More of the Same or a Different Breed Altogether?: A National Comparison of Role Perceptions and Ethical Stances among Finnish Political Journalists

Abstract

To date, specialised sub-groups of journalists have received little attention in comparative studies of the professional values of journalists. To shed new light on the situation in Finland, this article explores the role perceptions and ethical stances of an elite group of reporters – political journalists – in comparison with other Finnish journalists. A statistical analysis of two surveys from the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS) project is undertaken, indicating that political journalists stand out from others by endorsing the role of analytical independent watchdogs and by maintaining more distance to audiences and commercialism. Ethically, they are more cautious than other journalists in using controversial reporting practices. These attributes should stem from the demands of political journalism and the high status of this form of journalism in newsrooms. Political journalists are also more uniform in their values than other sub-groups, but their uniformity is likely to be challenged by current external and internal pressures.

Political Journalism Content in a New Era: The Case of Finnish Newspapers, 1995–2015

“…These developments concur with journalists' and political journalists' increasingly analytical ethos (Kantola, 2013;Reunanen, 2014;Väliverronen, 2018), plus the domestic and international socio-political changes mentioned above that have required political journalists' attention. Even more so, the findings point at the growing impact of both technology and markets.…”

“…The dailies follow the democratic corporatist focus on policy implementation (Kantola, 2011) and avoid ideological matters. This approach aligns with historyit helped commercial papers' rise in Finland (Salminen, 1988) and journalists' current professional demands of neutrality (Reunanen, 2014;Väliverronen, 2018). More recent developments the rise of the Finns Party and the centre-periphery cleavage in politics, or the diversification trend and financial turmoil in journalismhave had an insignificant effect.…”

“…Political journalists highlight the same principles, but with more intensity, and have a pronounced focus on critical analysis. They also maintain more distance to market and audience considerations than others to preserve their neutrality (Väliverronen, 2018). However, their values have been increasingly challenged in the 2010s.…”

“…Such an approach is based on professional values and practicalities. Political journalists highlight their detachment from political parties (Reunanen, 2014;Väliverronen, 2018) and are likely to rein in commentary when this stance could be jeopardized. Moreover, in a multi-party system with ideologically flexible governments, some caution is necessary for maintaining good source connections with all parties (Väliverronen, 2017).…”

“…Journalists have increased differentiation from political actors (Herkman, 2009), diversified their approach (Koljonen, 2013a), and turned increasingly to audiences (Ahva, 2010). However, political journalists represent a special case with their somewhat distinctive values and practices (Väliverronen, 2018).…”