ABSTRACT:The crisis of cultural journalism has recently been a topical issue in many countries. In Finland, too, it has been claimed that arts pages, previously dominated by aestheticallyoriented critics, have been shrinking and become more news-oriented and entertaining. In the article, we will explore the change of structures, values and ideals of arts reporting as friction between two opposing paradigms, the aesthetic and the journalistic, and analyse how the changes are reflected in the contents of the cultural pages and in the self-image of arts journalists. The research data of this case study consists of the arts pages of the biggest national newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, and of various internal planning documents related to its management. In addition to a longitudinal content analysis, we also employed theme interviews with and observation of cultural journalists. The results show a change of paradigm in arts journalism, with the consequence that the previously autonomous department has become an inseparable part of the news organization, increasingly adapted to meet the challenges of news journalism.
According to the influential typology by Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini, Finland's media system follows the democratic corporatist model, rather than the polarized plural or the liberal model. The article analyses digitalization of television in Finland and, in particular, its licensing policy as an example of convergence of national media systems towards the liberal model. Using original media policy documents and recent research on programme structures, the analysis reveals that, with multiplied channel capacity, increasing consumer choice became an end in itself in the Finnish media policy since the mid-1990s. As this is associated with licensing an ever-growing number of commercially targeted and formatted channels competing for popularity among mainstream market segments, the shift from the earlier public service protectionism to an increased market role indicates a change in Finland's media policy paradigm. Instead of providing more alternatives in terms of content, digitalization in Finland only gave viewers greater quantity and, in effect, accelerated a dramatic marketization of broadcasting.
Kulttuurijournalismin kriisistä on puhuttu viime vuosina eri maissa. Suomessakin on väitetty, että aiemmin korkeakulttuuriin keskittyneet, kriitikkovaltaiset kulttuuriosastot olisivat muuttuneet uutismaisemmiksi, viihteellisemmiksi ja pinnallisemmiksi ja että päivälehtikritiikki olisi romahtanut sekä tasoltaan että kattavuudeltaan. Tarkastelemme artikkelissa kulttuurijournalismin rakenteiden, arvojen ja ihanteiden muutosta kahden vastakkaisen journalistien työtä ohjaavan paradigman, esteettisen ja journalistisen, välisenä hankauksena sekä sitä, miten muutokset heijastuvat yhtäältä kulttuurisivujen sisältöön ja toisaalta toimittajien itseymmärrykseen. Aineistoina ovat maan suurimman päivälehden, Helsingin Sanomien, kulttuurisivujen sisällönerittely vuosilta 1978–2008, lehden kulttuuritoimittajien vuonna 2004 tehdyt teemahaastattelut sekä erilaiset kulttuurisivujen kehitystyöhön liittyneet dokumentit ja muistiinpanot vuosilta 1994–2005. Tulosten perusteella kulttuurijournalismin asema on monella tapaa murtunut. Kulttuuritoimituksessa on tapahtunut ”journalistinen käänne”, minkä seurauksena siitä on tullut lehden uutisorganisaation erottamaton osa, jonka toimintatavat ovat sopeutuneet lehden uutisjournalismin yleisiin vaatimuksiin.
Based on theories about the role of cultural mediators in cultural production and using the TV series Mad Men as a case, this article investigates how cultural journalists in the Nordic countries have contributed to legitimizing "quality TV series" as a worthy field of aesthetic consumption. Key analytical points are: 1) cultural journalists legitimize Mad Men's quality by addressing aspects internal (aesthetic markers) and aspects external (culture industry markers) to the series, as well as the series' broader social and historical anchoring; 2) Nordic cultural journalists position themselves positively towards the TV series based on their professional expertise and their personal taste preferences and predilections; 3) these legitimation processes take place across journalistic genres, pointing to the importance not only of TV criticism, epitomized by the review, but of cultural journalism more broadly in constructing affirmative attitudes towards popular culture phenomena such as TV series.
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