Media governance and corporate social responsibility of media organizations

Ingenhoff, Diana; Koelling, A. Martina

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2011.01646.x

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Journal article

Media governance and corporate social responsibility of media organizations : an international comparison

Ingenhoff, Diana Department of Media and Communication Research, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Koelling, A. Martina Department of Media and Communication Research, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

2012

Published in:

Business ethics: a European review. - Wiley. - 2012, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 154-167

English Media companies are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of their reputation. In order to legitimate themselves, they are starting to present themselves as ‘good corporate citizens’ by engaging in media governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The communication of those activities is crucial for the building of reputation. However, to date, no comprehensive studies have been conducted to evaluate the communication of media governance and CSR activities of media organizations. This study aims to fill this gap and examined websites and reports of selected media organizations in Germany, Italy, France, Austria, and Switzerland. Results indicate that public service media organizations communicate proportionally more on media governance than private media organizations, which may be due to the fact that public service media organizations feel more accountable to the public as they have a public service obligation. Concerning the communication of their CSR activities, media organizations focus on society-oriented measures.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales et du management

Department

Département des sciences de la communication et des médias

Language