Finnish media and political communication NSS Intensive course Dar es Salaam, June 2010 Ullamaija Kivikuru

Finnish mediascape Small, wealthy, western country Very abundant media system: large variety of different media on national, regional and local levels Media have been central in politics since nation-building in late 19th century Today news machine operates fast, newsrooms feeding multimedia Conventional journalism dominates but tabloidization increases

Present trends 1 Event orientation in ”old” political reporting (Parliament, party congresses, elections, etc.) Personification (most politicians cooperate) Opinion polls central (also ordered by media) Ordinary person increasingly present (kind of citizen journalism, discussion websites) Internet: potential to direct contacts with citizens vs hate speech, prejudices, identity thefts Professionalisation of political campaigns

Present trends 2 Campaign financing controversy initiated by the media, continued for 2 years Debate on immigration, populist tendencies Parliamentary elections (2011) and presidential elections (2012) anticipation Not much talk about welfare state as political ideology, much talk about administrative changes in e.g. health care and education