Using a comprehensive dataset for Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021, we find that online media is negatively associated with cash dividend level, and the proportion of positive news has a negative moderating effect on this relationship. Our results support the "information intermediary" effect and exclude the "external governance" and "market pressure" effects. We further propose that online media weakens the positive relationship between cash dividends and past earnings (rather than the future), indicating that cash dividends contain signals of improvement in past earnings and are replaced by online news. We also find that only firms with more positive news pay dividends that have signaling effects, and there is a synergistic effect between positive news and dividend signal. Additional results show that the effect of online media on dividend policy is more pronounced than traditional media, which has almost no influence. Our main conclusions remain valid after addressing potential endogeneity issues and conducting various robustness tests.

内 容 摘 要 基准利率在利率市场化的进程中居于核心地位，而中国的基准利率尚处在培育和发展阶段。本文在总结前人研究的基础上，提出从货币市场基础性和货币政策权威性两个角度进行分析，通过因果关系检验、脉冲响应分析和货币市场压力模拟，对SHIBOR的基准利率地位进行检验。检验结果表明，SHIBOR经过4年多的运行，具备了基准利率的主要特征，SHIBOR作为中国的基准利率更具科学性。基于上述的分析结果，本文提出了进一步加快把SHIBOR培育为基准利率的建议。 ABSTRACT Benchmark interest rate is on a core position in the process of interest rate marketization, while China’s benchmark interest rate is still in cultivating and developing stage. According to conclusions of former research, this article which is focused on base of monetary market and authority of monetary policy, through the ADF test, impulse response analysis and simulation of monetary market pressure, tests SHIBOR’s position of benchmark interest rate. Test results show that after more than four years’ operation, SHIBOR obtains the main characteristics of benchmark interest rate and becomes more reasonable to be benchmark interest rate. Based on the analysis above, this article put forward some proposals to accelerate the cultivation of SHIBOR.