In this article, we analyse how the debate on the ‘refugee crisis’ has been constructed in Finnish news media and social media by using big data analytics. The study applies big data with the aim of exploring the dynamics between the mainstream news media and social media and the ways in which these dynamics shape and strategically amplify different understandings of the refugee crisis. The research highlights over-emphasis of crime and threat-oriented themes on refugee issues in social media, as well as illuminates the distinct role of social media platforms in shaping debates through user practices of hyperlink sharing and networked framing. Together these findings suggest that the hybrid media environment provides a possible arena for polarization of the refugee debate that could also be used for political ends.

Hate speech has been identified as a pressing problem in society and several automated approaches have been designed to detect and prevent it. This paper reports and reflects upon an action research setting consisting of multi-organizational collaboration conducted during Finnish municipal elections in 2017, wherein a technical infrastructure was designed to automatically monitor candidates' social media updates for hate speech. The setting allowed us to engage in a 2-fold investigation. First, the collaboration offered a unique view for exploring how hate speech emerges as a technical problem. The project developed an adequately well-working algorithmic solution using supervised machine learning. We tested the performance of various feature extraction and machine learning methods and ended up using a combination of Bag-of-Words feature extraction with Support-Vector Machines. However, an automated approach required heavy simplification, such as using rudimentary scales for classifying hate speech and a reliance on word-based approaches, while in reality hate speech is a linguistic and social phenomenon with various tones and forms. Second, the action-research-oriented setting allowed us to observe affective responses, such as the hopes, dreams, and fears related to machine learning technology. Based on participatory observations, project artifacts and documents, interviews with project participants, and online reactions to the detection project, we identified participants' aspirations for effective automation as well as the level of neutrality and objectivity introduced by an algorithmic system. However, the participants expressed more critical views toward the system after the monitoring process. Our findings highlight how the powerful expectations related to technology can easily end up dominating a project dealing with a contested, topical social issue. We conclude by discussing the problematic aspects of datafying hate and suggesting some practical implications for hate speech recognition.

Suomalainen journalismi on viime vuosina elänyt kiihtyvässä murroksessa. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan, miten toimittajat itse kokevat muutoksen ja sen vaikutukset työhönsä ja omaan ammatilliseen itseymmärrykseensä. Artikkelin teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii professionalismin diskursiivinen rakentuminen ja fokuksessa on erityisesti se, millaiseen rooliin journalismiprofession ydinarvot – julkinen palvelu, autonomisuus, eettisyys, objektiivisuus ja ajankohtaisuus – asettuvat suomalaistoimittajien omissa tulkinnoissa. Artikkelin tulokset perustuvat määrällisen kyselytutkimuksen ja laadullisten ryhmähaastatteluiden analysointiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että toimittajat kokevat taloudellis­teknologiset muutokset ja niistä johtuvat resurssivähennykset kaikkein suurimmiksi muutoksiksi työssään. Myös yleisöyhteistyön rooli on korostunut. Näiden muutosten keskellä suomalaistoimittajien itseymmärrystä ohjaavat kuitenkin edelleen hyvin vahvasti professionalismin ydinarvot autonomisuudesta, objektiivisuudesta ja julkisesta palvelusta. Näiden pysyvyyttä selittää ainakin se, että niillä sekä motivoidaan omaa työntekoa että legitimoidaan journalismin asemaa suhteessa ympäröivään yhteiskuntaan ja muuttuvaan mediakenttään. Tulosten perusteella ajankohtaisuuden ideaali on muutoksen keskellä entisestään vahvistunut, kun taas eettisyyteen liittyvät ammatilliset arvot ovat selkein esimerkki ideaalin ja käytännön välisestä ristiriidasta: arvona eettisyyteen halutaan sitoutua tiukasti, mutta toiminnan tasolla siitä joudutaan käymään jatkuvaa neuvottelua.

Journalistic role conceptions are usually understood as internalised professional conventions about the tasks reporters pursue in society. This study insists that more attention be put on the relational and context-dependent nature of journalistic role conceptions. Adopting a social-interactionist approach to journalistic roles, the study examines how Finnish journalists conceived of their professional roles when covering asylum issues during the so-called "refugee crisis" of 2015-2016. Based on an analysis of open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 24 journalists, we highlight how considerations of the political context and interactions with three key reference groups-officials, asylum seekers and anti-immigrant publicsshaped the journalists' conceptions of their tasks and duties. The article contributes to the study of journalistic role conceptions by illustrating how the conceptualisation of journalistic roles in relation to reference groups takes place in practice. It also sheds light on the tensions involved in journalistic balancing and negotiation between various available role conceptions, especially in the shifting societal and political contexts of a Europe marked by multiculturalism and the simultaneous rise of anti-immigrant movements.