The specific social responsibility of big television companies and risk contents

Abstract

This paper analyses the strategy of private nationally broadcasted television companies that use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) compliance reports to gain reputation exhibiting them as socially responsible. The reports released regarding to sustainability initiatives delivered by television companies are confusing as the concept of CSR is not adapted to the specific social purpose of broadcast programming. Under the recent General Law on Audiovisual Communication (LGCA by its initials in Spanish) the authors propose to distinguish between common CSR obligations, such as environmental responsibilities and specific responsibilities of CSR, concerned for their own company. To measure them it is essential to analyze the risk contents of TV programs. The research project developed a protocol of risk content categories. The main TV content rules, legal texts, style guides, self-regulatory codes, broadcasting authorities studies and association viewers studies have been inquired and reviewed to develop this protocol. The ten RC categories obtained by this procedure used in a more comprehensive survey conducted three years ago are now applied in a new project on a 2014 selection of programs to analyze if the TV content continues having a disregard of the television networks and determine whether there have been any significant changes in programming.