integrating sustainability themes into media - Collaborating Centre ...

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Message 6: Formal integration of sustainability and/or CSR strategies in media
organisations and among publishers, broadcasters and production companies
remains very limited.
Media organisations are not only hoping to profit from the change in attitudes but
are also beginning to actively encourage consumers in this change. But, only very
few media organisations act upon their responsibilities as opinion leaders
within a meaningful and systematic strategy. Sustainability reports by media
companies remain rare, both in Europe and internationally. In the few sustainability
reports that do exist, opinion leaders tend to rather focus narrowly on the environmental
footprint of their operations rather than on the “brain print” left by the minds
of their readers or viewers. Among the rare exceptions are the Guardian News &
Media Ltd. (UK), The New York Times Company (USA) but also some German
broadcasters including ARD or WDR that have systematically integrated sustainability
into their editorial concept. There are real and significant opportunities for
governments to appropriately remind media organisations that, as opinion leaders
in society, they have responsibilities to educate and inform audiences. The opportunity
for government is not only to encourage but also to develop effective support
mechanisms for media organisations when communicating sustainability issues
with their audiences.
Message 7: Crosscutting media partnerships are vital to promote sustainability
Crosscutting media partnerships between different types of stakeholders (media,
government, research, private sector and NGO’s) have proved to be effective
means to communicate sustainability issues.
To illustrate the diversity of existing partnerships and their benefits the research
team detected four fields of action and four types of partnerships. The following
presents a structured overview of different types of media partnerships observed
during the conduct of this study. These cases are drawn from the outline of
the media sector described in chapter 3.1 and the good practice examples outlined
in chapters 3.2 and 3.3. The overview is intended to highlight crucial areas of
sustainability media formats that can be enhanced through collaboration with external
partners.
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