No general information services related to the media system exist, although such information is mostly freely available. Statistics Finland (a governmental statistical office) best provides general information,[i] but also Finnmedia (an advocacy organisation for private media companies) offers some information services.[ii] A highly relevant overall review of the Finnish media system emerged from the round table discussions between 2016–2019, invited by the Ministry of Transport and Communication. In the discussions, all major stakeholders of media and communication industries participated, including academic researchers. A concrete output of these developments was a thorough report, The state of media- and communications policy and how to measure it (Ala-Fossi et al., 2018), that included basic data on Finnish media ownership and business. A follow-up report was published in 2020 (Ala-Fossi et al., 2020).
Yle is supervised both by the government and by the parliament. According to the law on regulating public service broadcasting, Yle’s board is required to provide an annual report of its activities to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, which represents the government. In addition to this more technical report, the Administrative Council of Yle must submit a more substantial annual report to the parliament. In turn, on the basis of the report, the parliament issues a statement on Yle’s annual performance. Both reports are publicly available to citizens (Yle, 2019a, 2019b).
Information on media ownership remains freely available for the most part openly, especially since many media companies are now publicly traded (Ala-Fossi et al., 2018). The problem is that these reports and statements are not easily accessible to citizens. This is especially true in the case of foreign-owned media companies. The mainstream news media, as well as financial news, continue to regularly report major changes in the media markets. Some news outlets, including HS (owned by the Sanoma Group), have adopted a policy of publishing a standard acknowledgement of ownership connection whenever it publishes reports related to companies owned by the same parent company. Universities, research institutes, and professional organisations like UJF are other entities that provide various forms of information about the news media occasionally.
[i]https://pxhopea2.stat.fi/sahkoiset_julkaisut/joukkoviestintatilasto/html/suom0004.htm
[ii] https://www.medialiitto.fi/finnmedia/
