The Whole Picture
Harry and Meghan’s recent Netflix series pulled in the audiences, set the media ablaze and once again raised issues about opinion, truth and accountability. Meghan says “they” were out to destroy her. BBC Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell, understanding this to refer to the Palace but most particularly the press, described it as “absurd” and unable to stand up to ‘proper and reasonable scrutiny.”
It’s a fine balance. Content should be interesting, engaging – and, importantly, ethical. As far back as 1986, The Guardian’s ‘Points of View’ ad (below), perfectly captured the values and necessity of quality journalism. This stands true, despite increasing media platforms.
“An event from one point of view gives one impression. Seen from another point of view gives it quite a different impression. But it's only when you get the whole picture you can fully understand what's going on”.
UK media companies create captivating content, that appeals to large audiences, and commercially sells space/airtime to brands. Press and TV are regulated by IPSO (The Independent Press Standards Organisation) and Ofcom respectively, so the facts have to be corroborated or face consequence. There are drives to discuss how social media and video streaming companies such as Netflix, who aired the Harry & Meghan series, are regulated internationally. The challenge is that media content can be subjective, leading to a polar bias from different sides debating the ‘truth’ – but what is key, is doing this in an ethical way.
The Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism, has stated that many journalists believe they are in a no-win situation as they provide content for platforms that undermine them and reduce people’s trust in the news.
Importantly however, brands now present their owns values and purposes through advertising. Being ethical is essential for brand prosperity. ESG data provides an ethical foundation so that brands conduct business with companies that reflect their own ideals, forming a ‘good’ supply chain. Therefore, no purpose or values will be obtained for advertisers that invest with ‘bad’ media companies that disseminate disinformation.
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. Aristotle
The industry has great initiatives through the likes of CAN (Conscious Advertising Network) who shine a light on how the industry must evolve. Media strategy is the starting point where advertisers must demand that their agencies are planning purposefully; investing with the ‘good’ media companies.
Unfortunately, there will always be advertisers who focus purely on ROI. Therefore, it’s crucial that the big brands invest with purpose and values so to provide leadership towards a healthy advertising environment. They must demand media channel selection for those that value truth and are relentless in providing content that informs audiences appropriately.
ESG Product data, one of 17 ESG variable ratings, covers the responsibility of a company for the development, design, and management for what it produces and its impact on customers and society. The comparison (chart below) of a UK newspaper publisher with a social media platform demonstrates the gulf in Product ratings between the two. All things being equal, which media company should you consider investing with?
Brands need to incentivise their agencies, to fulfil their commitment to upholding ethical standards. Marketing departments must demand that their advertising not only appears in the right places but actively removes ad revenue from ‘bad’ media companies. Marketing will then be able to account for their media investment, part of the supply chain, to their board.
Media planning tools are essential for the media industry to evolve and plan with purpose. Telmar now has ESG data incorporated into its planning tools. MediaSense consults their client brands, throughout the world, with an ESG investment lens. The data is now available for us all to start planning for real change.
Accountability is now critical for both marketeers and media agencies to insure they are investing with ‘good’ media organisations. A company’s ad budget is a large proportion of their company’s’ supply chain investment, which is vetted by ESG analysts. However, for the media agency their overall sum, based largely on their media volume deals, makes up the whole of their supply chain.
As the Guardian ad states, “only when you get the whole picture, you can fully understand what's going on”.
