Various actions of the corporation require action by the shareholders, and these actions must be reflected in minutes of meetings or by appropriate written consents.
Many stood up and took notice; some investors cheered the News Corporation's action, calling it an important step for the evolving business model of television, but public interest groups and at least one lawmaker cried foul, calling it anticonsumer.
It added that the corporation felt actions it had already taken, including an apology, disciplinary action against employees and the resignation of director general George Entwistle, were enough.
At best, some pressure may be exerted on the directors through the corporate shareholders to remove agents of the corporation whose actions or omissions led to the particular conduct being punished.
For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere.
In some states there are heightened standards of review for inequitable actions by majority shareholders in small, privately held corporations – the action is called oppression.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont). has also collected over $100,000 from these donors, including $81,500 from the corporations' political action committees.
Planners have barred lobbyists, corporations, political action committees and well-heeled foreigners from making their usual down payments on access to the new administration.
The day before it was broadcast Ceri Thomas, BBC News head of programmes, defended the corporation's actions on Radio 4's The World This Weekend on Sunday, saying the Panorama film was "an important piece of public interest journalism".
Even when it is undertaken with good intentions, however, emphasizing good corporate citizenship is not a solution to the problems of inequality and injustice that often spawn protests, forcing corporations into action.
