Reconceptualizing CSR in the Media Industry as Relational Accountability Mollie Painter-Morland & Ghislain Deslandes Journal of Business Ethics ISSN 0167-4544 J Bus Ethics DOI 10.1007/s10551-016-3083-0 1 23 Your article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works, as long as the author of the original work is cited. You may self- archive this article on your own website, an institutional repository or funder’s repository and make it publicly available immediately. 1 23 J Bus Ethics DOI 10.1007/s10551-016-3083-0 Reconceptualizing CSR in the Media Industry as Relational Accountability 1,2 3 Mollie Painter-Morland • Ghislain Deslandes Received: 31 July 2014 / Accepted: 2 February 2016 Ó The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract In this paper, we reconceptualize CSR in the Keywords Corporate social responsibility Á Media media industries by combining empirical data with theo- Organizations Á Media Ethics Á Speed Á Paul Virilio Á retical perspectives emerging from the communication Relational accountability studies and business ethics literature. We develop a new conception of what corporate responsibility in media organizations may mean in real terms by bringing Bardoel Introduction and d’Haenens’ (European Journal of Communication 19 165–194 2004) discussion of the different dimensions of Finding a satisfactory conceptualization of CSR in the media accountability into conversation with the empirical media industries is a difficult task, both for the fields of results from three international focus group studies, con- business ethics and for communication studies. One reason ducted in France, the USA and South Africa. To enable a for this is that the roots of many media organizations lie in critical perspective on our findings, we perform a philo- the journalism profession, and as such, professional ethics sophical analysis of its implications for professional, pub- and business ethics must be closely aligned in this specific lic, market, and political accountability in the media, industry (Richards 2004). To discuss this problem, business drawing on the insights of Paul Virilio. We come to the ethics scholars have mainly focused on adapting Caroll’s conclusion that though some serious challenges to media model to media organizations (Ingenhoff and Koelling accountability exist, the battle for responsible media 2012, p. 157), starting from the media’s editorial respon- industries is not lost. In fact, the speed characterizing the sibility, which is considered as fundamental. This respon- contemporary media environment may hold some promise sibility relates especially to ethical standards within the for fostering the kind of relational accountability that could journalism profession, which center on values such as underpin a new understanding of CSR in the media. independence, objectivity, diversity, pluralism, and ‘truth- fulness’ (Ingenhoff and Koelling 2012, p. 155). According to these authors, this primary and essential responsibility extends naturally, but only secondarily, to employees, to environment and to society in general. Some authors in fact & Mollie Painter-Morland argue that before becoming a hot topic, CSR in the media [email protected]; [email protected] industry has long been considered with skepticism by these Ghislain Deslandes organizations’ executives (Lee and Caroll 2011; Tench, [email protected] Bowd and Jones 2007). It is only in recent years that a 1 Management Division, Nottingham Business School, Burton concern for the legitimacy and reputation of their compa- Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK nies made this a more urgent priority. In this industry 2 Coca-Cola Chair for Sustainability, IEDC-Bled Business characterized by fast-paced change, conglomerates have School, Bled, Slovenia also adapted as slowly as possible some international best 3 ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la Re´publique, practices in terms of corporate governance (Van Liedek- 75011 Paris, France erke 2004). 123 M. Painter-Morland, G. Deslandes Communication scholars find their points of orientation perspective, the moral agency operative in this environ- toward a definition of CSR in the complex network of ment can only be understood if certain structural features of accountabilities that are at play within the media industry. the profession are taken into account. This means that Bardoel and d’Haenens (2004, p. 171) quote Hodges in responsibility does not reside only, and not even primarily arguing that ‘‘responsibility has to do with defining proper within distinct professionals, but in the relational con- conduct; accountability with compelling it.’’ This approach straints emerging from interconnected networks that are suggests that there is an implicit relationship between accountable toward one another. responsibility and accountability, which we will endeavor to make more explicit (Painter-Morland 2012, p. 84). In fact, we believe that exploring this relationship may allow Insights from the Literature us to offer a satisfactory conceptualization of CSR in the media industries. Responsibility relates to the societal A number of distinct discourses seem to have emerged in needs that we expect media professionals (especially the the recent literature on CSR in media organizations. members of the newsroom) to respond to. Accountability Grayston (2010, p. 161), for instance, distinguishes two relates to the way in which societal structures set up con- distinct areas of interest and concern: corporate responsi- straints that hold professionals accountable for their ful- bility in the media and corporate responsibility of the fillment of the responsibilities given to them in their media. The first of these relate to media organizations’ various relationships to stakeholders and structures. We attentiveness to conventional CSR issues in other compa- believe that the relational constraints emerging from the nies, while the latter relates to concerns such as fairness, interplay between individual accountability and structural access, accuracy, taste/decency, media policies, national accountability work together to offer is a satisfactory laws and ethics, as well as to how media organizations conceptualization of CSR in the media industries. It would pursue and report on their own corporate responsibility. thus be important to clarify how current accountability Most publications in the area of media and CSR focus challenges in the media industries can assist us in retro- on how media organizations report on ethics and CSR in spectively defining the responsibilities that the media has other organizations. Lee and Caroll (2011, p. 119) inves- toward society. tigate how media attention to CSR issues has increased in To this end, we build our approach in four distinct steps. different countries over a period of 25 years in the news- First, we review the literature on CSR in the media paper industry. This provides a justification of corpora- industries to inform our own approach to it. Our aim is to tions’ efforts to publicize their CSR policies and initiatives, broaden Bardoel and d’Haenens’ analysis of the relation since it raises public awareness about these issues. Using between media accountability and media responsibility. Caroll’s (1999) four dimensions of CSR in their study, they Secondly, we explain our method for conducting our demonstrate how the concept of CSR has become multi- empirical investigation via focus groups discussions on dimensional and show that interest in organizations’ ethical three continents. This analysis enables us to highlight duties became prominent only in the early 2000s. They also particular challenges that emerge in terms of media reveal how the treatment of CSR by the news media has accountability. Thirdly, our analysis of the collected data evolved over time depending on the different dimensions: indicates that the speed of interactions in the media if a negative tone about CSR in the media has been gen- industries poses distinct dangers to professional, public, erally prevalent, media criticism of corporations’ lack of market, and political accountability. We offer an in-depth ethical responsibility has increased while, at the same time, study of these challenges, drawing on the thoughts of Paul the number of negative articles in the legal and philan- Virilio, who is the philosopher most closely engaged with thropic dimensions has decreased. Tench, Bowd, and Jones addressing the ethical consequences of speed in our (2007, p. 361) found that media professionals either have a hyperconnected societies. In a fourth and final step, we realist (CSR is self-interested, but can transform business move beyond the challenges posed to various forms of for the better) or a cynical view (CSR is pursued for per- accountability in the media to reconstruct corporate ception-purposes only and makes no substantive difference responsibility as the product of relational accountability to business and usual) of the CSR activities that they report (Painter-Morland 2006, 2007). on, and tend to focus more on negative stories than positive As such, accountability moves from being account- ones. able for a certain set of responsibilities toward being The fact that media organizations increasingly report on relationally responsive toward all stakeholders in society, CSR issues in other companies seems to have led to an and relationally shaped by participation in structures and enhanced awareness