Journalism | Journalistic work | Communication professions - Completed Projects

BlackBox – Opening the Black Box of Content Marketing
The logic of content marketing from the point of view of the users.

Conciliatory Journalism
An action research project on covering and mediating conflict-sensitive issues.

Data Journalism in Mobile Media Landscape – Research and Development project (MoDaJo)

A Question of Quality? Nordic cultural critique in the media and the negotiation of popular culture
The project probes the quality parameters of cultural criticism in mainstream media.

Visual representation of climate change in journalism

Worlds of Journalism Study
The international comparative research project investigates the conditions, limitations and social functions of journalism as well as the professional orientations of journalists worldwide.

eMEDia – A bottom-up approach for the design and pilot of a joint Master Course in Cross-Media Journalism
Aims at contributing to the modernisation of the Higher Education sector in Tunisia through a bottom-up approach for the design and pilot of a first level professional Master Course in Cross-Media Journalism.

Approaches to Future in Journalism
The PhD project studies the ways in which future has appeared in Finnish journalism vis-à-vis readings of interconnected changes in journalism, social reality and the relations between journalism and other institutions in the post-war history of Finland.

Mediatization of governance. A study on media power in economic and environmental policy networks (MeGo)
The project provides an empirically grounded and theoretically elaborated view of the role of media in political decision-making and governance.

Journalism Students across the Globe: Finland (JSG)
JSG project studies the professionalization and identity of journalism students in the Finnish higher education institutions.

Media coverage of Anneli Auer murder trial
The project focuses on the question of guilt and the media coverage of well-known murder trial. The main method is qualitative content analysis.

Journalist´s Freedom (and Obligation) of Speech
The study examines the extent of journalists’ personal freedom of speech and their opportunities to influence their media’s political content or values.

News Blogging in Russia
Citizen journalism of Russian blogs and its impact on news media.

Online Presence and Credibility of Journalists in Social Media
The research project investigates how the early adapters in newsrooms use social media and what are the roles that journalists assume in different arenas of social media.

Wikileaks and Journalism in the New Information Ecosystem
The research project compares established journalistic media and online leak sites such as Wikileaks, and investigates the relations between the two.

Covering Religion – Challenge of Globalization in the Finnish Newspapers
The aim of this research project is to increase awareness about the changes in the social and cultural role of religion and the possible outcomes of these changes in Finnish newspapers in the age of globalization.

Aggressive Discussion in Social Media and Journalism – Restricting Freedom of Speech?
This project examines, how aggressive speech in media alters public discussion and journalistic and internet practices.

Mapping and Understanding Sustainable Business Models for Journalism
Project creates an emerging data archive of journalistic business models which could track the actually existing, evolutionary change of journalistic business solutions.

Ubiquitous Computing in News Media (Ubi)
The research project aims at enlarging our understanding of innovation journalism in Finland and internationally.

The Changing Professional Identity and Expertise of Young Journalists
The study explores how young journalists understand their work, position and professional identity within the changing media environment.

Annual Monitoring of News Media (2007–2012)
The project has developed into an observation system with which to annually survey news media output and indicate ongoing trends in the Finnish news media.

Towards Engaging Journalism
The project aims to analyze the relevance of journalism from the perspective of social networks. How does journalism engage its readers and how does journalism maintain public’s sense of connection to the public sphere.

Tablet Journalism – Now
State-of-the-art review of expert debate at the dawn of tablets.

The Challenge of Climate Change for Journalism: A Comparative Study on Reporting Innovation
The project generates comparative information on the reporting of the technical, economic and social innovations concerning climate change in different parts of the world.

Public Journalism in Finnish Newspapers
The object of this study is public journalism and its applications in the Finnish press. Public journalism is an American-based journalistic reform movement and an idea which aims at connecting the media more closely with its readers, and readers with public life. This research examines the ways in which public journalism ideas and practices are manifested in three Finnish newspapers – Itä-Häme (IH, local), Aamulehti (AL, regional) and Helsingin Sanomat (HS, national) – during the period of 2002–2006.

Challenges of Global Innovation Journalism

Equality, journalism and career development among Finnish women journalists
This research examines why equality is not realised in journalism even though official education policy emphasises equality as something to be pursued.

School Massacres in Journalism – a comparison of the media treatment of the events in Jokela and in Kauhajoki
The aim of this study is to compare the treatment of two school shootings in the Finnish media. The spring 2008 Jokela Project provides a starting point for the study.

Professionals’ attitudes towards participatory journalism in Europe and the US
The study aims at exploring the attitudes of media professionals towards emerging formats of participatory journalism in selected countries. The study is an expansion of the already ongoing national research project “Readers as a resource for newspapers”. The new complementary project will generate international comparative data on the topic. The study will be carried out by an international network of researchers who will conduct parallel semi-structured in-depth interviews with different media operators in Europe and the US.
Duration: December 1, 2007–June 30, 2008. Contact: Ari Heinonen

Readers as a resource for newspapers
The various modes of interaction between Finnish newspapers and their readers will be explored, and their usefulness assessed. The practices of Finnish newspapers will be contemplated in an international perspective, and international good practices in the field presented. The study will cover 1) letters to the editor, 2) discussion groups and blogs in the Net, 3) audience panels and other forms of audience research. Duration: April 1, 2007–April 30, 2008 Contact: Ari Heinonen

PARTECO project (2006–2008)
Studies the social logic of the participatory economy and its possible uses in conventional mass media production. Focus of this work divides into two areas: (1) Motivations and cultures of content communities (2) New forms of content production, content seeking and journalistic practices. PARTECO IS a joint project of Journalism Research and Development Centre and Hypermedia laboratory of the University of Tampere . The project is funded by the Finnish Technology Agency (Tekes) and several Finnish enterprises. Contact: Esa Sirkkunen

How Will the Recession Affect Journalism?
Examines what kinds of journalistic processes, practices and actors grew stronger or weaker owing to the economic recession of 2008. It focuses especially on 1) the changes in journalistic source practices 2) the consequences of news production done outside the traditional media, and 3) the changes in the status and working capacity of different types of media actors. The research material consists of statistics, interviews, and an expert panel.

Tabloid press in a changing mediascape and society (2007–2008)
The development of the Finnish tabloid press will be studied in the contexts of changing mediascape and society. Current Finnish tabloid journalism is compared to its Swedish and Norwegian counterparts. The position of the tabloid press in the everyday life of Finnish people will be studied through group interviews. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation Contact: Pasi Kivioja

Freedom of Speech as a News Item (2006–2007)
A News Item -project illuminated the different ways in which the press in 14 countries commented on the publication of the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in spring 2006. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation.
Contact: Risto Kunelius

Adequate Information Management in Europe (AIM) (2004–2007)
The EU funded research project investigated the media’s impact on the European public sphere with regard to actors (media institutions and organisations on European, national, regional, and local levels, as well as journalists, correspondents and editors, etc.) and mechanisms (EU news management processes). In the centre of attention was how the mass media manage and produce positive and negative EU coverage and assessment in the context of diverse journalistic and editorial cultures, standards, and ethical considerations in Europe. JRDC was one of the eleven project partners from eleven European Countries. The project was coordinated by Erich Brost Institute for Journalism in Europe. Contact: Heikki Heikkilä

Annual Monitoring of News Media (2007–2012)
The project has developed into an observation system with which to annually survey news media output and indicate ongoing trends in the Finnish news media.

The interpretive power of journalism in mediatized public spheres
The project studies how political journalism interprets and contextualizes politics.

From Broadsheet to Tabloid
The study explores how the change of page format affects newspaper’s content and editorial work. It also explores the reception of the format change among the audience and the advertisers.

Transparency to Journalism Management
The project elucidates the role of journalistic organizations’ middle management in organizing journalistic work, in particular concerning the development of editorial control systems.

Development of journalism ethics (2007–2008)
This project focuses on the professional ethics of journalism as manifested in the Finnish code of ethics (Guidelines for Journalists) and in the decisions taken by the Finnish court of honour, Council for Mass Media. In addition, the study maps out the content of respective professional codes in other European countries. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. Contact: Jorma Mäntylä.