Abstract
The use of information and communication technology and the Web-based products it provides is responsible for significant global energy use and consequent emissions of greenhouse gases. Media organisations acknowledge this to be a growing sustainability issue for their businesses; many are anxious to better understand how they can manage the carbon footprints of their digital services. This paper combines learning from a computer-based mathematical model of energy use in a digital product system with intelligence of the day-to-day activities of a global news business, Guardian News and Media Limited. It finds that: (1) emissions associated with a digital news product are comparable to media activities already subject to environmental management, suggesting an issue of material importance to publishers; (2) unlike physical products such as newspapers, the way energy is consumed in a digital news system is determined not just by technical decisions but also the everyday activities of journalists and the newsroom; (3) interventions that could reduce such energy consumption often conflict with parallel objectives, such as editorial and commercial. We therefore contend that the environmental effects of digital media delivery have significant implications for the practice of ethical digital journalism—and hope to stimulate further debate.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.