DMGT’s activities are diverse, with more than 18,000 employees worldwide. The Group’s businesses include national and local newspapers, radio, television, exhibitions, business to business information and careers, each providing important channels of communication and media focus to different sections of society in different parts of the world.
The Group owes much of its success to the entrepreneurial ability of the management teams leading its various media divisions. The businesses have thrived by allowing local management to take local decisions in a local context, whilst benefiting from the global outlook as well as from the financial resources of the wider Group.
This approach has delivered benefits to a wide range of stakeholders. The success of many of the Group’s businesses is inextricably linked with understanding and engaging with the communities that they serve, and this allows them to identify needs and to campaign effectively on the issues relevant to their customer base.
The DMGT Board monitors Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) via the Risk Committee and each division now includes CSR risks in its half-yearly risk report. Following the Group wide review in 2002, a Group Health and Safety policy was developed and communicated in February. The management of CSR issues is handled at a divisional level, but overall responsibility at Board level rests with the Finance Director. The following disclosure provides more detail of divisional activities focused around the following key stakeholder groups:
DMGT is developing a CSR section on its website which will provide information about our community and environmental activities. This is a summary of our disclosure in this area, with further information on all sections reported below soon to be available at www.dmgt.co.uk.
Community involvement is integral to our business as well as to the personal motivation of our employees. We donate money, time and in-kind donations such as air time and Teletext pages. The use of our media channels and activities for fund raising is driven through participation in the communities we serve and the concerns and contributions of our readers and listeners. The Group is a member of the Per Cent Club and annually pays a minimum of 1⁄2% of its dividend to charity. Charitable donations are allocated by a Charities Committee at DMGT, as well as being made on a smaller scale by divisional and local managements. Charities involving the media and relevant to the communities within which the Group operates are favoured.
A few examples of our involvement during the year include:
All DMGT divisions have some environmental impacts, but overall these are relatively low, with media being ranked as low impact, and printing and newspaper publishing ranked as medium impact in the FTSE4Good index and as a ‘B’ in the Morley’s sustainability matrix (defined as a business with low impacts and some benefits that may contribute to enabling a more sustainable future’).
The following information focuses on our printing presses. In addition, we acknowledge our responsibility in ensuring that our paper supplies come from paper manufacturers that manage their environmental impacts, including the sustainable sourcing of virgin fibres. These two elements are the focus of our environmental reporting.
i. Printing
Two DMGT divisions have printing facilities, Associated Newspapers, which owns
the Group’s largest printing works, Harmsworth Quays, and Northcliffe
Newspapers, which owns twelve printing facilities around the UK.
All printing facilities have environmental policies. Their key environmental impacts of energy use, newsprint waste, ink and plate use have cost implications for the businesses. The management of these impacts is therefore important, and performance is measured and reported to Board meetings on a regular basis.
New equipment and measures taken to reduce energy consumption in ongoing energy reduction programmes has led to an improvement in energy efficiency for both Northcliffe and Associated Newspapers. Absolute energy consumption for 2003 has fallen to approximately 115,500 MWh, a decrease of nearly 3% from the previous year. As a result the CO2 emissions also fell by just over 2%.
Targets for waste paper are set for each product printed. This percentage varies according to certain criteria such as the numbers of copies required and edition changes. Actual waste volumes are compared against budgeted levels, with the results provided for review, monthly, at the appropriate Board level. Overall newsprint production waste increased this year by nearly 8%, to just under 30,000 tonnes. This is primarily as a result of the increased use of colour in the newspapers which requires more waste copies to ensure registration is correct. 100% of the production paper waste is recycled.
Water use has increased slightly from last year to just over 208,000m3.
ii. Purchase of newsprint
DMGT is aware of the responsibility it has along the supply chain, in particular
for one of its largest purchases, newsprint. The Group has a central Newsprint
Committee and paper is purchased for all the Group’s newspaper operations,
allowing co-ordinated review of the environmental credentials of paper suppliers
and the sourcing of their products. Newsprint comprises a significant proportion
of recycled paper with recycled newspaper making up 65.1% of the raw material
for UK newspapers in 2002. Where virgin fibres are used in the paper manufacture,
DMGT requires that the forests are certified either by the Forest Stewardship
Council, or the Pan European Forestry Commission, both of which run schemes
that provide credible guarantees that the product comes from well managed forests.
DMGT sources its paper from European mills, most of which hold the environmental
management standard ISO14001.
DMGT is a highly decentralised group. Each division has its own policies and established practices across a range of employee issues. All divisions have a policy or statement on equal opportunities and most undertake periodic employee surveys. A variety of formal approaches to staff communications exist within the Group including web sites, regular communication events including face-to-face communications with management, and communications programmes related to specific key events such as major equipment changes in the printing facilities.
Health and safety
The Chief Executive signed a Group health and safety policy in February 2003
applicable to the Company and its subsidiaries. The policy sets out to ensure
the health, safety and welfare of its employees and all others who could be
affected by the activities of the Group. Whilst the Chief Executive has overall
responsibility at Board level for health and safety throughout the Group, responsibility
for day to day health and safety matters is devolved to the managing directors
of each division. There are many examples of good practice across the Group,
in terms of health and safety management systems, the use of independent consultants
and initiatives focused on business specific health and safety risk areas.
Editorial standards
There are a number of standard setting bodies that have established codes with
which DMGT’s divisions conform. Compliance with these codes ensures that
our published and broadcast material reaches the editorial standards expected
and agreed by the industry. The main code is established and monitored by the
Press Complaints Commission for the Group’s UK newspapers. Teletext works
to the standards set by the Independent Television Commission Codes, Broadcasting
Standards Commission and Channel 4’s own codes. DMG Radio complies with
the Australian Broadcasting Authority Codes of Conduct.
Within the established editorial framework, editors and journalists have the freedom to operate as appropriate. The media industry is highly competitive, and therefore remaining in touch with and reflecting and championing the interests of the diverse groups who make up our communities is critical to the success of each of DMGT’s divisions. Reader and listener satisfaction is monitored by all divisions through a number of mechanisms, such as timely responses to complaints, regular in-house programming and sales research, readership surveys and other processes actively to seek feedback from customers.