Enforcement in the news: Regulatory sanctions and media coverage

This paper focuses on the determinants of media coverage to regulatory sanctions. Disclosure of sanctions by regulators can translate into substantial reputational damage and financial losses for firms. Moreover, publicity about enforcement actions foster compliance and send signals to stakeholders both within and outside the regulated industry. The extent to which different audiences learn about enforcement actions depends nevertheless on their mediatisation. The paper empirically investigates the impact of target characteristics, the type of sanction as well as the regulatory environment on media coverage of enforcement in the field of financial regulation. Quantitative analyses focus on the scope of press coverage to sanctions by six regulators in two European jurisdictions (France, UK) over two decades (2002-2019). The preliminary results unveil patterns of media coverage and suggest that the scope of mediatisation is broadened when sanctions target large firms, involve financial penalties and address the protection of customers, investors and markets.