By David Connell

The purpose of "Media Watch" is to examine how the insurance and financial advising industries are treated in the media. Because most of you seem to be concerned with the news media, I've concentrated on that and found stories in the popular media that pertain to you and your business. But, I'm only one man so my coverage has been a bit haphazard, and certainly unscientific. I hear about a story, poke around the Internet to see who else is covering it and report out. It isn't a complete picture, but it gives you a reasonable idea of what's going on out there.

However, this month, "Media Watch" discovered the mother of all big pictures when it comes to media coverage, and it presents a picture that is anything but haphazard and is more than scientific. This Mecca of media coverage is called CARMA International, a media analysis company that examines how 70 of the most influential print publications cover more than 700 of the world's largest companies in 28 business sectors--including the insurance industry.

Although scandal wasn't much of an issue for insurance companies, the study revealed that the industry still has trouble drumming up good publicity.

Good news for insurance
CARMA has good news for the insurance industry. According to a recently completed, long-term study by the group, insurance companies were able to steer clear of the scandal stories that have continually plagued the banking and investment sectors. According to CARMA, companies in the insurance industry appeared in just a few stories on scandal, totaling only 2 percent of its news coverage between March 2001 and February 2003. The banking sector, on the other hand, had 12 percent of its coverage focus on scandal.

CARMA found that stories on the banking industry often centered on conflicts of interest; for example, banks that employed financial analysts who recommend stock buys while gaining profits from underwriting those same companies.

Although scandal wasn't much of an issue for insurance companies, the study revealed that the industry still has trouble drumming up good publicity. A major reason for this over the past two years has been stagnant or falling earnings and continued legal trouble. In fact, a full 39 percent of the industry's media presence was related to earnings and finances, with the majority of this coverage, according to CARMA, being negative.

Immediate analysis
CARMA collects its data through a remarkable Web-based service called CARMA Immediate. This service treats the news industry a bit like the stock market, producing graphs, based on a 52-week timespan that chart the rise and fall of the industry's volume of coverage as well as a "favorability rating" of that coverage.

For instance, I can tell you that for the past 52 weeks, the insurance industry reached a high volume of coverage during the week of March 16, with 57 articles. Drilling down into that data I can tell you that coverage that week came from The New York Times, Investor's Business Daily and Fortune, among others. Companies covered include Prudential, Cigna and Conseco (which, by the way, was declaring bankruptcy that week. How do I know? CARMA told me so.) Other stories that week centered on earnings reports and the breakup of merger talks between Prudential and Wachovia.

The weak earnings reports created a dip in the industry's favorability rating, but it did not match the bottoming out that occurred during the last week in February. According to CARMA's records, the industry received body blows in the form of poor (and early) earnings reports, a sliding stock market, lawsuits and an investigative piece on insurance and trauma units by The Wall Street Journal. This resulted in a low favorability rating of 45.

CARMA Immediate users can also break down the media coverage of independent companies. Let's pick on the Prudential, whose favorability see-saws around the 50 percent mark. Recently, on April 6, the company saw a spike based on the story "Which Way Are the Markets Headed Now?" in Canada's National Post. However, just one week later, the company took a tumble when The Wall Street Journal published the story "Mad About Money."

As I said, the charts used by CARMA tend to mimic the stock market, both in their presentation and how companies react to small fluctuations in the data. Speaking of the stock market, CARMA Immediate allows users to compare the 52-week stock chart with the 52-week media chart by placing them on the same graph. As you might have guessed the similarities between the two lines are often striking.

CARMA Immediate provides a lot of information for anyone interested in news coverage, however at $200 per month, it comes with a hefty price tag that only the largest of companies can afford. It is designed with media relations departments in mind, not the average news hound. Although it's not something you are likely to use in framing your next PR campaign, it is definitely something the companies you sell for should be using when crafting their strategy.

Am I missing something? Did you read an essential story on investor confidence? Is Law and Order sticking it to the insurance industry again? Have you read a book that deals with the financial services industry? Is this a poorly written column and a disgrace to the industry? Sound off on "Media Watch" by emailing your thoughts to David Connell.

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