ESG, Journalism, and Media
ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles can be used to help news media executives regulate the behavior of their news organizations -- be they companies (for-profits) or non-profits. Like their adoption elsewhere in the non-media corporate world, ESG principles can be used to identify new measures of success for news media corporations and help drive new investments to catalyze ESG in journalistic culture and newsroom management.
The Journalism and Media Ethics advocacy and toolkits of the Markkula Center already fundamentally have the goal of keeping the social responsibility of news media organizations as the main focus. Governance aspects (ombudsmen, public editors, advertising and platform policies, etc) also come under program lenses. Environmental principles also apply to media corporations, especially large global and national organizations with big environmental footprints. If you are an executive or newsroom leader looking to advance ESG in your company or non-profit, here is a curation of ESG related articles.
Resources on ESG's Social Frame for Journalism and Media
The news media has historically oversimplified and stereotyped coverage of people of color in general and Asian-American communities in particular.
How solidarity news values can help improve reporting on marginalized communities
Should the media 鈥渃over鈥 Kellyanne Conway鈥檚 daughter and her posts on TikTok?
A three-step process and a framework of questions to make ethical reporting decisions, with recent convalescent plasma reporting as an example.
Both traditional journalism and social media are unwilling to reconsider their newsworthiness exemptions for politicians. This is particularly problematic in the midst of a global public health crisis because it drives unethical behavior in society.
The president鈥檚 interest in nuking hurricanes got into the news cycle last month, but one CNN reporter鈥檚 news article is an example of thoughtful work under deadline.
Ethical journalism practices require that presidential Tweets not serve as the story.
The news media is making progress on how to responsibly and ethically report on mass shootings.
This article analyzes some of the media's early judgment of presumed guilt for the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia.
Resources for ESG's Governance Frame for Journalism and Media
Facebook鈥檚 and Twitter鈥檚 post-by-post enforcement model inadequately defends against nuanced and coordinated incitement campaigns, such as those committed by Donald Trump leading up to and after the January 6th insurrection at the Capital.
Subramaniam Vincent and Courtney Davis 鈥21 of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics provide comment to Facebook鈥檚 oversight board on the ethical considerations of Donald Trump鈥檚 deplatforming.
By their very design, social media platforms have offered equal opportunity to sellers of 鈥淏ig Lies,鈥 conspiracy theories, and political disinformation.
Despite Twitter鈥檚, Google鈥檚 and Facebook鈥檚 varying guidelines for handling political ads, the largest platforms still require additional guardrails to protect our democracy.
With political advertising, a convened American public, where speech and counter-speech are offered in context, does not have a seat at the table.
New Facebook policy grants wide berth to politicians鈥 speech in newsfeed.