Evolving Responsibility or Revolving Bias? The Role of the Media in the anti-sugar debate in the UK Press.

Social responsibility of the media theory has been around for decades, and this theory is closely related to a report published by the Hutchins Commission in 1947, A Free and Responsible Press. Using social responsibility theory as a theoretical framework and recommendations from A Free and Responsible Press report, we analysed the coverage about the anti-sugar debate and the supermarket industry in the British press in a period between 2010 and 2015. Using content analysis as a method, we analysed press releases and surveys published by Action on Sugar as a main anti-sugar advocate in the UK and then we traced these public relations (PR) materials in the press coverage. We also analysed media bias focusing on the nature of quoting sources and whether media give a voice to everyone, both the anti-sugar activists and the relevant industry figures who claim that sugar is not the only reason for the current obesity problem. Results show that the media do not give a voice to the industry but only to the anti-sugar NGO. Nevertheless, the media remove sources from the industry from their coverage even when Action on Sugar mentions the industry in their documents.