Finland

Finland in general is a safe place for journalists to work. Finnish journalists rarely face any physical threats: in this index, only 1-3 per cent of respondents reported about experiencing such problems sometimes or more often. Most Finnish journalists (61%) are not concerned about their physical well-being at work. Killings of journalists on duty are unheard-of incidents. The two homicides from 2016 that feature in this index were reported by the UNESCO Observatory of Killed Journalists, but no ideological or journalism-related motive was later found in court (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000385864.locale=en). The killings were unfortunate and random in nature. However, these cases have not been removed from the UNESCO data after final investigation and court ruling, which is why this index also gives a somewhat inaccurate account of Finnish journalists’ physical safety. Verbal attacks against journalists have become common, especially on social media. More than 40 per cent of the surveyed Finnish journalists reported having experienced demeaning or hateful speech or public discrediting of their work at least sometimes. Legal actions against journalists, stalking, or other types of verbal threats are notably rarer: a clear majority have not encountered them at all. Certain aspects related to either journalistic profession or personal identity make some journalists, such as editors-in-chief and female journalists, especially prone to verbal attacks. Verbal abuse in general has significant ripple effects, which can also affect those journalists who are not regularly targeted themselves and can lead, for example, to avoidance of certain topics or self-censorship. Finnish journalists in general worry the most about their psychological well-being, with 41 per cent of respondents showing concern about their emotional and mental state. This stems from the experiences of public verbal abuse but also from other pressures at work, for example time-related stress and insecurities in the labour market, as Finnish journalistic media have in recent years been affected by significant economic challenges and layoffs. The above-mentioned aspects play a part in the other two aspects of journalists’ safety. In the digital dimension, Finnish journalists’ concerns are mainly with surveillance: around one out of four journalists have experienced some type of surveillance in the five years preceding the survey. Finnish journalists are also highly aware of the possibility of digital surveillance. Hacking and blocking of websites or social media services were a lesser problem, only encountered by about one tenth of surveyed journalists. As for the financial dimension, the recent economic problems did not seem to pose a direct threat to most Finnish journalists during data collection in 2021-2022: only 11 per cent of surveyed respondents indicated that they were worried about losing their job in journalism. However, indirectly, the pressures are visible in the increasing precarity of journalists as the number of salaried journalists has decreased and (part-time) freelance work has been on the rise in the 2010s. Since the collection of the survey data, the economic situation of Finnish media has worsened further with for example the biggest journalistic employer, public service media YLE undergoing major cuts in funding and number of employees.