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Johannesburg, 17 September 2009 – South Africa’s first Media Sustainability Index (MSI), which assesses companies’ relative performance on sustainability-related media reportage, was launched today by sustainability consultancy and publisher, Trialogue and co-creator – media analysis specialist, Media Tenor. The Index received launch support from sustainability-focused coalition, the National Business Initiative (NBI).

The MSI provides companies operating in the South African market with a strategic communications benchmarking tool, through its quantitative and qualitative analysis of companies and issues under the sustainability spotlight in the media.

The Index’s maiden findings are based on analysis of over 500 000 articles and broadcast news content over a three-year period (2006-2008). It concludes that an average of 20% of company coverage in mainstream media, has addressed issues of sustainability.

“South Africa has seen a marked increase in sustainability-focused reporting during this period, from 18% to 23% respectively. Comparatively, products and service-related reportage dropped from 9% to 7%,” says Wadim Schreiner, Managing Director of Media Tenor.

“The Index serves a mutually beneficial purpose for corporates and the media. Companies can track their communication performance, as well as identify challenges and opportunities provided by the media - for whom the index makes sustainability reporting more transparent. It also allows for the identification of issues that offer new insights into a complex group of topics, for SA media,” says Schreiner.

He adds, “Traditionally, financial journalism focused on financial reports presented by companies, from which the sustainability of the business was derived. But eight years after Enron and WorldCom in the United States and fuelled by the sub-prime crisis last year, journalists seem to realise that numbers are no longer the true value of a company.”

The Index premise lies in the critical role that the media plays in influencing corporate reputation – a communication channel that is quick, far-reaching and more objective than company-originated communiqué.

The framework of the Index comprises nine categories of sustainability, i.e. sustainability management, sustainability advocacy, external stakeholder relations, legislation compliance, human resource management, marketplace impact, Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE)/transformation, community relations and biophysical environment.

Between 2006 and 2008, almost 45% of total sustainability coverage addressed topics relating to external stakeholder relations, with human resource (HR) management content achieving 16% of this share of voice; legislation compliance, 13% and marketplace impact, 10%. Transformation statements only comprised 4% of total coverage.

“In future, we anticipate that media reportage relating to issues of biophysical environment and community relations will attract a rising share of media interest and coverage,” Schreiner says.

The Index also details the tone in which media have reported on the top-100 companies. Categories with the largest proportion of positively-biased articles include community relations, marketplace impact and BBBEE/transformation. Categories with the highest proportion of negatively-biased articles include legislation compliance and HR management.

According to NBI Chief Executive, André Fourie, sustainability is a strategic imperative for South African business. The NBI believes that a more explicit focus is required on sustainability – from planet to people - to the benefit of our country. “Business must, and can act confidently in this somewhat unfamiliar territory,” says Fourie.

The MSI not only measures the influence of sustainability-related media coverage on corporate reputation, but ranks 100 companies in terms of sustainability editorial coverage received. Companies ranked in this year’s top 10 include MTN, Discovery, Absa, Transnet, Anglo American, SAB Miller, Vodacom, African Bank, Google and Mvelaphanda Holdings.

The MSI strives to reflect how the media is portraying corporate behaviour, through a scientific approach to its media analysis. Media Tenor’s methodology states that articles had to make mention of companies at a statement level, i.e. where companies were described in at least five lines or for a minimum of five seconds. It does not pass judgment on the sustainability status or performance of companies, but evaluates to what extent it is being reflected in the media.

This year’s MSI forms a chapter in Trialogue’s sixth edition of its Sustainability Handbook. It will be produced annually, with the intent of providing companies with strategic data and analysis to steer corporate reputation management and assist executives to plan around existing issues.

Companies can also contract the team for sustainability reporting analysis, delivered on a three-monthly basis.

“As social and environmental issues climb the global and local agenda, corporate behaviour has, and will, increasingly come under scrutiny from the media. It is critical for companies to inform their business strategies with sustainability-related knowledge, and the sustainable business reality that is being shaped by the media,” concludes Schreiner.