From aesthetes to reporters: The paradigm shift in arts journalism in Finland

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The crisis of cultural journalism has recently been a topical issue in many countries. In Finland, too, it has been claimed that arts pages, previously dominated by aestheticallyoriented critics, have been shrinking and become more news-oriented and entertaining. In the article, we will explore the change of structures, values and ideals of arts reporting as friction between two opposing paradigms, the aesthetic and the journalistic, and analyse how the changes are reflected in the contents of the cultural pages and in the self-image of arts journalists. The research data of this case study consists of the arts pages of the biggest national newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, and of various internal planning documents related to its management. In addition to a longitudinal content analysis, we also employed theme interviews with and observation of cultural journalists. The results show a change of paradigm in arts journalism, with the consequence that the previously autonomous department has become an inseparable part of the news organization, increasingly adapted to meet the challenges of news journalism.

The Political in Cultural Journalism

“…Regarding news of cultural affairs, it represents a more deliberative model (Strömbäck 2005) of public related to the objectivist (Deuze 2005) journalistic approach. We find thus both the journalistic and the aesthetic paradigms in the interpretive sub-community of the PSB media, whereas the press editors relate mainly to the aesthetic paradigm (Hellman and Jaakkola 2012). This is interesting because it illustrates a connection between the aesthetic and the political, which may seem surprising if the aesthetic is understood merely in terms of reviews.…”

“…Scandinavian studies note that cultural journalism is characterized by hybridity, consisting of those who work within an "aesthetic" paradigm and those who are situated within a "journalistic" paradigm (Hellman and Jaakkola 2012;Kristensen and From 2011). In the wake of digitalization, professionalization and economic down-sizing, Jaakkola (2013) documents increasingly centralized managerial control and the outsourcing of criticism, shifting Finnish cultural journalism more towards the journalistic paradigm.…”

Liquid Modern Journalism with a Difference

“…Because of the distinctive nature of cultural journalism, with its specific determinants of journalistic professionalism in which journalistic and aesthetic values intermingle (e.g. Harries and Wahl-Jorgensen 2007;Hellman and Jaakkola 2012;Kristensen and From 2011), we argue that the changes occurring in the professional ideology of journalism have a different impact on this specialized field of journalism. In other words, we expect that arts journalists experience pressures different from those of colleagues in other beats to reassess their professional identity.…”

“…Reus, Schneider, and Schönbach 1995). Cultural journalists typically adopt a professional role that has been called "cultural elitism" or "arts exceptionalism" (Harries and Wahl-Jorgensen 2007;Hellman and Jaakkola 2012). The differentiation is supported by the lower status in the organizational hierarchy of newsrooms, similar to sports journalists (Rowe 2007).…”

“…Avilés et al 2004;Deuze 2007;Lee-Wright 2011;Meier 2007;Nygren 2008;Phillips 2011;Schudson 2003;Sparks and Tulloch 2000). On the other hand, there is also widespread agreement in the research literature that cultural journalists represent a unique case within professional journalism (Harries and Wahl-Jorgensen 2007;Hellman and Jaakkola 2012;Hovden and Knapskog 2008;Kristensen and From 2011), showing distinctions which have prompted observers to call them "journalists with a difference" (Forde 2003) or "birds of paradise" (Reus, Schneider, and Schönbach 1995).…”