Inhabitants: 5.5 million (April 2022)
Households: 2021: 2.9 million; 2012: 2.55 million
Religions: Evangelical Lutheran (67.8%), Orthodox (1.1%), as of 2021
Capital city: Helsinki (656,920, December 2020)
Form of government: republic
Head of State: Sauli Niinisto (Conservative, since 2012)
Prime Minister: Sanna Marin (Social Democrats, since 2019)
EU-member since: 1995
Unemployment rate: 7,6% (2021); 8,1% (2013)
State indebtedness: €168.41 billion (2021); €107.8 billion (2012)
GDP: $299 billion (2021); $260 billion (2013)

Digital advertising spending: 830.70 million € (2021)
Television viewing time per inhabitant: 180 min/day (2021)
Large media and communication companies: Sanoma, Yle, Alma Media, TV4 Media AB, Bauer Media Group
Broadcasting fees: Since 2013, financing through the so-called Yle tax, depending on income between 51 and 143 euros per year

History and Profile

The first Finnish newspaper was founded in 1771 by the Aurora Society in Turku, when Finland was still part of the Swedish kingdom. The secret Aurora Society was part of the circle of the Turku Academy, founded in 1640 by the Swedish Queen Christina, an educational institution that is considered the predecessor of the University of Helsinki. The society included many prominent members of Finland's cultural and political elite, and so it was logical that Tidningar utgifne af et Sällskap i Abo (News of the Turku Society) developed into the official mouthpiece of the Finnish state between 1790 and 1880, when it first gained autonomy as a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809.

However, throughout the 19th century, the Finnish press was never able to report freely and was constantly confronted with censorship measures. This included the decree issued in 1850 that only religious texts or economic news could be published. The Finnish authorities based their control of the press on the censorship model used in Tsarist Russia. With the end of the Russification of Finland, which began in 1905, control of the Finnish press was also relaxed; however, freedom of the press was not formally enshrined in law until 1919, two years after Finland's independence. But even after that, when the fascist Lappo movement gained influence, journalists and citizens had to think twice about expressing communist or atheist opinions.

The Second World War, in which Finland fought alternately against both Russian and German troops, again brought an abrupt end to the previous period of relative press freedom, which also saw the establishment of public broadcasting. Yleisradio (YLE) fell. The alliance with Nazi Germany, which was initially entered into, also brought with it the import of Nazi propaganda techniques. National censorship measures were politicized and seventy specially trained censorship commissioners were posted to the editorial offices of the leading newspapers, where they monitored and filtered their content on a daily basis. The defeat against the Soviet Union and the subsequent armistice of 1944 in turn led to the banishment of all right-wing and national conservative literature from public life. Overall, the Second World War left a lasting effect on Finnish society of a culture of self-censorship, which applied particularly to sensitive foreign policy issues. During the Cold War era, Finnish journalists were implicitly encouraged by the political elite not to criticize their Soviet neighbor too openly. The term "Finlandization" became a synonym for a submissive attitude towards the Soviet Union at this time.

While print authors voluntarily refrained from criticizing the Soviet Union in their articles, it was primarily the public television station YLE, introduced in the late 1950s, that marked the beginning of the professionalization of Finnish journalism. It was in particular the news director Ralf Friberg, who was hired in the late 1960s, who restructured YLE according to Western European standards. Friberg had spent time abroad in Great Britain and the USA during his studies and had internalized the journalism practices and rules prevailing there. From then on, YLE adhered to values such as impartiality and objectivity, which were demonstrated during the first serious test, the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland's media system suffered a brief relapse into the old days of self-censorship: in the wake of an economic crisis that occurred precisely in the years before joining the EU in 1995, the leitmotif was no longer fear of the superpower next door, but the need to belong to the European Union. According to critics, editors-in-chief closely linked to the elites pushed the need to become part of Europe in countless editorials, which in no way corresponded to the EU scepticism that was prevalent at the time among large parts of the Finnish population.

Today, the Finnish media system is characterized above all by its high degree of concentration - four companies control 55 percent of the press market; Sanoma is a dominant, influential media group; and there are now de facto regional newspaper monopolies in all major cities in the country. On the other hand, despite or precisely because of its media history marked by (self-)censorship, Finland has a culture of journalistic professionalism that is unparalleled internationally. Finnish journalists are excellently trained and committed to the highest quality standards, while readers and viewers' trust in the Finnish media remains consistently high. There is hardly a better place for journalists to pursue their profession. In the "World Press Freedom Index" Finland came fifth in 2022 - until 2015 it even topped the ranking for many years.

The largest media groups in Finland

Sanoma
The Sanoma Group is the largest magazine publishing house in Scandinavia and the largest media group in Finland. Its portfolio includes newspapers, radio and television stations and online portals. The most important publication is "Helsingin Sanomat" (popularly known as "Hesari"), the largest daily newspaper in Finland. The tabloid counterpart to "Hesari" is the tabloid "Ilta-Sanomat", which mainly focuses on society topics as well as sports and sports betting reports. Other daily newspapers from Sanoma News are "Etelä-Saimaa", "Kouvolan Sanomat", "Kymen Sanomat" and "Uutisvuoksi".

Founded in the 1960s as a merger of the publishing and distribution companies WSOY, Weilin+Göös, Sanoma Corporation and Rautakirja, as well as a number of other newspaper publishers, Sanoma has grown over the last twenty years through numerous acquisitions. These include the acquisition of the magazine division of the Dutch group VNU (now The Nielsen Company) for 1.25 billion euros in 2001 and a stake in the Russian publisher Independent Media, which was sold again in 2014. In addition to the Russian editions of Cosmopolitan, Men's Health and FHM, Sanoma has published the English-language and internationally oriented Russian newspapers "Moscow Times" and "Vedomosti" since 1992.

Since the takeover of VNU, Sanoma was the media group with the largest reach in the Netherlands and the market leader in the Dutch magazine market. In 2020, the Sanoma Media Nederland division was sold to the Belgian media group DPG Media. Net sales in 2019 amounted to 368 million euros. All 900 jobs were transferred to the new owner. Sanoma received 460 million euros for this. In total, Sanoma was active in 20 different countries, but has ceased many of its international activities as a result of a centralization of the group.

Sanoma also operates the second largest private Finnish television station, Nelonen. The station is designed as a full-service program with news, documentaries, sports and entertainment. However, more than half of its program consists of purchased American and European entertainment formats. The station JIM has a similar program structure to Nelonen. However, the station does not broadcast any news. Sanoma Entertainment also operated the sports channel Urheilukanava and the pay-TV offerings Kino TV and Urheilu+kanava. After several restructurings in the 2010s, the pay-TV offerings were finally discontinued. Sanoma also owns the private radio stations Radio Aalto and Radio Rock. In the summer of 2011, Sanoma took over various Dutch and Belgian stations of the SBS group from the German media group ProSiebenSat.1. The group acquired the TV channels SBS6, NET5 and Veronica (Holland) as well as VT4 and VIJFTV (Belgium) for 1.2 billion euros – a price that was later assessed as too high.

In the online sector, Sanoma Entertainment was active for a long time as a provider of broadband Internet and cable services (Welho). In May 2010, however, Welho was sold to the rival telecommunications group DNA for 200 million euros. The traditional Finnish publisher WSOY was sold to competitor Bonnier in April 2011. In return, Sanoma took over the educational publishers Tammi and Utbildning from Bonnier.

At the end of 2020, Sanoma had around 4,800 employees. In addition, the media group generated sales of 1.06 billion euros in 2020 and total assets amounted to 2.05 billion euros. In 2013, Sanoma still had sales of 2.08 billion euros.

Yle
Yleisradio (abbreviated to Yle) first began broadcasting in 1926. The state-owned company and its business activities are regulated by law, as is its financing (Yle tax). In addition, the state must own at least 70 percent of the shares in Yle; it currently holds 99.98 percent.

Yle was founded in May 1926. In the same year, on September 9, the first radio program began broadcasting - initially only on a very limited basis. It was not until 1928, two years later, that the radio program began broadcasting nationwide. Today Yle has nine radio channels, the largest of which is Yle Radio Suomi. With a listener share of 32 percent in 2020, it is not only the most listened to radio station in Yle, but also in all of Finland. Yle Radio Suomi is a news, service and contact channel whose program also focuses on entertainment. The music selection includes domestic and foreign hits, melodic rock for adults and nostalgic pop. Another important radio station is Yle Radio 1. This focuses on news, history and science series, culture, religion, radio drama, classical music, jazz and folk music. With a listener share of 9 percent in 2020, the station, which was founded in 1990 and originally emerged from the supporting program of 1926, is still relatively well represented. The station Ylex, which was founded in 2003 and emerged from the parallel program of 1963, plays a more minor role with a market share of 3 percent.

Other smaller stations are Yle X3M, Yle Vega, Yle Sámi Radio, Yle Mondo, Yle Puhe and Yle Klassinen. Yle Vega and Yle X3M broadcast in Swedish, Yle Sámi Radio is Semi-speaking. Yle Mondo also presents its programs in various European languages such as English, Spanish, French and German.

On 24 May 1955, the Television Association of the Radio Engineering Society of the Technical University (TKK) carried out the first wireless Finnish television broadcast from the TKK's electrical laboratory in Albertinkatu in Helsinki. The transmission was sent to 13 receivers located in different parts of the capital region. At that time, Yle had just established ultra-short wave radio operations (ULA) in Finland. The company's funding and interest was therefore focused only on radio. In 1957, Yle nevertheless started the first test broadcasts, and on 1 January 1958, regular television broadcasts finally began under the name Suomen Televisio.

The heart of YLE today are the two full-service channels Yle TV1 and Yle TV 2, with market shares of 27 and 13.3 percent respectively in 2021, with the latter channel targeting younger target groups. Yle also operates the specialty channel Teema (science and culture), which achieved a market share of 3.1 percent in 2021.

Yle is present on the Internet with its news service of the same name, which is one of the ten most visited websites in Finland. In 2013, radio and TV fees were abolished and replaced by a tax that is deducted directly from taxed income.

In 2022, Yle tax ranged from 51 to 143 euros per year, depending on income. Yle's turnover in 2020 was 487.6 million euros. Profit was 8.8 million euros. In the same year, Yle employed 2,885 people.

Alma Media
Alma Media is a Finnish media and digital services company founded in 1849 and published the former newspaper Suometar.

Today, its best-known formats include the newspapers "Iltalehti", "Kauppalehti" and "Talouselämä". In addition to the news services, the company's various services offer information on lifestyle, careers and business development. Well-known formats here include the Finnish job exchange Monster.fi and the real estate scouting website Etuovi.com. Over the years, Alma Media's services have expanded beyond Finland to the Nordic countries, the Baltic states and Central Europe. Alma Media employs around 1,800 people. Group sales in 2019 amounted to around EUR 250.2 million.

In the second half of the 20th century, Alma Media expanded its offering to include television and radio. In the 2000s, the establishment of various online formats began. In 2005, Alma Media also underwent a comprehensive restructuring - the company separated from its broadcasting business and decided to concentrate on publishing newspapers, business information and online marketplaces.

In December 2011, Alma acquired LMC sro, the Czech leader in job boards Jobs.cz, Prace.cz and the e-recruitment solution LMC G2. In September 2015, it was also decided to merge Alma Media and Talentum. Alma already owned almost a third of Talentum. With the purchase, Alma Media acquired Talentum's publications, including the magazines "Talouselämä", "Arvopaperi" and "Tekniikka & Talous" as well as various professional literature. Talentum's operations are now continued by Alma Talent, a subsidiary of Alma Media, which now publishes "Kauppalehtä" in addition to the former Talentum magazines.

In February 2020, Sanoma bought the news services “Aamulehti”, “Satakunta Kansan”, “Janakkala Sanomat”, “Jämsä Seudu”, “Kankaanpää Seudu”, “KMV-Lehten”, “Nokian Uutiset”, “Rannikkoseudu”, “Suur-Keuruu”, “Merikarvia-Lehten”, from Alma Media for 115 million euros. “Sydän-Satakunna”, “Tyrvää Sanomat”, “Valkeakoski Sanomat”, “Jokilaakso” and “Vekkari” as well as Alma Manu's printing press. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the acquisition on March 19, 2020.

In 2021, Alma Media bought the Finnish media company Nettix from the Otava Group. The purchase price of Nettix was 170 million euros. In the same year, Alma Media also fully bought the comparison portal Etua.fi, which it previously co-owned.

TV4 Media AB
TV Media AB is a Swedish media company owned by the Swedish telecommunications operator Telia Company AB, whose sole shareholder is the Swedish state. In July 2018, TV4 Media AB acquired the Swedish Bonnier Broadcasting, which previously belonged to the Swedish media company Bonnier and was also owned by the Finnish MTV broadcasters. The purchase price was 888 million euros. As a result of this acquisition, TV4 Media AB has been the largest commercial TV provider on the Finnish television market and the second largest provider in the country overall.

The takeover was criticized in Finnish politics and the public because the Swedish state, as sole shareholder of the Telia Company, owner of TV4 Media AB, has influence on the direction of the Finnish MTV's TV program.

Bauer Media Group
The Bauer Media Group is a German media group with headquarters in Hamburg. The company is active in many other European countries beyond Germany. In April 2015, the Bauer Media Group took over “SBS Discovery Radio” from Discovery Communications and in August 2015, the Bauer Media Group acquired the radio stations of SBS Discovery Media in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

At the end of 2015, Bauer Media Group took over the radio program of “Radio Nova” from MTV, which belonged to the Swedish Bonnier Group. At the same time, the sales and marketing activities of “NRJ” and “Radio Nostalgia” were also transferred to Bauer Media, although the company is not the owner of “NRJ” and “Radio Nostalgia”.

 Fig. I: Market shares of TV groups in Finland 2021

 Source: finnpanel.fi

Tab. I: The most visited websites in Finland, October 2022

Rank	Webpage:	Description	Parent company
1.	Google.com	Search engine	Alphabet Inc.
2.	YouTube.com	Video portal	Alphabet Inc.
3.	IS.fi	News	Sanoma
4.	iltalehti.fi	News	Alma Media
5.	Facebook.com	Social network	Meta Platforms, Inc.
6.	Yle.fi	Broadcasting	Yle
7.	Google.fi	Search engine	Alphabet Inc.
8.	Wikipedia.org	Encyclopedia	Wikimedia Foundation
9.	HS.fi	News	Sanoma
10.	Twitter.com	Social network	Twitter Inc.

Source: Similarweb.com

Regulations

In the 1970s and 1980s, Finnish media policy was shaped by motives such as social responsibility and pluralism. But in the 1990s, when the Finnish social contract began to crumble due to a decline in voter turnout, the rise of populist movements and industrial action, the Finnish media system, which had long been an international model, also came under pressure. According to critics, the public interest-oriented media policy of the last century has been replaced by media deregulation in line with the general principles set by the European Union. The Finnish press sector in particular has suffered greatly from this. In fact, Finland is one of the few European countries where newspapers do not receive direct or indirect state subsidies.

In view of Finland's leading position worldwide in terms of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, other issues are the focus of the latest media policy initiatives: media concentration, commercialization, growing competition. The main task here is to ensure plurality and access to various sources of information. The most important law to ensure freedom of expression is the Laki sananvapauden käyttämisestä joukkoviestinnässä (Act on the Exercise of the Right to Freedom of Expression in the Mass Media). It defines the responsibilities of media companies and the rights of individuals to express their opinions in the media environment in accordance with a corresponding passage in the Finnish Constitution.

The two most important institutions of Finnish media policy are the Liikenne- yes viestintäministeriö (Ministry of Transport and Communications, LVM) and the Opetus- yes kulturtuuriministeriö (Ministry of Education and Culture, OKM). The FICORA authority operating under the umbrella of the LVM (Viestintävirasto) primarily regulates technical aspects such as frequencies and data protection, while the OKM is responsible for copyright issues and the content of broadcasting programs. In 2013, the LVM also announced that it would implement a legal reform that would take account of the technical developments of recent years. Citizens are also to be included in the reform process through online consultations.
Other state institutions that are indirectly involved in media policy decisions are the Data Protection Authority and the Supreme Court, which is the final authority to decide on the information behavior of authorities. In addition, there are various self-regulatory bodies of the private media industry. These include Finnmedia, the Association of the Finnish Media Industry, Finnish Journalism Institute, the Finnish Journalists Association, and Christmas presents (Council for Mass Media in Finland).

The television sector is regulated according to the audiovisual guidelines of the European Union, which foresee, for example, that a certain percentage of the programme must be devoted to European issues and minorities. The public broadcaster YLE is regulated in particular on the basis of the Yleisradio Oy-Act and the Act on the Financing of State Broadcasting. YLE itself is controlled by a 21-member administrative body that elects a supervisory board, which in turn can appoint or dismiss the general director and determine the budget. Finally, in terms of antitrust law, the Finnish media companies are supervised by the Competition Authority. Kipailu and cultural diversity (KKV), which in particular monitor compliance with Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Sources/Literature

• Finnpanel (2022): Annual channel viewership shares and weekly reach by age group, Finland, year 2021.
• Hannu Nieminen et al.: “Finland: The Rise and Fall of a Democratic Subsidy Scheme.” In: Paul Murschetz (ed.), State Aid for Newspapers: Theories, Cases, Actions. Heidelberg: Springer (2013), 179-195.
• Heikki Kuuti: “Finnish Media Policy: Less Restrictive, More Directive.” In: Evangelia Psychogiopoulou (ed.), Understanding Media Policies: A European Perspective. New York: Macmillan (2012), 100-116.
• Salovaara-Moring, I. (2009). “Mind the gap?: press freedom and pluralism in Finland.” In A. Czepek, M. Hellwig, & E. Nowak (Eds.), Press Freedom and Pluralism in Europe: Concepts and Conditions. (pp. 213-227). Bristol: Intellect Ltd. (European Communication Research and Education Association series).
• Similarweb (2022): The most visited websites in Finland.