Media are entities that must maintain a social contract with their audience, since the latter grants and legitimizes, whether actively or passively, the media's role of intermediation in the shaping of social realities. “Social responsibility” is understood as an ethical framework by which an entity, whether an organization or an individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of or in balance with society and its context.
The media, like other types of organizations, are not exempt from committing faults such as fraud, theft, misinformation, broken promises and broken law regulations, which generally result in a lack of social trust towards media corporations, although many of them invest in public relations strategies.
Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on audiovisual media services states in its recital 89 that the Member States 'should lay down strict criteria on television advertising for alcoholic beverages,' while Article 22 sets out criteria to be respected for the promotion of this type of product, including that (d) it should not give the impression that alcohol consumption contributes to social or sexual success. In Spain, Law 7/2010 of March 31, General of Audiovisual Communication, strictly prohibits the commercial communication on television of alcoholic beverages with a level higher than 20 degrees (spirits), while advertising of those with lower alcohol content is only permitted from 8:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day.
The Code of Ethics for Journalists in Spain states that 'It is understood to be contrary to the ethics of the journalistic profession to carry out simultaneously advertising or institutional or private social communication activities when they affect the principles and rules of professional conduct of journalists'. Despite the mentioned regulation, Spain would not pass control of legal or ethical compliance of this type of commercial communication. From this point, the central questions of this proposal arise: Is the self-regulation of journalists sufficient to comply with the directives and rules on advertising of high alcoholic beverages? Why do Spanish regulations, despite being on audiovisual content, not include radio in the taxable prohibitions on advertising of alcoholic beverages?
To answer these questions, a theoretical and background review will be carried out on journalist social responsibility, journalism accountability, and media compliance, including in this study some data on the participation of Spanish sportscasters in the advertising of alcoholic beverages. In fact, according to the research carried out, on one of the three radio stations analyzed this type of advertising reached 91.8% of appearances, with rum (55.8%) and herbal liqueur (36.6%) being the most common in sportscasters.
This research highlights that the self-regulation system existing in Spain is, at least, insufficient and that the official control bodies lack the competence to regulate illegal advertising effectively. The participation of journalists and sportscasters in this type of commercial communication not only affects their code of ethics but is a clear example of irresponsible behavior towards the audience, as it encourages the consumption of products that are harmful to health.