Media Innovation in a Strange Place: Newspaper Differentiation on Åland

Abstract

This essay examines the cultural, economic and political contexts of the small but vibrant media market on the Åland islands as well as competition strategies deployed by managers at two local Finnish newspapers, Ålandstidningen and Nya Åland. The case study has a managerial framework and aims to address four questions: 1) what is the foundation for newspaper competition at Åland; 2) what institutional drivers determine the way these organisations operate; 3) how do managers experience competition and innovation; and 4) what are the implications for society?The essay is based on semi-structured interviews. The analysis shows that copying and imitation are an integral part of competition and it can be argued that competition leads to less, not more, differentiation, with highly substitutable goods produced for the same group of consumers. Imitation is known to be a common practice in the media world. There is evidence that news agendas in the Åland newspapers diverge only marginally from each other. However, it can be argued that competition is good for local democracy since there are at least two platforms available for public opinions. Local business can also gain from the fact that competition lowers prices for advertising space. In this sense a linear view of competition between media as a single explanatory framework for innovation and differentiation is not satisfactory. The dominance of one owner in both newspapers complicates the overall picture.

Åland – a peculiar media system

“…The death of print newspapers is yet to be seen in Åland, as they still have a strong base of paying readers. According to a study from 2015, around 14,000 households on the islands (70%) were paying to read a printed home-delivered paper in addition to subscribing to papers from Finland or Sweden (Lindén, 2015). Beyond these two newspapers, there is a public service company -Ålands Radio och TV (ÅRTV) founded in 1996 and financed with media fees -as well as a small private radio station, Steel FM.…”

“…The two papers were fierce competitors for many years, and the underdog Nya Åland was about to overtake Ålandstidningen around 2007. Due to countermeasures, however, that did not happen (Lindén, 2015). Wiklöf considered merging the two, but acknowledges that competition between the two papers keeps the cost of advertisements down.…”

“…(Helin, 2005) Discontented journalists at Ålandstidningen founded Nya Åland as a cooperative in 1981 (Forsgård, 2006;Mattsson-Eklund, 1991) and catered to readers who were not happy with the dominance of political and economic elites. This new venture immediately divided the population in two: those inclined to Gamlan -the old one, or blue one (the colour most frequently used in design and marketing), considered more conservative and friendly to the establishment -and those inclined to Nyan -the new one, or red one, seen as more radical, feminist, and left-leaning (Lindén, 2015). The historian Janne Holmén exemplifies how the establishment of Nya Åland opened up a debate on history, culture, and identity with alternative interpretations and accounts that until then had been suppressed: "the society on Åland started to become less monolithic in the 1980s, and this was reflected in the history writing" (2015: 157).…”

“…Edquist and Holmén (2015) demonstrate that islands, with natural boundaries and sharp edges, offer a particularly good set of samples for exploring the links between geography and the sociocultural context, the relationships of the different groups of people in society and their habits, traditions, and beliefs -in short, a shared identity and sense of history. This study fills a gap, since not much has been written academically about the media system in Åland other than an article on the competition between the two newspapers and their media innovations (Lindén, 2015) and a book chapter on how the newspapers use history and identity to attract an audience (Lindén, 2017). A history was also published of Ålandstidningen, Åland's largest and leading news outlet, as an institutional actor both in the local context and with regards to surrounding development (Mattsson-Eklund, 1991).…”

Innovation and Value Creation in Local Media

“…Hansen et al reported that the newspaper in their study was also guided by the objective of anchoring the newspaper in a local identity. The editor even argued that local competition between newspapers was beneficial for the community, taking a position that is supported by various Lindén, 2015). The actors interviewed by Ijäs explicitly called for widening the reach and scope of their local newspaper to create an arena for debate and to promote Sámi culture and language.…”