“CSR in the media”: journalists and sustainable development

By Adalberto Wodianer Marcondes 

The first activity of the Ethos Institute 2008 International Conference, the “CSR in the media” debate, gathered over 250 people in the Anhembi Main Auditorium. This is a moment for professionals of the media sector to think over the future of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement, and an opportunity to review how the media have been covering the theme. CSR and sustainability have had more press coverage through the creation of editorials and special supplements, in addition to an increasing number of qualified professionals engaged in this coverage. Nevertheless, despite all advances, the understanding of the cross-cutting nature of social responsibility is still limited. It is also little understood how this subject can add value to the communication business.

Many media and academia representatives participated in the debate held at Anhembi, which was chaired by Paulo Nassar, director of the Brazilian Association of Business Communication (Aberje). One issue addressed by the lecturers was the media companies’ social responsibility regarding not only their readers but also their workforce. Ignácio Ramonet, director-president of Le Monde Diplomatique, mentioned the major media companies’ human resources policies as a key factor for the understanding of CSR by the companies. In his opinion, media companies are not implementing internal social responsibility policies, which makes it hard for newsrooms to address this subject. Paulo Nassar shared the same opinion, saying that media companies still use last century’s management model.

The debaters were Ramonet, Julio Moreno, former Strategic Planning Director for Grupo Estado and currently Coordinator of TV Cultura News Department, Ingrid Bejerman, Professor of International Journalism at Concordia University, in Canada, and Pollyana Ferrari, Professor of Digital Journalism at PUC-SP. According to the group, the CSR media coverage still faces difficulties in understanding the theme. Reporters and editors still stick to the easy story, based on tragedy and sensationalism, without in-depth thought about their impact on other knowledge areas. “A journalist who writes about economics doesn’t link the subjects with the themes featuring the general issues page”, said Pollyana Ferrari. One example is the car industry coverage, which shows how successful sales are without relating them to the urban transportation model and the traffic in the metropolis.

According to Ingrid Bejerman, media professionals should be prepared for a cross-cutting approach to subjects. She believes part of the effort to bring sustainability to the media belongs to the journalist, who should take a personal step in this direction. “Being a qualified journalist is not the sole responsibility of companies. In fact it is a personal asset that adds value and credibility to the work done”, she added. Ingrid also spoke about the conditioning factors allegedly imposed by companies or advertisers. “The journalist is an intellectual who should make his/her own choices. If a professional is sure of the content and ethics of his/her work, he/she should make his/her opinion prevail”, she said.

This thought was shared by Julio Moreno, Coordinator of TV Cultura News Department, who thinks journalism is made of good stories and good professionals. “Quality journalism is the raw material of media companies”, said Julio. He also mentioned some media outlets are making room for CSR coverage, of which TV Cultura’s Repórter Eco and Balanço Social shows are good examples. Sustainability subjects have also been presented on some daily TV news. “The television and new technologies, such as the Internet, are privileged spaces for specialized subjects”, said Julio Moreno. Such new technologies were also referred to by Pollyana Ferrari as a privileged space, with great interactivity, where the reader is not a “passive subject”, but an interlocutor of the news. “Nowadays, the news can be almost compared to MP3 music. Everybody can download, read and listen to whatever pleases us, thus valuing both the content and the author”, said Pollyana. This availability of information from multiple sources makes the journalist’s role more relevant, explained Ingrid Bejerman, who considers that the alternative media play a key role in the debate on innovative subjects. “Journalists should encourage reflection, critical thinking, and keep the investigative spirit alive”, she explained.

The CSR in the Media debate, a traditional moment of Ethos Institute’s conferences, gathered in its audience some of the most prominent professionals of CSR coverage in the Brazilian press. Amélia Gonzalez, editor of “Razão Social” supplement of the O Globo newspaper, said the media has a long way to go to arouse the reader’s interest in and reflection on sustainability. In her opinion, this space offered by the Ethos Institute is important and should be used to link the media to the companies who are leading this movement.

Silvia Marcuzzo, from the State of Rio Grande do Sul, a freelance writer for several media outlets and reporter for EcoAgência, from Porto Alegre, believes the social responsibility subject will only get more press attention when editors and media company owners buy into its relevance. “They comprise few families”, she said. This was also the opinion of several journalists present in the debate.

Paulo Itacarambi, Executive vice-president of the Ethos Institute, closed the debate highlighting the importance of having the media as a supporter of changes in production and consumption paradigms towards the construction of a new economic and social development model. “Information is the key to transformation”, he said.

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