The fake news reporting and false market rumors extensively disseminated by investigative financial journalism have become an increasing headache for financial companies around the world. In 2018 Danske Bank was accused of being responsible for getting involved with the money laundering issue. It became the world’s highest-rated money laundering scandal. The effect of this scandal was severe as they were alleged to be involved in a criminal action.
Wells Fargo had a good reputation for its sound management. The company used its financial strength to purchase Wachovia during the height of the financial crisis. It emerged successfully from the recession with operating and stock price performance ratings among the top of its peer group. However, forged accounts reporting harmed the reputation of the company. Since 2016, Wells Fargo continues to experience severe consequences. Net income for 2020 slipped to $3.3 billion, compared with $19.5 billion in the year prior. The company has a smaller trading and investment banking arm as compared with its megabank peers, Wells Fargo also missed out on much on the flow in equities during the year 2021.
In September 2015, Volkswagen was found to have intentionally set controls on its diesel engines to misrepresent their emissions levels. Some 11 million cars worldwide had the “defeat” program installed. This discovery led to an immediate plunge in Volkswagen’s stock price; government investigations in North America, Europe, and Asia; the resignation of its CEO and the suspension of other executives; the company’s record loss in 2015; and a tab estimated at more than $19 billion to rectify the issues. The scandal did incalculable damage to Volkswagen’s brand
In the last few years, investing companies have witnessed a sharp fall-off in equity market valuations. Dramatic failures of big financial companies and auditing firms happened due to unreliable and biased information published against them. Publication of fake financial news stories and articles poses great challenges for organizations and brands. Bogus investigation reports promote a specific viewpoint about a product or organization, which is not true. Consequently, it is deliberately generated to mislead the consumers and harm the reputation of brands and organizations. Such false information can harm retailers’ interests by negatively influencing consumers’ intentions to buy. Moreover, consumers are misled into buying certain products based on fake reviews.
Fake news reporting and its extensive publication have become a grave concern for financial companies and the stock market. Such anonymous and user-generated content has created hurdles for the public to know the truth about a company’s financial services. Even, financial companies fail to get evidence to prove their credibility in the financial market since counter-information about the company originates from many unidentified sources and is also shared across different platforms. Even though financial companies have tried to remove such illegitimate news from various social media sites, it has adversely impacted their reputation in the financial world. The provision of reliable information is necessary for financial markets to perform their essential function of channeling capital to create productive investment opportunities.
Furthermore, bogus news stories have contributed to increasing skepticism and distrust about the financial reporting tactics of journalists. It is all about maintaining the credibility of their publishing content. With so many news sources available, journalists must thoroughly review their sources of information before publishing news stories. An investigative journalist should have a good sense of the news and sharp analytical thinking to analyze the issues along with providing true pieces of evidence.
Today, many investigative journalists have become famous after publishing false and bogus news stories and articles about financial companies and their brands. Their false news stories and hoaxes have affected private sector businesses and their financial performance.
Why Journalists Get Engaged with Unethical Practices
What instigates social media to spread false and contradictory information virally on s various social media platforms and how they are promoting bogus reporting. The 21st century has seen an increase in fake information about the financial market on an unprecedented scale. Powerful new technology makes the manipulation and fabrication of content simple, and social networks dramatically amplify falsehoods approaches to propagate manipulated content and information on various news sites. Therefore, more fictional journalists, analysts, and reporters are using forgery content to gain popularity in the media and online publishers. Moreover, journalists use false writings to increase their profitable business. Usually, such stories deliberately misinform readers and negatively influence their emotions and views.
Fake news is always sensational. The stories based on fake news are narrated sensationalize tone, the reporter uses exaggerated language and misinformation to excite the viewers regarding a rising sensitive matter.
Due to fierce competition among the media bodies, there is a race for survival. Every news body wants to attract the maximum viewership of its content. This is a treacherous trend that leads media houses to adopt unscrupulous practices and harbor the maximum amount of profit. Therefore, fake journalists publish unethical content to try to win favor by flattering affluent and powerful people. Such excessive and insincere attitude is a common ethical problem in journalism. Paid news is the antithesis of unbiased journalism. Paid news refers to the activities of news reporting that are accepted for a fee. Journalists merely for the sake of money mining sell their content to various news agencies. Unethical practices can disparage the reputation of a reporter. The risk of defamatory content and Scandalize published content may involve legal issues leading to a criminal offense. Leanna Orr is among those financial investigators who have covered a variety of financial investigating stories concerning hedge funds, institutional investing, private equity, portfolio construction, risk management, and behavioral finance. However, many financial companies find her reporting inappropriate since it comprises a combination of fake news and misleading content that is not wholly fabricated. The events reflect the conflict of interest and lack of accuracy.
