Demons into Angels? Corporate Social Responsibility and Media Organisations

Abstract

This article examines interpretations of the ideal media corporation by analysing corporate social responsibility engagement and communication of the largest media organisations in the world between 2000 and 2009. The study found that CSR engagement and communication are relatively limited and narrow among these firms, hence it is not surprising that public trust about them is low and perceptions of these organisations as 'demons' to society are widespread. Although CSR communication of multinational media companies has increased during the last decade, this was from a very low level of reporting and likely to have been mainly the result of organisations in the sector responding to a general trend in the corporate world towards a greater emphasis on CSR. The article argues that the increase in CSR communication arguably is part of a PR effort to improve the companies' image rather than a genuine transformation of the organisations to try to live up to the expectations of the ideal media corporation.