The media and their organizational social responsibility in Latin America

Abstract

The role of the press and the media has always been discussed in terms of their responsibilities (Hutchins, 1947, McBride, 1980) and the exercise they must have to inform their audiences in a responsible manner on the basis of ethics. There is a public demand to respect the rights of audiences established by international organizations such as the UN (1948), OAS (1969), UNESCO (1978), among others. This article analyzes the organizational philosophy, social responsibility reports and codes of ethics of a sample for the convenience of 15 Latin American media based on categories of social responsibility, rights of the audiences and citizenship. The findings show that it is still necessary to ensure that the analyzed media play an active role in their relationship with the audiences on the way to building citizenship and the development of more active audiences in their social participation.