ABSTRACT
The publishing industry differs from other media due to its very visible footprint that directly correlates with its core competency – publishing a wide range of print material. The chapter is based on case studies of two large-scale companies that have established extensive environmental strategies for their organizations, Alma Media and Schibsted. Both companies run comprehensive corporate social responsibility programmes which, refreshingly, include a considerable role for environmental sustainability. The chapter explores the rationale for developing these programmes as well as some of their implications for the media industry as a whole. It focuses on the role of digital communications especially as these companies both highlight the role of digital technologies in facilitating new areas for sustainability as well as challenging the notion of digital as more environmental than traditional communications technologies. The idea of the publisher as a multi-platform digital service provider challenges some of the prevailing misconceptions about immaterial media.
