• by Tom Siebert , December 1, 2006

They give good image. For the fourth straight quarter, Microsoft and The Walt Disney Co. finished one-two atop the Delahaye Index, which studies and analyzes how news coverage--top print and TV outlets--reflects and helps shape the corporate reputations and perception of the 100 largest companies in the United States.

Financial performance proves to be the strongest driver of corporate perception--for better and worse. General Motors, for example, benefited most by the phenomenon--finishing 13th for third-quarter 2006 after finishing 100th (or dead last) in the first quarter.

"While there is still a lot of negative coverage for GM, stories that were completely negative earlier are now more balanced," says Matt Merlin, research director for Delahaye. Yet even positive straight news stories usually include a paragraph or two at the end noting GM's struggles. "A lot of recent coverage has been about their environmental initiatives," he adds, "which don't even mention the car company troubles."

Conversely, a rough quarter of news coverage for Hewlett-Packard, which weathered an ongoing corporate spying scandal, dropped the company from 10th-place to last.

"That's probably the biggest thing on the radar this quarter," Merlin notes. "Several weeks of a barrage of negative news, when you've got stories like that coming out every day. It's tough."

Each company's score is based on how many positive and negative reputation-driving attributes are found within each story. There are five categories judged: stakeholder relations, financial management, products and services, organizational integrity and organizational strength.

New to the top 10 is Motorola, which had much positive press coverage for its rising stock and acquisition of Symbol Technologies, earning an eighth ranking.

Two companies, Microsoft and Wal-Mart (which finished fifth), had top rankings, despite a significant amount of negative publicity.

"[Microsoft and Wal-Mart] are both good examples of a kind of phenomenon in the index where, even though there is a certain percentage of constant negative coverage, they are seen as bellwethers of their industry," Merlin says. "If there is any kind of story on retail, Wal-Mart is going to get mentioned. More so, as Wal-Mart is perceived as a bellwether of the economy as a whole."

Wal-Mart got an added boost with news of strong back-to-school sales. Plus, a Maryland judge overturned a state health-care law specifically written to affect the retailer.

Verizon also returned to the top 10, coming in 10th by exceeding second-quarter forecasts and dropping its music download fees.

Other members of the Delahaye Index top 10 include IBM and Time Warner at three and four; Boeing and Citigroup at six and seven; and Intel at ninth, down from fourth place, following news of declining profits, balanced by the introduction of a news series of microprocessors.

The index draws its reporting analysis from the top 50 largest-circ daily newspapers, top news and business news magazines, all network news programs and top cable news channels, as well as PBS, Bloomberg and several other key news outlets.