In this paper we explore the role of media industries in the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development. Based on prior research on media industries, the paper starts by outlining the established view of this complex business context and its contradictory objectives. We then systematize this in a tentative framework of media business objectives in relation to the Agenda 2030 goals, and finally propose a research agenda. In future versions of this paper we will complement this framework with case study data on Sustainable Management Practices at the largest Nordic media houses. This entails how managers understand and interpret the meaning of sustainability in the media context and media’s role for agenda 2030, but also how they operationalize and organize this in business practices.