(Photo from Wonkette)

I meant to post this about a month ago! Shows you how much I'm behind. This is the text of a talk Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, gave at Harvard in the middle of last month, talking about accountability, transparency and independent challenge in the newspaper business. Not exactly what we usually look at here, but I think pretty close ... particularly the social audit The Guardian put itself through. Read on:

The verdict from one of the country's leading social auditors - now working as the Svengali behind the Tory leader, David Cameron, was encouraging, and emphasises the point that most CSR reports are too dry and technical. We not only want people to enjoy reading our report but also to ensure that it has something of the creativity of our papers.

It's important to approach social auditing not merely as a reporting tool but as an agent of change. We have done this by creating key performance indicators in a number of areas and setting targets for change across the business.

So, for instance, we can measure the energy we use in our head office and offset the carbon emissions.

Other examples of this include using more wind-powered energy, improving supplier payment plans, creating a total rewards strategy, and implementing a comprehensive recycling strategy.

By far the biggest physical impact we have on the environment is through our paper purchasing with the Guardian and Observer using more than 100,000 tonnes of paper. We compared ourselves with other British newspaper and magazine publishers and found we were about the median. Recycled paper makes up around three-quarters of our paper and the Guardian, along with the rest of the industry, has taken great strides forward in this area. But we are lagging behind other sectors in the way we purchase virgin paper.

Most newspaper companies, including the Guardian, do not have accurate data on how much of our newsprint comes from certified sources and do not yet have strategies in place for tackling this.

In 2004, we commissioned consultants to advise on the responsible sourcing of paper. It concluded that whilst the majority of our suppliers were reputable, we were unable to guarantee that "all the fibre used to produce its newsprint comes from reputable sources."

As a result of this, we are currently auditing exactly where our paper comes from, and have committed to having a paper purchasing policy in place within the next year.