Finland: Media welfare state in the digital era?

Abstract

<jats:p>The concept of media welfare state is a combination of the democratic corporatist media system and social democratic welfare state model, describing the distinctiveness of the Nordic countries and their media systems with four basic principles. Media welfare state is based on communication services understood as public goods, freedom from editorial interference, cultural policy and economic support for media pluralism as well as preference for consensual solutions involving cooperation between main stakeholders. However, identifying a joint media welfare state model in recent media and communication policy decisions made in Nordic countries on developing communication infrastructures, media delivery and universal access turns out to be difficult. During the last three decades, none of the four largest Nordic countries has strictly followed all the four principles. In most cases, Finland has ended up with different solutions than its Nordic neighbours and sometimes also in contradiction with the Media Welfare State model. There is evidence that the Nordic media markets have been losing their distinguishability over the years. But the main reason why the present-day Nordic countries do not fit into media welfare state model is that they no longer are welfare states ‐ not at least in the same fashion as they used to be. In Finland, this transition from the welfare state to the competition state has been more rapid and extensive than elsewhere in the Nordic region, partly because of its geopolitical position. The Finnish economy has also been exceptionally dependent on a single mobile technology corporation.</jats:p>

The media welfare state: A citizen perspective

“…During the last three to four decades, several of the institutions of the media welfare state have been challenged by political developments (Holtz-Bacha, 2021; Jakobsson et al, 2021). Thus, the media welfare state, which is celebrated internationally by media scholars (Benson et al, 2017) and supported locally by voters, is increasingly an “image in the rearview mirror” (Ala-Fossi, 2020: 146). Since the media welfare state is widely supported by the electorate it seems that it has been a wise political strategy to attack the media welfare state in “stealth mode”.…”

“…In line with previous research on welfare attitudes (Svallfors, 1989; 2011; Svallfors et al, 2012) we find both age and working-class affiliation to be positively correlated with the media welfare state of mind. If it is true that the notion of media welfare state first and foremost describes a media system of the past (Ala-Fossi, 2020) one could make sense of the fact that older generations are more supportive of it through the lens of “media generations” (Bolin, 2016). Older generations have grown up during the social democratic hegemony (the Swedish governments between 1936 and 1976 were Social Democratic) under which the media welfare state was formed.…”

“…Hallin and Mancini, 2004) the system in these countries, which is referred to as the media welfare state , stands out in a number of ways. While there are country-specific exceptions (Ala-Fossi, 2020) the media have been approached as public goods which has manifested in a strong public service media and ambitions on universal access to communication infrastructures. The Nordic countries show relatively egalitarian patterns in news consumption and high levels of trust in news media and they have long and stable traditions of institutionalized editorial freedom.…”

“…Taken together, contemporary challenges such as radical right-wing attacks on public service media (Holtz-Bacha, 2021), increasingly antagonistic relations between stakeholders in the media market, a more polarized media audience (Jakobsson et al, 2021) and the dominant role played by transnational platform companies in the media market, suggest that the media welfare state is turning into an “image in the rearview mirror” (Ala-Fossi, 2020, 146).…”

Introduction: Class in/and the media: On the importance of class in media and communication studies

“…If the Nordic countries (as discussed above) might be perceived as global outliers regarding socioeconomic equality, their media systems also share some "exceptional" features, and might be perceived as "media welfare states" (Syvertsen et al, 2014) characterised by strong public service organisations, extensive subsidies for journalism, high levels of news consumption across the social spectrum, and robust trust in the media, facilitating a media society that has less significant class differences and class conflicts than in other parts of the world. Of course, the media welfare state is a highly debatable concept, and its empirical support can be, and has been, questioned (see, e.g., Ala-Fossi, 2020;Jakobsson et al, forthcoming). The perception of Nordic countries as global outliers -whether real or not, also regarding media and communication -is perhaps one of the reasons why social class has rarely been placed on the top of the research agenda in Nordic media and communication studies.…”