"A study of misbehavior among publicly traded companies illustrates the critical watchdog role that newspapers play, and the problems that arise when publications go out of business," Avery Forman reports for Working Knowledge, a publication of the Harvard Business School. "When local newspapers shutter, some businesses evidently treat the lack of press coverage as permission to act badly and end up committing more illegal violations, including pollution, workplace safety infractions, and financial fraud," according to research by Harvard associate business professor Jonah Heese, University of California San Diego professor Gerardo Perez-Cavazos, and Erasmus University professor Caspar David Peter.

Read the full article about corporate accountability by Heather Chapman at The Rural Blog.