CBS Monday released its second-annual report on social responsibility and co-owned Infinity Broadcasting Corp. its first, both covering 2003. The reports quantify the company's public service and other pro-social initiatives.
Among the CBS highlights:
The network broadcast an estimated $224 million worth of PSA's about everything from cancer and AIDS to drug/alcohol abuse and terrorism preparedness.
CBS closed-captioned 90-95 hours a week of programming for the deaf, including all children's programming, and had video descriptions (for the blind) on about five hours.
CBS cited a host of owned-station initiatives including an ALS fund-raising walk, to "D-Feet ALS," sponsored by WCBS New York that raised $2.2 million and a cancer run at KYW-TV Philadelphia that also raised $2 million.
On the Network side, CBS cited, among other things, its Iraq War coverage, its various news programs, sports personality's support of charities, made-for movies based on the real stories of a woman doctor at the South Pole forced to diagnose and treat her own cancer, and the story of a developmentally disabled couple fighting to marry and raise kids.
The report, several hundred copies of the CBS report and a second on co-owned Infinity Broadcasting's radio efforts, is distributed to the press, community groups and numerous other consituencies, including in Washington.
