Finland – (C6) Practice of access to information
There is an existing law that, in principle, provides open access to public information, but problems remain in practice.
Authors: Marko Ala-Fossi, John Grönvall, Kari Karppinen, Hannu Nieminen
Finland – (C5) Journalist’s job security
There are few specific legal provisions that apply only to journalists: but general legal provisions and labour contracts that cover the field provide journalists relatively strong occupational protection.
Finland – (C4) Journalism professionalism
Strong professional ethos and a high level of unionisation characterise the news media.
Finland – (E5) Affordable public and private news media
The prices for media services in relation to household income remain affordable.
Finland – (E4) Minority / Alternative media
The supply of media content in Swedish and Sámi languages is extensive in relation to the size of the population in Finland, but other minority and alternative media organisations are limited.
Finland – (E2) Media ownership concentration regional level
Apart from newspapers, the leading news media houses in Finland are more nationally oriented. There are no significant regional or local television channels. Dominant regional newspapers generally face no direct competition in their own market area.
Finland – (E1) Media ownership concentration national level
The national media market is relatively concentrated, with only a handful of companies dividing the market in each sector. Since 2011, mergers and acquisitions within the industry have continued, but the overall concentration ratios have remained stable.
Finland – (F9) Gender equality in media content
The leading Finnish news media organisations strive towards increased gender equality in media content online by using a tracking system. However, challenges remain, as the surrounding society is truly not equal.
Finland – (F8) Rules and practices on internal gender equality
Gender equality is protected by law and women have equal opportunities to proceed and develop their careers as journalists. However, the division of work tends to be very stereotypical in practice.
Finland – (F3) Diversity of news sources
The role of syndicated content from the national news agency is diminishing, while the influence of public relations material and recycled content from other media outlets is increasing.