On the morning of July 24, 2012, Mr. Yu Zhihong, Editor of WTO Economic Tribune, lectured the students of the 2012 Collegiate Social Responsibility Summer Camp. In his lecture he explained the role of media in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from a new perspective.

 

In May 2004, WTO Economic Tribune set up a column titled “International Competitiveness / Cutting-edge reports on the construction of CSR.” The program invited well-known CSR experts to write articles on CSR from various perspectives. As CSR seminars for Chinese enterprises gradually increase, more and more media outlets pay attention to CSR. A hot item of discussion, CSR quickly spread throughout China. Mr. Yu began his lecture by giving a brief introduction to the development of mass media. The earliest forms of media were newspapers and magazines, then televisions and the Internet emerged, now Mobile Internet and Cloud Technology are the most popular and advanced forms of media. With the development of media, CSR is drawing more and more attention of the enterprises, because the media is playing a role of growing importance in involving consumers with enterprises’ CSR.

 

Mr. Yu also stressed that the development of mainstream media alone is not powerful enough for CSR development. It is the populace that leads to this development. We become the “we-media” as we enjoy the convenience modern technology has brought to us. Besides, with the development of modern technology, our awareness and citizenship is rising.

 

Mr. Yu appealed that media should play a positive role. There are some mainstream media whose descriptions of CSR are biased, non-objective and incomplete. In regard of these phenomena, Mr. Yu pointed out that the media should raise their awareness of responsibility and be more objective to the facts. He called on all media to undertake their responsibility as a special sector.

 

Campers also agreed that media is of vital importance because they shoulder the responsibility of guiding public opinion and can affect every aspect of social life. As part of the society, college students play an essential role in CSR development. They should make full use of “we-media” to become CSR-conscious citizens and promote the development of CSR.

 

During the question session, Mr. Yu answered the campers’ questions patiently. He also discussed the relationship of media and CSR with the students.