9.1. – How is corporate social responsibility applied?

There is no agreed definition for corporate social responsibility (RSE in French). However, all European companies agree to present this idea as an awareness of their social, cultural, economic and environmental impact on society.

Obviously, the impact of a newspaper, radio/TV channel or news site comes down to its news content more than to its energy consumption.

After the British Media corporate social responsibility forum (CSR forum) and the Nordic CR Forum in northern Europe, several large French groups (TF1, Vivendi, Lagardère, France Televisions, Bayard Press) grouped together to form the RSE Media forum in 2011. Their objective was to work together to highlight the specific social responsibility issues for their particular sector. Most of the important press groups have an RSE policy.

In 2014 the RSE Médias forum published La RSE dans le secteur des médias (Corporate Social Responsibility in the media sector) guide .

French legislation, largely inspired by Brussels, demands public companies to publish extra-financial information. This requirement will progressively be applied to non-public companies.

But the notion of a news organisation’s social/societal responsibility varies according to the size and country of the media.

Since adopting a code for sustainable development in 2010, Germany strongly encourages companies to put into place voluntary transparency for this sustainable management norm.

The same trend exists in Poland, thanks to the influence of the European community. However, there is still no media specific corporate social responsibility in Poland.

Complete answers

Belgium

De Standaard : Not applied

France

Europe 1 : This is a recent development

The position taken by the Lagardère group revolves around four priorities: to assert itself as a responsible employer, to develop its activities with respect for the environment, to encourage access to information and knowledge and to be a media group that creates social links.

An extra financial report is published every year by Isabelle Juppé, responsible for sustainable development within the Group since 2008. It lists Group initiatives and internal good practices and sets out objectives and indicators for measuring Group impacts.

Lagardère is part of the RSE Medias Forum.

France 24 : From the point of view of diversity and the fight against discrimination

France 24 signed the diversity charter in April 2013 and is committed to the fight against all forms of discrimination. This is an editorial commitment and France 24 is a responsible media organisation, an active partner for equality, diversity and in raising awareness against discrimination. The programmes cover these themes, either through debates, exchange of ideas and reflections coming from all the five continents, but also through programmes about world culture, issues of equality and sustainable development - all the challenges of development and diversity in our world without borders.

Le Monde : There is none

And nobody is looking at this question.

Ouest France : There is great awareness

There is no department or member of staff in charge of the question of sustainable development or corporate responsibility. However, many posts take into account these environmental or social questions during the course of their work (HR, building engineer, industrial manager, car pool manager, etc).

A working group, charged by the Management Board, is assessing our carbon footprint.

There is a growing awareness of corporate civic responsibility and the need to implement changes.

These environmental and civic processes have not, however, become formal commitments.

Germany

Berliner Zeitung : Charitable works

Berliner Zeitung does not have a dedicated department but M. DuMont Schauberg who own the newspaper and the family of the owner, Neven DuMont, are involved in a number of charitable works to which they contribute financially, e.g. ”Wir helfen – die Lobby für Kinder in Not” (an association to help children in need), Spiridon-Neven-DuMont-Preis (a prize for young artists), Stifterrat des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums (a trust that supports the Wallraf-Richartz museum in Cologne), Alfred-Neven-DuMont-Stiftung (a foundation currently supporting a boarding school for underprivileged children in Nairobi), etc.

ZDF : A dedicated department exists for this

ZDF television channel has a corporate social responsibility department.

Ireland

The Irish Times : None

Poland

Polskie Radio, kanal 3 : None

United Kingdom

BBC : A specific team

The BBC has recruitment diversity targets. In 2012, people from ethnic minorities had to represent 12.5% of salaried staff and 7% of directors. Disabled people had to make up 5.5% of salaried staff and 4.5% of Senior Management.

The BBC organises a fundraising phone-in every year to raise money for disadvantaged children.

The BBC Wildlife fund organises fundraising for projects for the conservation of species and ecosystems. In 2010 this affected 60 species in 28 countries.

The Guardian : A team exists for this

The Guardian offers bursaries to post-doctoral students based on diversity criteria.

A team of four or five people operates transversally across all Group departments.