For editors at Oil & Gas Journal deadlines are many and frequent simply due to OGJ's weekly publishing schedule in addition to its daily online news coverage. This is particularly true around the end of the calendar year, as holidays tend to move deadlines up by a day or two.
This issue recently struck just as a source of one of our weekly statistics tables announced—on deadline day—that it would no longer produce a data series that readers have relied upon for years. This happened with the World Crude Prices table that was included in the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Suddenly those data are no longer available to us in one reliable, easy-to-access place.
So with such time crunches at hand, it was interesting to see a new study that examined the timing of some particular news releases. This study looked at releases from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which on Nov. 21 (a Monday) announced that it will delay until mid-December a ruling on greenhouse gas standards for refineries (OGJ Online, Nov. 22, 2011). This delay was welcomed by industry groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, as EPA will now allow itself more time to analyze relevant data ahead of the ruling.
The study
EPA press releases announcing enforcement actions or regulatory changes were issued more often on Fridays and before holidays, a time when news has the least impact on media coverage and financial markets, according to the new study from Resources for the Future (RFF), Washington, DC, an independent, nonpartisan institution that focuses on issues in environmental and natural resource policy.
The authors, RFF fellow Lucija Muehlenbachs and coauthors Elisabeth Newcomb Sinha, PhD candidate at the University of Maryland, and Nitish Ranjan Sinha, assistant professor at the University of llinois at Chicago, used machine learning techniques to identify the content of EPA press releases along several dimensions and speculate that EPA might get more bang for its buck by revising its media release timelines.
EPA often publicizes enforcement actions, fines, lawsuit settlements, and changes to environmental regulations utilizing media releases. In addition to providing a deterrent for future environmental transgressors, media releases work by promoting awareness of regulatory action. Given the intended goal of increasing awareness, it would seem that EPA would make such announcements at times that ensure the largest audience draw, the authors said. But the research suggests that this may not be the case.
After examining the content and timing of more than 21,000 press releases issued by EPA between 1994 and 2009, the research found that the news of enforcement actions or regulatory changes was indeed issued at times when it had the least impact.
"Changing the timing of press releases could increase public awareness and provide a stronger deterrent against violations of environmental rules," said Muehlenbachs. Announcements of violations early in the week, rather than on Friday, would probably be more effective at getting attention, she added.
The study also found that EPA press releases mentioning environmental awards, which contained words like "commend," "grant," and "achievement," were less likely to be issued on Fridays and days before holidays and are more likely to appear earlier in the week.
The authors cited other research that found investors pay less attention to media reports released on Fridays than those released on other weekdays. Also, it is more difficult for reporters to follow up with interviews as the weekend begins, making it less likely that a story will be published at all if a press release is issued at the end of the week.
To fully exploit the effectiveness of public disclosure as a deterrent to environmental violation as well as promote awareness of environmental regulation, EPA must manage not only the content but also the schedule of its public announcements, the report said.
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