CSR proponents need to be more open and honest with business journalists, argues Roger Cowe
An eminent left-wing writer once said that journalists belong in the
gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty
secrets. That is a reasonable defence not only against accusations of
‘gutter journalism’ but also against the common complaint that
newspapers are only interested in companies’ misdoings. It also largely
reflects an important role of newspapers: ‘to comfort the comfortless
and discomfort the comfortable’, in a saying much-quoted by a fellow
contributor to this column, Sir Geoffrey Chandler.
Nevertheless, now that I am no longer a journalist I can acknowledge
that business journalists have not covered themselves in glory with
coverage of CSR (the Financial Times being an honourable exception).
There are good reasons though – partly that too many firms have only
wanted to talk about their ‘good deeds’ rather than being honest and
open.
It isn’t that the media ignores corporate responsibility. Every week
there are plenty of headlines about incidents such as oil spills,
boardroom extravagance, and the impact of bank closures or supermarket
openings on communities.
On the other hand, few journalists have been interested in the
development of reporting practices, even the Operating and Financial
Review. Individual reports rarely get a mention. And there is little
coverage of the positive contribution companies make, even genuinely
ground-breaking initiatives such as Unilever’s work with sustainable
fisheries or B&Q’s work on sourcing timber and other products.
This is partly due to what I regard as the anachronistic nature of
business journalism, which often appears focused on news rather than
features and preoccupied with short-term share price movements,
takeovers or financial scandals. That allows little coverage of
business management.
But this gap also says something about CSR. First, it has not been
sufficiently central to corporate strategies to make it to the top two
or three issues that CEOs, chief financial officers or City analysts
talk to journalists about. If it’s not important enough to your
company, it’s not important to business journalists. Second, media
organizations tend to have suffered from the same affliction that can
be seen in many companies. They claim to be really interested in CSR,
but when it comes to the crunch, other matters take priority.
But there is no point blaming the messenger for failing to appreciate
the message. It is up to proponents of CSR to come up with stories that
are more interesting to a wide readership than almost anything else
happening at the time, and to give journalists no excuse for failing to
appreciate how interesting they are.
Roger Cowe is a director of Context, the corporate responsibility strategy and communications consultancy
