Unmasking greenwashing – the role of the news media in giving voice to whistleblowers in sustainable finance

IF 2.7 2区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Journalism Pub Date : 2024-03-21 DOI:10.1177/14648849241241139

Vesile Cinceoglu, Nadine Strauß

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sustainable investing is on the rise within the financial sector. However, the honesty, reliability, and validity of the sustainable finance (SF) industry is currently facing increasing allegations and criticism, including from individuals within the sector. This paper aims to investigate how the news media give voice to whistleblowers in SF. To do so, a mixed methods approach was applied. First, expert interviews were conducted between March and April 2022 with individuals responsible for SF/ESG (‘environmental, social and governance’) investments in Europe as well as DWS whistleblower, Desiree Fixler. In parallel, the news coverage of two prominent whistleblowers in the ESG industry was examined using a qualitative, manual content analysis of articles from nine major financial news sites online. The findings of the interviews shed light on how the media provided whistleblowers a platform to expose organizational wrongdoings in the realm of SF. In addition, the content analysis showed that the financial news media provided a forum for information, criticism, and discussion about SF. The results provide innovative insights about whistleblower activities related to SF and greenwashing within the financial industry, and their portrayal in financial news media.

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揭开 "绿色清洗 "的面纱--新闻媒体在为可持续金融领域的举报人发声方面的作用

在金融领域，可持续投资正在兴起。然而，可持续金融（SF）行业的诚实性、可靠性和有效性目前正面临着越来越多的指控和批评，包括来自该行业内部个人的指控和批评。本文旨在研究新闻媒体如何为可持续金融行业的举报人发声。为此，本文采用了混合方法。首先，在 2022 年 3 月至 4 月期间，对欧洲 SF/ESG（"环境、社会和治理"）投资的负责人以及 DWS 举报人 Desiree Fixler 进行了专家访谈。与此同时，通过对九个主要财经新闻网站的在线文章进行定性、人工内容分析，对环境、社会和治理行业两位知名举报人的新闻报道进行了研究。访谈结果揭示了媒体如何为举报人提供平台，揭露顺丰领域的组织不法行为。此外，内容分析还表明，财经新闻媒体为有关 SF 的信息、批评和讨论提供了一个论坛。研究结果为揭露金融业内与顺丰和绿色清洗相关的举报人活动及其在金融新闻媒体中的形象提供了创新性见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journalism COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

7.90

自引率

10.30%

发文量

123

期刊介绍： Journalism is a major international, peer-reviewed journal that provides a dedicated forum for articles from the growing community of academic researchers and critical practitioners with an interest in journalism. The journal is interdisciplinary and publishes both theoretical and empirical work and contributes to the social, economic, political, cultural and practical understanding of journalism. It includes contributions on current developments and historical changes within journalism.