Media

The media has a central role in democratic society. The media tells people what is happening in society, but it also demands decision-makers to justify their actions to people. In Finland, both individual people and the media have freedom of speech. This means, for example, that the actions of politicians can be judged. The freedom of journalists to do their work without pressure or threat is not self-evident. Freedom of the press is under threat in many countries in the world.

On an international scale, freedom of press is rather well secured in Finland. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not, however, mean that the media can write anything without consequences. For example, defamation (kunnianloukkaus) and spreading information which infringes on privacy are not allowed. The Finnish media has also agreed on best practices in the field.

In Finland, traditional media includes the radio, television and newspapers. In Finland, people have high trust in traditional media. Nowadays people receive more information about events in the world through social media. It is often more difficult to evaluate the reliability of information on social media.

The media has a central task in society

The Finnish Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. People also have the right to decide what they think about things, meaning they have freedom of opinion. All people have this freedom, as well as the media, meaning the television, radio, newspapers, internet services and other mass media. 

The media is an important part of democracy. It is expected to relay trustworthy information about society. Through the media, people receive information about societal decisions and discussion. It brings forth issues and misuse in decision-making and administration. The media oversees and judges the actions and speech of politicians and others in power. In Finland, journalists are freely allowed to judge the decisions and speech of politicians. 

The media has a lot of power in choosing which matters it brings forth and how it discusses them. This influences people’s opinions and understanding of what matters are worthy of societal discussion. 

Social media changes the role of media 

Nowadays, the power that traditional media has in selecting matters brought to societal discussion has decreased. Traditional media means, for example, newspapers and television channels. In these, the editorial staff and editor-in-chief choose how to report and on what. Alongside traditional media, we now have social media. 

On social media, anyone can post their opinion on any topic. The posts of regular people can spread quickly to thousands or even millions of people globally. In many ways, this is good for democracy, because it gives everyone the possibility to participate in societal discussion. The risk is that when anyone can write anything, it is difficult to know what is true and what is not. 

The freedom of the press is not self-evident 

Freedom of the press means that the media and journalists have the freedom to do their job and report on anything happening in society. Freedom of the press is under threat or limited in different ways in many parts of the world. The state can limit freedom of the press, for example, by pressuring the media to not publish material which judges the activities of decision-makers. In some countries, journalists can be imprisoned or even killed if decision-makers think they are writing about the wrong things. 

Also regular people threatening or harassing journalists can endanger freedom of the press. For example, threatening journalists on an online forum can impact how the journalists dare to write about certain topics. This leads to self-censorship. 

In international comparisons, the freedom of the press in Finland is among the best in the world. Compared to most other countries in the world, Finnish journalists can write very freely on any topic. They do not usually have to be scared for their own safety. It is still important that, even in Finland, attention is paid to the harassment of journalists on social media. Taking care of freedom of the press is important for the protection of democracy and an open society. 

The media is regulated by law and by practices decided on together 

In Finland, both individual people and the media have freedom of speech. Freedom of speech does not mean that journalists or individual people can publish anything they like. 

The Constitution protects everyone’s honour and privacy. The media also has to respect these. Defamation or unjustified publication of a person’s private information is not allowed. Sometimes it is difficult to define if writing about the personal life of a politician or a public figure is justified or whether this infringes on their privacy. If this information may have societal significance, freedom of speech is usually the stronger principle. 

It is important to remember that these laws also apply to social media. You may have to bear responsibility for what you write if it breaks the law. For example, a racist text may lead to charges of incitement to ethnic or racial hatred (kiihottaminen kansanryhmää vastaan). 

In addition to the law, the activities of the media in Finland are regulated by the guidelines for journalists (journalistin ohjeet). This is a contract made by the media field to ensure that all media outlets committed to these guidelines do their work ethically. The purpose of these guidelines is to direct the work of the media outlets and to defend the freedom of publication. Most of Finland’s journalistic media is committed to these guidelines. 

The Council for Mass Media in Finland (Julkisen sanan neuvosto, JSN) evaluates best journalistic practices by interpreting these instructions. The CMM is a cooperative agent founded by media publishers and journalists themselves. If you suspect that a media outlet has acted against the journalist’s guidelines, you can make a notification to CMM. If CMM decides to pursue the matter, it judges whether the media is guilty or not guilty of violating the guidelines. The CMM is not a court and it cannot give out penalties, but the media outlets take the decisions of the CMM seriously. 

More information about the Journalist’s Guidelines: Journalist’s Guidelines (jsn.fi) Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian

The traditional media is trusted in Finland 

The task of the Finnish Broadcasting Company is to support the opportunities for participation of all people 

The Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio, Yle) is Finland’s national public broadcasting company which is regulated by the Act on Yleisradio Oy. The activities of Yle are publicly funded. Everyone who exceeds a certain income pays Yle tax. The services of Yle are free of charge for users. 

Yle offers news, current affairs programs, culture, art, sports and entertainment. Yle has television and radio channels, the online streaming platform Areena and a news page, multiple social media accounts and other online content. 

Yle has a particular role in supporting democracy and the opportunities for participation for all people. It offers content in Finnish and Swedish, but also, for example, in sign language, Sámi languages, English and Russian. Yle also broadcasts news in easy Finnish and easy Swedish. According to the law, Yle is obligated to support Finnish cultural heritage, tolerance, non-discrimination, equality and cultural diversity. 

Even though the Parliament decides about Yle’s funding and tasks, politicians do not directly dictate Yle’s activities. Yle has the same journalistic freedom as any other media. For example, Yle’s newsroom decides on what to report about and how. Yle strives to be equal and neutral in its news and the news does not represent the views of any party. 

More information about YLE news: YLE News (yle.fi) Finnish, Swedish, English, Sámi, Russian, Ukrainian, Karelian

People increasingly read newspapers online

Newspapers are very popular in Finland. In 2023, 96% of Finnish people over the age of 15 read newspapers either online or on paper. There are around twenty newspapers in Finland which come out every day or almost every day. There are also around one hundred newspapers that come out once or twice a week. Some newspapers are read all around Finland, but there are also newspapers that are read regionally in one or a couple of municipalities. Many newspapers are small local papers. 

Reading newspapers has shifted online all over the world, including in Finland. Nowadays, the online news of Finnish newspapers are read much more than the print version. Many newspapers also publish news content on social media. However, there are many people who still like getting a printed paper at home in the morning.

Newspapers are usually owned by private media companies. In Finland, most newspapers are not politically affiliated, but rather define their own policies on societal matters. There are political newspapers as well, but they have become less common in recent decades. In recent years, the ownership of different newspapers has concentrated to big media companies. This development may narrow down what the media reports on.

Critical media literacy is increasingly important

Critical media literacy means that a person can evaluate media content critically. Media content means both traditional media, such as newspaper articles and tv news, but also blog posts, social media posts and videos shared online. When talking about media literacy, critical does not mean a negative stance or objection. It means that you are interested in understanding the media content and why things are expressed in a certain way. A person with good media literacy can also observe their own actions and those of others critically. 

Many factions try to influence people’s opinions and feelings 

Nowadays, especially the internet and social media channels are full of different types of content, including news and claims presented as fact. It may be difficult to evaluate what information is true and which sources are reliable. Many factions want to get people to believe their own version of matters and events. 

News and social media content tries to appeal to emotions, because these messages get the most attention and the most clicks. Attention brings power and money through advertisers. When following the media, it is good to try to recognise efforts to influence people’s thoughts by appealing to emotions. 

In some cases, there may not be one univocal truth. The experiences of different people about the same event may vary greatly. In these cases, it may be that two different depictions about the same topic can both be true in part. However, often some depictions are more strongly based on neutral facts than others. For example, the evaluation of an expert who has studied the matter is a more reliable source than a regular person’s personal opinion. 

Especially on social media, a lot of content is spread which contains outright lies. The spreader of this content may deliberately present false claims and try to get people to believe they are true. Their aim may be to cause anger or distrust toward a person or group of people. 

New technology enables more believable lies

Editing photos has been possible for a long time already. Real pictures are also used misleadingly so that the picture may be from a completely different situation or place than is stated. 

Technology develops all the time and makes spreading false information even easier. Nowadays, with artificial intelligence, it is possible to produce videos which look very real, where it seems like someone is doing something that they really have never done. A person’s voice and way of speech can be copied so that the result is almost indistinguishable from the truth. When false information online becomes more believable, it is more important than ever that everyone can evaluate media content critically and act responsibly. 

Where to find reliable information

Before social media became popular, people would receive information about world events mainly from television, radio and newspapers. It is also possible that these traditional media outlets may accidentally spread false information, and journalists are not always neutral. However, the editorial staff always strives to ensure the correctness of the information before publishing, and they fix mistakes afterward when they are noticed. 

In Finland, people generally have high trust in traditional media, especially the news of Yle and other big media companies. 

Evaluating the reliability of other than traditional media requires more work. You should be cautious with information if you do not know much about who published it. It is also important to try to find out whether the information is correct before you share it forward on social media. 

Whenever you see news or a new piece of information in any media, you should think about the following questions: 

• Who is spreading this information? Does the distributor of the information represent a company, a party, an organisation or a state? 
• What is this information based on? Is the publisher of the information an expert in the subject and is the information based on scientific information from a reliable source? Is the news backed by eyewitnesses or an anonymous story? Is it an opinion or an assumption? 
• What is the goal and motive of the publisher of the information? Are they trying to get people to think or feel a certain way about a certain topic? Does the publisher of the information benefit from people believing this information? 

You should always try to find multiple sources which discuss the topic. If many different sources discuss the same matter in a similar way, it is more likely to be true. You should also check when the information was originally published and whether there is newer information available. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to see whether a recommendation published on social media is an honest opinion on a product or whether it is a paid advertisement. In Finland, the law dictates that commercial communications must be easily recognised as such. All communications designed to persuade people to buy something are commercial. The law only applies to communications produced in Finland.