Finnish media: do they give a balanced picture?

Ullamaija KivikuruUniversity of Helsinki

Swedish School of Social Scienceullamaija.kivikuru@helsinki.fi

Media in Finland

• Medium-size branch of industry: turnover over 4 billion Euro, 35 000 employees. The three big: SanomaWSOY, YLE, Alma Media.

• Trend: big companies grow bigger, space for very small also. Medium-sized in trouble.

• 3% of GNP used for the media sector, average Finnish household uses annually 1100 Euro for the media (computers not included)

• Around 60 dailies, 180-200 local papers, 2500-4000 weeklies (of these, some 100 titles popular magazines). The biggest magazine publisher Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet.

• 10 dailies in Swedish (300 000 Swedish-speakers)• 2 PSB TV channels, 2 commercial, 6 radio national channels (YLE:3 in

Finnish, 2 in Swedish, 1 commercial), 60 local radio stations. One-third of households linked to cable.Digi-TV started in August 2001, 8 channels, digi boxes in around 50% (4 PSB channels, 4 commercial).

• Print dominance: of the turnover 72% papers & books, 28 % electronic media, radio & TV grow faster . Prognose: 2010 already fifty-fifty. Regional media weakening (traditionally strong). Party press: of circulation only 6-7 percent.

• Average Finn uses the media 8 hours per day (42 minutes for dailies!)• 75% of households use the Internet regularly. One million broadband

connections.

Development

Development is a social process aiming at improvement of quality of life of the population (or majority of population) without violating the culture and the environment which the population lives in. The goal is to motivate the majority of population to participate in this process of change and thus make these people capable and willing to command over their own life.

Sustainable development

• UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) established in 1992

• Three dimensions:

- to review progress globally (Agenda 21, Rio, Johannesburg)

- to elaborate policy guidance

- to promote dialogue and build partnerships• No special communication dimension, strongly

environment oriented

What is meant by development journalism?

• News focusing on development?• News-originating journalism,

instigating the receiver to think?• Advocacy journalism on development?• Journalism less bound to news?• Experience based reporting (reportage,

tv/radio document, etc.)?

News as the dominating genre

• A growing proportion of journalism is news based, and the news machine rolls faster and faster

• News work is routine based• News work is planned in advance• News is far better in reporting on events than

processes• Tabloidisation stretches beyond the

afternoon press• “Warehouse” tendencies (multimedia)

Foreign news focus in Finland 1961-95

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1961 1971 1980 1987 1995

EuropeN.AmericaL.AmericaAsiaAfricaAustraliaInternational

Journalistic focus

• News journalism covers on a regular basis

roughly a dozen countries• Big Finnish media have a strong and large foreign

news coverage and a tradition of multilateralism• Continued focus on Europe, restrengthened during

the 1990s (two-thirds from Europe)• Finnish media covered Africa more in the 1960s than

today (breakdown of colonialism vs. floods,AIDS)• Latin America has never been covered properly• Reporting on Asia focuses on Japan and China• Exoticism sells well (stereotypes, oddities)

Development news

• Scarce, mainly on Finnish projects in the developing world

• Immigrants (negative, “life standard immigrants”) and refugees (positive, if real)

• The news machine cannot locate many items at the same time: Darfur/tsunami, Darfur/Libanon

• Crime, corruption, non-democratic events• Embedded paternalism• Critique of elites, social structures• Exception: sports

“Real” development reporting

• Extremely rare• Stereotypes and simplifications, no

background (issues become easily incomprehensible, e.g. Africa’s land policy)

• Concepts domestic (democracy, human rights)

• City centred• Focus on big issues (elections, etc.)• Source criticism weak• News agencies often more credible than

own reporters visiting• Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholarships

Interest spheres in journalism(Guy Tuchman, Ilkka Rentola)

• The sphere of the intimate (home, children, health, housing, etc.)• The sphere of economy (macro and micro economy, companies,

trade unions, etc.)• The sphere of culture (education, literature, music, sports,

entertainment, etc.)• The sphere of politics (parliament, government, governance,

elections, etc.)• Stress on institutional activity and activity threatening institutions

(crime, catastrophies, corruption, etc.)• News deals with normal (”good”) routine issues and (”bad,

dangerous”) exceptions (which collect non-proportional attention)• Social construction: an unexpected news is expected as a type of

event (Tuchman: ”a demonstration is made into a demonstration”)• ”Ordinary people” often treated as symbols for something

Two forms of ethics

• Responsibility ethics

• Immanuel Kant ->• Christian ethics ->• Right and wrong are

not negotiable• Civic courage

• Consequence ethics• Western profit

thinking, cause/effect• Basis for modernity

thinking• Basis for journalistic

ethics

Professional ideals in journalism (Jay Blumler)

• Traditional view:– eyewitness (on-the-spot reporting or an illusion

of it)– observer (does not take stand)• Blumler:– entertainer– social critic– ”member of kibbutz”, participant

Civic Journalism vs. ordinary(Johan Galtung)

• Peace/Conflict journalism

• Peace/Conflict oriented

• Truth oriented• People oriented• Solution oriented

• War/Violence journalism

• War/Violence oriented

• Propaganda oriented• Elite oriented• Victory oriented

Advocacy journalism?

• South-South sources, NGO sources

• ”Small” items?

• Narratives, stories

• Socially responsible reporting (especially public service)

• Contextual sources

• Change of jargon, away from number mystique, etc.

What should be done?

More of development in basic educationStudent exchange (e.g. North-South)Journalistic cooperation (IFJ)Changes in newsroom practice (news

criteria, style of reporting)Connection to domestic issues

(globalisation, deforestation, China phenomenen)

Alternative media (BBC Trust, Reuters Foundation, IPS)?