CSR in the News Media Industry in Times of the Climate Crisis: A Critical Reflection

Abstract

The contribution at hand zooms in on—what the authors describe as—the double responsibility of news media in the climate crisis. It aims to, on the one hand, contribute to an extended understanding of news media CSR in times of the climate crisis, and on the other hand critically reflect on the limitations of CSR in the media industry. The contribution draws on literature at the intersection of CSR, the news media and the climate crisis, and empirical work that has looked into four major media corporations in Australia, India, the UK, and the USA, and their corporate responses to the climate crisis. The authors argue that since CSR operates within and adapts to an economic system whose pillars are largely unsustainable, CSR carries inherent limitations to constructively engaging with challenges posed by the multiple crises. Similarly problematic are the voluntary nature of CSR commitments, the resulting low public accountability, the divergence between intents and realization, the generic rhetoric of CSR documents, and the subordination of ethical goals to economic goals. Operating within the logic of an unsustainable economic system, including the continued strive for economic growth, CSR, thus, does not tackle the roots of the crises to which it aims to respond. As a consequence, the authors suggest a zoom out from the micro level towards the macro level, and propose a reorientation towards questions related to media regulation rather than placing trust primarily in voluntary self-regulation.