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survey could remember a single case where political or industrialpower groups had tried to influence the editorial line <strong>of</strong>their paper. “Our employers still consider their journalists as anasset, <strong>of</strong> course. But sometimes you wonder …”None <strong>of</strong> the participants, however, admitted to threats orpersonal consequences for refusing to change the content <strong>of</strong> astory according to the wishes <strong>of</strong> either publishers or editors-inchief:“I would be asked to amend it – which I would NOT do.<strong>The</strong>n it’s up to them to publish the article or not”. Pr<strong>of</strong>essionaljournalism in Finland seems to operate on a friendly and relaxedlevel with competition concerning just the quality <strong>of</strong> work.In the Finnish like in any other market economy the optionsare but two: live or die.Like elsewhere in the Northern countries Finns, too, havealways been avid newspaper readers. Resulting in market coveragepublishers in other countries can only dream <strong>of</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Swedishlanguage minority is 6 per cent <strong>of</strong> the total population. This comparesto the 14 papers published in Swedish language, which in1998 reached a total circulation <strong>of</strong> 170,000 copies or 5.1 per cent<strong>of</strong> the circulation <strong>of</strong> all Finnish newspapers. But Finns are not justreaders; they are loyal readers who subscribe to their papers.Three quarters <strong>of</strong> all papers are home delivered every morning.<strong>The</strong> remaining 25 per cent are delivered by mail.But even this level <strong>of</strong> readership loyalty proved not to beenough!To live through the structural crisis <strong>of</strong> the 1980s, Finnishnewspaper houses had to develop a remarkable degree <strong>of</strong>innovative creativity.<strong>The</strong>ir remedy consisted in a degree <strong>of</strong> concentration whichin other countries would have provoked public outcry. Today,just four newspaper companies publish 46 <strong>of</strong> the remaining 56Finnish daily newspapers. In 1998, these four groups accountedfor 66 per cent <strong>of</strong> the total circulation <strong>of</strong> dailies.116 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
Newspaper chains were the logical result <strong>of</strong> such a highly concentratedownership structure. Already since the 1970s, themajority <strong>of</strong> local newspapers have come to be owned byprovincial papers. This trend has long since reached regionaland national dailies as well, and has been accelerated by thestructural changes since the mid-1980s. Today, 26 plus newspaperchains are operating throughout the country.But Finnish publishers didn’t stop there. As soon as it waslegally possible, they diversified into other media sectors tobecome multimedia producers. <strong>The</strong> big groups moved into theliberalized television and radio broadcasting market and/orexpanded into publishing magazines and books. <strong>The</strong>y realizedthe potential <strong>of</strong> the internet early on. With the exception <strong>of</strong>theme parks, shops and music the Finnish media giants todaycover all mass media products and services.Today, Finnish newspapers generate half <strong>of</strong> their revenuethrough subscriptions and single sales at the news stands. <strong>The</strong>other half is generated through advertisement, down from adependency level <strong>of</strong> 73 per cent 25 years ago. It is widelyaccepted within the newspaper community that the advertisementindustry has little to no influence on the editorial line<strong>of</strong> Finnish newspapers. <strong>The</strong> one hundred per cent result onthe related question should, therefore, be accepted withoutmuch surprise.Of course, this rush into ownership concentration andcross-ownership changed many things for Finnish journalism.Provincial newspapers, both in chain or independent ownership,have intensified their co-operation by exchanging editorialmaterials, producing common supplements and pages forweekend issues, and sharing printing capacity. <strong>The</strong> main reasonfor such co-operation is to be found in the economic concept<strong>of</strong> economies <strong>of</strong> scale: by combining individually limitedCOUNTRY REPORTS – FINLAND 117
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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1. The Imp
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
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Such independence, however, comes a
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and mirror of the
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30 million rely exclusively on info
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Unchecked, concentration will reduc
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protected, a certain level
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indication of the
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time, as the concept of</st
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It appears, however, that this posi
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1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
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owns or controls not only the three
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Target countries sometimes interpre
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independence proposed by the OSCE R
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groups to grow. And there is the in
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areas of Central a
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Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
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Yet this simple notion appears to b
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newspaper firms. Using the argument
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a contribution to democratization a
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tation of this for
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This limitation in no way indicates
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press is ridiculous. Journalists co
Page 66 and 67: But these progressive aspects <stro
Page 68 and 69: Nevertheless, the loss of</
Page 70 and 71: may well be true for journalists fr
Page 72 and 73: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 74 and 75: will go to television, this being t
Page 76 and 77: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 78 and 79: Good relations with the business co
Page 80 and 81: Further, how can a newspaper, whose
Page 82 and 83: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 84 and 85: The Norwegian medi
Page 86 and 87: Have you ever been put under pressu
Page 88 and 89: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 91 and 92: 4. Number of Title
Page 93 and 94: 5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
Page 95 and 96: Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
Page 97 and 98: publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
Page 99 and 100: A three directional strategy is wha
Page 101 and 102: 5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104: Cross-ownership has also increased
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 119 and 120: 5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122: • Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 129 and 130: Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 134 and 135: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
Page 136 and 137: As regards ownership concentration,
Page 138 and 139: Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141: 5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
Page 142 and 143: of those mini-comp
Page 144 and 145: for example, is very clear on this
Page 148 and 149: 5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
Page 150 and 151: portfolio. In addition, as democrat
Page 152 and 153: Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
Page 154 and 155: 5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
Page 156 and 157: is quite remarkable. The</s
Page 158 and 159: Lithuania is a small country with a
Page 160 and 161: Another tendency is that newspapers
Page 162 and 163: Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
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October 22 2003 was an historic dat
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5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
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y a mostly anonymous to the general
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On a daily, practical basis there
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Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
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so-called “human interest” stor
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indicated that Rodipet applies a di
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5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
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12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
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Strengthening of d
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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emerging CEE countries with regard
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- Create in all OSCE participating
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Organization for Security and Co-op
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1. In which country are you working
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17. Who defines the editorial line
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29. How would you describe the situ
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- This common code of</stro
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Personal and business interestsIt i
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Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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