Participation in Social Media : Studying Explicit and Implicit Forms of Participation in Communicative Social Networks

Peer reviewe

Audience community as a strategic resource in media work: Emerging practices

Peer reviewe

Press Subsidies and Business Performance of Newspaper Publishing in Three Nordic Media Welfare States

The Nordic countries have been regarded as so-called "“media welfare states." Despite the large amount of public money used on press subsidies over the decades in the Nordic countries, there is not much academic research on the financial performance of the newspaper publishing industry in these countries. This study examines the "media welfare state" approach to public support for newspapers and the financial performance of newspaper companies in three Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Our data consists of the key financial figures of newspaper publishing companies in the aforementioned countries from 2005 to 2019. Based on our analysis, we argue that direct press subsidies in Sweden and Norway have not been able to prevent a decrease in the number of titles and, importantly, have resulted in a number of subsidy-dependent news outlets unable to survive on their own income. By contrast, the Finnish newspaper publishing industry has been in a better financial situation in terms of almost all indicators and throughout the review period, despite Finland abandoning direct press subsidies in the 1990s

Sosiaalinen kuratointi verkossa: Mediasisältöjen sosiaalinen kulutus ja osallistava yleisöys

Artikkelin aiheena on yleisön rooli mediayhtiöitten tuottamien sisältöjen valikoijana ja jakelijana. Verkkoympäristö ja sosiaalisen median työkalut mahdollistavat sen, että yleisö pystyy helposti ja vaivattomasti – esimerkiksi linkkaamalla, twiittaamalla tai suosittelemalla – kertomaan tutuilleen tai seuraajilleen mielenkiintoisina ja merkityksellisinä pitämistään mediasisällöistä. Tästä toiminnasta käytetään käsitettä sosiaalinen kuratointi. Artikkelissa otetaan sosiaalinen kuratointi käsitteellisesti haltuun yleisö­ ja kulutustutkimuksen kontekstissa. Lisäksi selvitetään, millainen merkitys sosiaalisella kuratoinnilla on osallistavassa yleisöydessä. Teoreettisen osan tukena hyödynnetään suomalaisessa sanomalehdessä tehtyä haastattelututkimusta, jonka tulosten perusteella voi todeta, että yleisön harjoittamalla kuratoinnilla on lehden kannalta tärkeä rooli sisältöjen kulutuksessa sekä myös yleisön kiinnostusten ja agendan luotauksessa. Keskeinen johtopäätös artikkelissa on, että sisällöntuotanto ei ole hyödyllisin näkökulma ymmärtää yleisön roolia osallistavan yleisöyden leimaamassa mediaekosysteemissä, vaan muut osallistumisen muodot – sosiaalinen kuratointi kenties tärkeimpänä – ovat olennaisempia mediayhtiöille

Editorial : New Forms of Media Work and Its Organizational and Institutional Conditions

Editorial: New Forms of Media Work and Its Organizational and Institutional ConditionsThis thematic issue explores the widening scope of media work and the institutional and organizational conditions that support new forms of media work. The media industry has undergone significant economic, structural, and technological changes during the past few decades, including changing patterns of ownership and digitalization of media production, distribution, and consumption. Simultaneously, practices of media work are adopted also in other industries. The 10 articles in the issue not only focus on the new professional roles and responsibilities emerging in the news media industry but also study the practices of media work in organizations in other fields, such as the music industry and public sector.Non peer reviewe

’The Mission is to Keep this Industry Intact’: Digital Transition in the Japanese Newspaper Industry

The focus of this paper is the digital transition in major Japanese newspapers that sell millions of copies per day. By digital transition we refer to the shift to publishing content on digital platforms – in this case the shift from print to online and mobile media. Japan is globally one of the most important newspaper markets with the world’s largest daily newspapers circulation-wise. The research focusing on the digital transition in Japanese newspapers and the implications of this shift has been hitherto almost non-existent. In the paper, the digital transition is examined by means of qualitative in-depth interviews with representatives from the Japanese leading newspapers. The conclusion based on the empirical analysis is that for the Japanese newspapers the most essential approach in coping with the digital transition is protecting the printed paper and treating the digital platforms as supplementary.Peer reviewe

’Hey, I’m Here Right Now’ : Camera Phone Photographs and Mediated Presence

A photograph can mediate the presence of the absent, the object or person captured in the photograph. Now, with the aid of the network connection provided by the camera phone, photographs can function as communicative objects through which distant people engage with each other quite synchronously, helping them to form a connection in the present, as opposed to a connection between past and present. The purpose of the article is to join these two aspects of presence, thereby integrating the study of photography with mobile communication studies. The article contributes to the discussion on camera phone photography by focusing expressly on photography as a communication medium. The camera phone deserves a substantial position in the study of photography, as a rapidly increasing share of cameras are placed in mobile phones. In the article, it is argued that mediating presence visually is an integral practice of using photographs in mobile communication. With results from an empirical case study of Finnish camera phone users, it is demonstrated how photographs can provide means for both maintaining a connection between individuals and mediating presence.Peer reviewe

A future of journalism beyond the objectivity-dialogue divide? : Hybridity in the news of entrepreneurial journalists

As pioneers of new ideas and practices, many entrepreneurial journalists spearhead the change of journalism towards hybridity. By applying appraisal theory, this article examines a hybrid of objectivity and dialogue in daily news articles by five entrepreneurial journalism outlets – Axios, MustRead, National Observer, The Skimm and the Voice of San Diego. For comparative purposes, a dataset from three legacy media outlets was also analysed. The results show that the entrepreneurial journalism outlets employ journalistic dialogue in otherwise stylistically objective news texts notably more often than do legacy media outlets. Dialogic registers provide subtle, non-partisan assessments of events and issues and make the news more informal. Such a hybrid form of journalism serves the functions of sense-making, establishing an interpersonal connection between ‘private’ audiences and ‘public’ news, and connecting journalism with fields outside of its core. By doing so, the hybrid journalism of entrepreneurial journalists offers a distinctive vision of the futures of news journalism.Peer reviewe

Hybrid Engagement: Discourses and Scenarios of Entrepreneurial Journalism

Although the challenge posed by social media and the participatory turn concerns culture and values at the very heart of journalism, journalists have been reluctant to adopt participatory values and practices. To encourage audience participation and to offer journalism that is both trustworthy and engaging, journalists of the future may embrace a hybrid practice of journalistic objectivity and audience-centred dialogue. As innovative and experimental actors, entrepreneurial journalism outlets can perform as forerunners of such a culture. By analysing discourses in the "About Us" pages of 41 entrepreneurial journalism outlets, the article examines the emerging journalistic ethos of entrepreneurial journalism and its participatory tendencies. The results show a conception of journalism that is a hybrid of the journalistic ideals of dialogue and objectivity. This kind of hybrid journalism and adjacent "hybrid engagement" can offer an answer to the dual challenge of how to make journalism more participation-friendly while at the same time hold on to the defining values and criteria of journalism. Drawing from futures research, the article concludes by sketching four scenarios of how entrepreneurial journalism and participatory hybrid engagement may develop in the future