus
Tagesthemen
Die Welt
Fr. Rundschau
F.A.Z.
Sddeutsche
Tagesschau
Spiegel

0,00% 0,50% 1,00% 1,50% 2,00% 2,50% 3,00%

Innovation R&D

Basis: 896.538 reports (at least five lines/seconds) about companies/industries/managers in 14 German TV and print media

Although the differences between the daily papers are less marked, Bild-Zeitung, the only

tabloid paper in the media sample, is evidently more prone to address innovation than the

more staid subscription papers. While Spiegel, the long-standing flagship of political

reporting, devotes the least share of reporting to innovation news, Focus, its main competitor,

takes the opposite course, trying to offer more product-related information.

On balance, innovation news experiences a higher chance of being taken up by the

journalists from private TV, tabloid papers or more consumer-oriented outlets. Moreover,

their visibility will be higher in these media, while the classical politically focused media or

business papers tend to stay in their course of routine business reporting, focusing on strategy

and financial results.

19
5. Discussion

This analysis leads to an overall mixed appraisal of the opportunities offered by the news

media for communicating innovation: While awareness for innovation messages is rather

bounded and only few companies manage to communicate them in a consistent and

sustainable way, the impact on the overall perception of a business might be rather strong,

insofar the tone is generally exceptionally positive.

While this study looks at general-interest media, specialized media outlets might be more

important, when targeting selected audiences that are of paramount importance for innovative

companies active on small and fast-changing markets. On the other hand, the financial

community, regulatory bodies and the media community might probably depend on main-

stream general-interest media for the time being. The image of an innovation leader could

thus be quite beneficial for instance in the case of a stand-off with competition authorities.

While the focus on general-interest media therefore is a clear draw-back of this study, some

sketchy evidence from proprietary analysis of selected businesses suggests, that specialist

media and the trade press are not generally more inclined to take up innovation issues.

The image of innovation that is craved so much by many companies is hard to be

conveyed via the mainstream media. Although editorial content enjoys a higher grade of

credibility, most news stories do not address issues of product and process innovation at all.

While a notable share of news focuses on products, the quality of innovativeness is not

mentioned in this context very often. There may be several causes for this gap between

companies and the news media, both on the sides of news supply and news demand and news

selection.

Corporate communication very often does not address innovation in consistent and

continuous way. Even if innovation is defined as a core message, it is not combined with

other communications in a regular way, not addressed by the executives in every interview

and not associated with corporate success in a convincing way.

20
 Communication departments very often experience difficulties in acquiring information

pertinent to innovation and the according research and development activities from the

respective departments. Research activities might even be outsourced with the effect, that

internal lines of communication pertinent to matters of research and innovation are even more

long-winded. Reluctance to pass along the relevant information to the communications

department and journalists might stem from several reasons, among others concerns that

competitors might benefit from the information or the fear of being misunderstood by the

media and consequently awaking unreal and ultimately detrimental expectations, never to be

fulfilled in reality. When decisions by the companys board of management about the

implementation of innovative products are pending, the communications department might be

loath or even prohibited to address these issues. In view of these restrictions it is not as

surprising, that only few companies manage to support their image as an innovative business

by generating coverage in the editorial sections of the news media.

On the side of the media outlets, there are several obstacles to a successful flow of

innovation-related messages from companies to the media. Firstly, journalists might fear to be

instrumentalized by corporate PR, becoming another channel for advertising. Very often,

journalists assigned to a company, are more interested in matters of strategy and management,

rather addressing the pressing issues of the day, that are high up on the current media agenda,

while being more reserved towards information not at the first glance relevant for their

assessment of the companys strategy.

While issues of innovation and R&D are more often addressed in special technology

sections, these are very often by the readers anyway interested in innovation, while the bulk of

the public may not be reached by most of the communicative activities in this field.

Even if journalists take up information about innovative products, they may frame them in

a way contrary to the original message. In some cases the quality of innovativity might even

be denied to the product described by the product. One example from the practice of MEDIA

21
TENOR relates to the introduction of new seat in the business class compartment of a leading

European airline. Although this product was marketed to the media in large-scale campaign,

the innovativeness of the product was not recognized by the media. Much to the contrary they

framed it rather in the context of market position, competition and pricing. The seat was not

perceived as something really new.

The evidence from the media analysis thus shows the limitations of communicating

innovation to the news media. In order to successfully construct an image of innovativity,

companies can only be successful, if they tie references to innovation to all their

communications, personalize it by assigning the responsibility of communicating innovation

to the board members and staging innovation in events and campaigns that are attractive even

to business and news editors, that are not focused on innovation and technology.

22
6. References

Albrecht, Christoph: Ntzliche Ineffizienz. Finanzmarktaufklrung warnt Investoren vor

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Reputation Institute: Welcome to Oslo and Reputation Institute's 11th International
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