Watchdogs, Advocates and Adversaries : Journalists’ Relational Role Conceptions in Asylum Reporting

Journalistic role conceptions are usually understood as internalised professional conventions about the tasks reporters pursue in society. This study insists that more attention be put on the relational and context-dependent nature of journalistic role conceptions. Adopting a social-interactionist approach to journalistic roles, the study examines how Finnish journalists conceived of their professional roles when covering asylum issues during the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Based on an analysis of open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 24 journalists, we highlight how considerations of the political context and interactions with three key reference groups—officials, asylum seekers and anti-immigrant publics—shaped the journalists’ conceptions of their tasks and duties. The article contributes to the study of journalistic role conceptions by illustrating how the conceptualisation of journalistic roles in relation to reference groups takes place in practice. It also sheds light on the tensions involved in journalistic balancing and negotiation between various available role conceptions, especially in the shifting societal and political contexts of a Europe marked by multiculturalism and the simultaneous rise of anti-immigrant movements.Peer reviewe

Mediating the German Ideology: Ordoliberal Framing in European Press Coverage of the Eurozone Crisis

The German Government has played a leading role in the Eurozone crisis management, largely characterised by a commitment to fiscal austerity and supply-side structural reforms. The legitimation of these measures in the European policy arenas as well as in the public domain has partly rested on an ordoliberal economic policy framing, which has presented the Eurozone crisis as one of public indebtedness and loss of competitiveness. To study the public legitimation of the crisis management, we analyse the press coverage of the crisis in 8 Eurozone member states, with a total of 7986 newspaper articles included in the sample. Focusing on ‘problem definitions’ and ‘treatment recommendations’ as two key elements of issue framing, we find that an ordoliberal framing of the crisis prevails in all the studied countries, while a competing Keynesian policy frame is mostly undermined. Significant variation between the countries emerges, however, on the question of EU federalisation and on the framing of the sovereign bailout loans. We discuss the implications of these findings for the success of the German Government to maintain the austerity orthodoxy across the Eurozone and crowd out economic policy alternatives.Peer reviewe

Naturalising the new cold war : The geopolitics of framing the Ukrainian conflict in four European newspapers

The conflict in Ukraine has prompted analyses about the return of cold war divisions to Europe. This study focusses on the role the news media plays in the conflict by examining how the visual and textual practices of news framing help constitute geopolitical rationality and legitimise foreign policy. We analyse how the framing of the conflict in Die Welt, Dagens Nyheter, Helsingin Sanomat and The Guardian developed through four key events between February 2014 and February 2015. The analysis indicates that by promoting particular news frames the newspapers contributed to the legitimation of European Union policies, which are premised upon supporting the Ukrainian government in its military campaign in eastern Ukraine and placing responsibility for the conflict onto Russia. Hence, we argue that the news framing eventually contributed to the naturalisation of the ‘new cold war’ as a geopolitical rationality, orienting and legitimising foreign policy in EuropePeer reviewe

The public rises to the European stage

Non peer reviewe

Kirja-arvio: Uusi luokkataistelu: Terrorismin ja pakolaisuuden todelliset syyt (Slavoj Žižek)

Non peer reviewe

The Making of a Global Elite: Global Economy and the Davos Man in the Financial Times 2001–2011

Recent decades have seen an increase in the number of international forums and media that focus on current issues of the world economy and politics. They bring decision-makers from the spheres of politics, business and administration into a common conversation, and connect powerful individuals around the globe. This study defines these institutions as spaces for transnational elite communication (TEC) and examines their relevance in the processes of global economic integration and governance. Focusing on the World Economic Forum and the Financial Times as influential spaces for TEC, the study observes how they enable the powerful to network, develop shared ideas about the economy and negotiate differences between competing interests. Facilitating the definition of the values and principles of the globalising elite, international business-policy forums and media emerge as key pillars of the liberal international order

Lännessä olemme, itään katsomme : Ukrainan kriisin kehykset ja Venäjän esitykset suomalaisissa mediakuvissa

Artikkeli selvittää, millaisia merkityksiä Ukrainan kriisistä suomalaisen valtavirtamedian kuvasto rakentaa. Tutkimuksen aineistona ovat Helsingin Sanomien sekä Ylen ja MTV3:n televisiouutisten Ukraina-juttujen kuvat. Havaintoja verrataan kolmen ulkomaisen julkaisun kuvallisiin esityksiin. Representaatioita tutkitaan kahdesta näkökulmasta. Erving Goffmanin kehysteorian pohjalta tutkimme kuvien tarjoamia tilannemääritelmiä sekä ja niiden taustalla vaikuttavia kehyksiä. Toiseksi analysoimme, millaisia rooleja Venäjän presidentti Vladimir Putin mediakuvissa saa ja millaisia käsityksiä Venäjästä kuvat rakentavat. Havaintoja verrataan aiempaan tutkimukseen Suomen median Venäjä-käsityksistä. Kuvien analyysi nostaa esiin kaksi hallitsevaa tulkintakehystä. Politiikka-kehyksessä kriisi määrittyy poliittiseksi ongelmaksi, jonka ratkaisu on poliittisten prosessien varassa. Humaani kehys taas kohdistaa huomion inhimillisiin menetyksiin, suruun ja väkivallan seurauksiin. Lukijaa puhutellaan empaattisena myötäeläjänä, joka samaistuu ukrainalaisten ahdinkoon. Suomen mediassa politiikan painopiste oli kansainvälisessä politiikassa, kun taas ulkomaiset julkaisut korostivat enemmän Venäjän merkitystä. Presidentti Putin esitettiin mediakuvissa syytettynä, vahvana johtajana, Ukrainan arkkivihollisena ja poliittisen kamppailun voittajana. Poliittisesti Putin asemoitiin ensin lännen (MTV3) ja Ukrainan (Yle) ja myöhemmin Ukrainan (MTV3, YLE, HS) vastapuoleksi. Havainnot heijastavat suomalaiselle Venäjä-kuvalle keskeistä toiseuden ajatusta ja irrationaalista tulkintakehystä.Peer reviewe

Professional role enactment amid information warfare : War correspondents tweeting on the Ukraine conflict

War correspondents work within a networked media environment characterised not only by an explosion of information but also a wide range of actors producing competing narratives and viewpoints. This study examines the ways in which war correspondents enact their professional roles when tweeting from within a conflict zone. The analysis sheds light on the conditions of modern information warfare in the context of reporting from within the Ukraine conflict. It also identifies the emerging social media practices of war correspondents and the different role categories that journalists are adopting on Twitter.Peer reviewe

Caught between sympathy and suspicion: : Journalistic perceptions and practices of telling asylum seekers’ personal stories

Personal stories in news reports serve multiple purposes, but at their core lie efforts at illustrating and authenticating a social or political issue through human experience, an illustration that is compelling in its affective appeal. Telling the personal stories of people belonging to minority groups may work as a potent journalistic vehicle in countering negative stereotypes and prejudices against them. This article examines how Finnish journalists incorporate the personal stories of asylum seekers into their coverage of the so-called 'European refugee crisis' of 2015-2016. Drawing on qualitative interviews, we inquire into how journalists understand the meaning and purpose of asylum seekers' personal stories in their news reporting and reflect on the professional values and ethical dilemmas when telling them. Our findings reveal that while journalists tend to sympathise with the vulnerable and see it as important to combat xenophobia and racism, their relationship with asylum seekers becomes increasingly informed and constrained by socio-political and discursive structures that foster a culture of suspicion towards asylum seekers.Peer reviewe