## Exploring the boundaries of Nordic journalism: Introduction to special issue

## ESTER APPELGREN

Södertörn University

## BENTE KALSNES

Kristiania University College

Keeping  journalism  socially  relevant  and  financially  viable  is more challenging than ever. It might seem like a paradox, but in a time  when  news  media  is  challenged  by  inadequate  business models, precarious labor conditions and competition from platform companies,  and  contested  by  populist  politicians,  the  public  is consuming  more  news  than  ever  before.  The  changing  media landscape,  technological  platforms  and  structural  conditions  are influencing journalism, its practices and its roles in everyday life, society, culture, and politics-central topics when communication scholars gather at international and national conferences dedicated to media and communication research.

The NordMedia Conference 2021 was arranged in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. It was supposed to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland, but  was  ultimately  held  virtually.  Naturally,  the  topics  tended  to focus on how journalists were covering the pandemic, but they also included  studies  on  truth,  disinformation  and  facts  as  well  as technology  in  journalism  in  the  form  of  AI  and  automation.  The presenters  were  later  invited  to  participate  in  this  special  issue, which celebrates Nordic scholarship and the Journalistica journal.

In this issue, we bring together three studies that each illustrate the current developments within Nordic journalism research along with  a  book  review  of  a  book  on  political  communication  in  the Nordics.

Ethics and trust are common threads that run through the three articles published in this special issue of Journalistica. The articles cover very different topics-from podcasting as a genre, alternative media and comment moderation to ethics in local news media and ethics and trust are recurring themes in the discussions. What constitutes as news today is increasingly blurred as it mixes with commercial content (influencers and content marketing -commercial  genres  that  look  like  news),  opinions  (comments appearing as news) or false and manipulated content (fake news or disinformation).  Many  people,  especially  young  adults,  get  their news from social media, and the newsfeed does not differentiate between different types of content. News from respected newsrooms  has  the  same  design  as  rumors  from  a  suspicious website.  Thus,  users  have  to  pay  more  attention  to  differentiate between the trustworthiness of the information.

This blurring of content and genres is challenging for journalism's trustworthiness. The articles in this special issue touch on some of the challenges appearing as a result of this blurring despite the long tradition  of  strong  ethical  guidelines  for  journalism  in  Nordic newsrooms.  Nevertheless,  the  users  of  Nordic  news  are  still demonstrating  high  levels  of  trust,  among  the  highest  in  the  45 countries  of  the  Reuters  Digital  News  Report  2022  track.  Finnish news users report the highest trust in news (69%), particularly the news  they  use  (75%),  followed  by  Denmark  (58%/63%),  Norway (56%/63%), and Sweden (50%/56%). Iceland was not included in Reuters' survey.

One factor that can help maintain and strengthen trust in news in the Nordic countries is strong ethical practices in newsrooms. Since the early 20th century, Nordic newsrooms and journalism organizations have developed ethical guidelines for journalism that are continually updated to reflect developments in the profession and society at large:

- § Norway: Code of Ethics for the Norwegian Press

- § Sweden: Rules of Professional Conduct

- § Denmark: Press Ethical Rules

- § Finland: Guidelines for Journalists

- § Iceland: Rules of Ethics in Journalism

Ethical  guidelines  and  their  practical  implementation  in  the newsrooms  can  help  Nordic  journalists  navigate  the  challenges emerging from the changing media landscape, competition from technological platforms and structural conditions influencing journalism. The articles in this special issue of Journalistica each offer a unique contribution to address some of these challenges.

The article Freedom of expression or censorship of antisemitic hate  speech?  Editorial  and  audience  perspectives  on  comment moderation in far-right alternative media ,  written  by  Norwegian scholar Birgitte P. Haanshuus, explores how three prominent and controversial Norwegian far-right alternative media sites perceive and perform comment moderation and how editorial and audience perspectives on the issue correspond. The overall aim of the article is to disclose whether editorial and audience perspectives, respectively, correspond to an interventionist or noninterventionist approach to comment moderation and whether and how the arguments for and against comment moderation comprise normative, strategic or legal considerations.  Based  on  semistructured interviews with representatives from alternative media, including editors and main moderators, and a strategic selection of comment sections from editorial articles from each site, the article argues that comment moderation is crucial for all actors who seek to obtain or protect their legitimacy, regardless of their (counter-) position  in  the  public  sphere.  Despite  being  strong  defenders  of freedom of expression, the editorial staff of the alternative media sites acknowledged that comment moderation is necessary, similar to how mainstream media perceive the responsibility for handling online  debates  (Anderson  et  al.,  2016;  Ihlebæk  et  al.,  2013).  The article contributes valuable insights into the strategy of comment moderation  in  alternative  media  -  through  both  interviews  and analysis of comment sections - and finds that these oppositional media actors are not so alternative after all. The main question, the article argues, is thus not whether interventions should happen at all but rather where the boundaries between what is acceptable and unacceptable should be set.

In the article The ethics of journalism challenged: The blurring boundary between local journalism and communications , the five Finnish scholars Jaana Hujanen, Mikko Grönlund, Juho Ruotsalainen, Katja Lehtisari and Viljami Vaarala explore the future of  ethics  in  journalism  by  primarily  investigating  the  current  and future relationship  between  journalism  and  communications. Based  on  survey  responses  from  editor-in-chiefs,  the  authors present  alternative  scenarios  of  the  journalism-communications relationship. Hujanen et al. (2022) argue that paid content such as native advertising, but also other forms of influences from communication  and  PR,  has  had  a  major  influence  on  ethics  in Finnish journalism, and the process of blurring boundaries between the two industries presents ethical concerns. Hujanen et al. argue that  journalistic  ethics  are  an  essential  boundary  for  professional journalism and discourses on the future of journalism fundamentally concern its ethics. They point out that journalistic ethical  codes  do  not  address  how  to  relate  to  native  advertising. Nevertheless,  44  percent  of  the  surveyed  editor-in-chiefs  were unsure whether the guidelines for journalists, a central element of journalism's boundaries, need updating. This is similar to previous research,  which  found  that  specialized  journalists  such  as  data journalists show limited interest in formalizing their new practices with  regard  to  ethics  in  updated  journalistic  codes  of  conduct (Morini et al. 2022). At the same time, the results of Hujanen et al. (2022) indicate that Finnish editor-in-chiefs think audiences have a hard  time  distinguishing  between  journalistic  content  and  other forms of content; audiences simply do not know the boundaries of journalism. Furthermore, PR content mimics journalistic content to make it look more professional and trustworthy, or municipalities and local authorities prefer to send out 'news' through their own PR channels rather than turning to journalists.

One of the reasons why the Finnish case is interesting is that, in Finland, local news media, while strong, is dependent on advertising and subscriptions. However, citing research by Newman et al. 2020, the Finns have been found to be slightly less willing to pay for news than the residents of many other Western countries. This conundrum calls for local news media to be ever more relevant. As Hujanen et al. (2022) find, the future looks grim for local media in  terms  of  ethics:  while  profits  are  going  down,  non-journalistic content is becoming more professionalized, and as 'communications exploit professional journalism, the democratic function of news media deteriorates' (p.16).

In  the  article Podcast  -  commentary  journalism  in  a  digital public ,  Norwegian  scholars  Lisbeth  Morlandstø  and  Birgit  Røe Mathisen explore the genre of editorial commentary podcasts. This article is based on a case study of four editorial podcasts in 2020 and 2021:  Omadressert,  produced  by  Adresseavisen  in  Trondheim; Nokon må gå, produced by Bergens Tidende in Bergen; Giæver og gjengen, produced by Verdens Gang in Oslo; and Norsken, svensken og dansken, produced  for a Scandinavian public body and broadcasted  by  the  national  broadcasting  companies  in  Norway (NRK), Sweden (SR) and Denmark (DR).

The article builds on a text analysis of several podcast episodes and six interviews with people involved with the podcasts. Morlandstø  develops  a  set of binaries to  capture  important dimensions of the differences between the podcasts. These binaries are:

- § monologue vs. dialogue
- § factual vs. personal
- § reflexive vs. assertive
- § intellectual discussants vs. expert

The findings  show  that  commentary  journalism  in  the  form  of podcasts  has  a  dual  purpose:  publicity  and  advertisement.  The article contributes insights into how the podcast format innovates the genre by moving it in a dialogical direction and, further, how this development is grounded in both commercial and societal considerations. On the one hand, the article argues that podcasts bring audiences closer to the discussions, making reflections and explanations in the episodes more understandable and thus serving a  democratic  function.  On  the  other  hand,  it  argues  that  the columnists in the podcasts have increased their power by personalizing communication and combining podcasts and social media  to  become  visible,  famous  and  celebrified,  rather  than facilitating public debate. Such cross-platform persona construction (Usher, 2020, p. 14) transforms opinion-based journalism from an analytical, reflective act into a channel for an authoritative political influencer's focus on their own opinions.

The final article in this special issue is Jakob Linaa Jensen's review of  the  book Power,  Communication  and  Politics  in  the  Nordic Countries edited  by  Eli  Skogerbø,  Øyvind  Ihlen,  Nete  Nørgaard Kristensen and Lars Nord .  The book was published most recently by Nordicom in 2021, and a previous version was published in 2008. The book investigates how political communication in the Nordics differs from the same communication in other areas of the world. Linaa  Jensen  (2022)  argues  that  the  comparative  perspectives reflected  in  the  book  are  particularly  well  suited  for  introducing researchers  outside  of  the  Nordics  to  the  media  systems  and political landscapes in the Nordic countries. Linaa Jensen believes the book functions as a good introduction for readers outside of the Nordics.

## REFERENCES

- Anderson, A. A., Yeo, S. K., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., & Xenos, M. A. (2016). Toxic talk: How online incivility can undermine perceptions of media. International Journal of Public Opinion Research , 30(1), 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edw022
- Haanshuus, B. P. (2022). Freedom of expression or censorship of antisemitic hate speech? Editorial and audience perspectives on comment moderation in far-right alternative media. Journalistica , 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.130043
- Hujanen, J., Grönlund, M., Ruotsalainen, J., Lehtisaari, K., & Vaarala, V. (2022). The ethics of journalism challenged: the blurring boundary between local journalism and communications. Journalistica , 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.128894
- Ihlebæk, K. A., Løvlie, A. S., & Mainsah, H. (2013). Mer åpenhet, mer kontroll? Håndteringen av nettdebatten etter 22. juli. Norsk Medietidsskrift , 20(03), 223-240.

[https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN0805-9535-2013-03-03](https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN0805-9535-2013-03-03)

- Jensen, J. L. (2022). Book review: Eli Skogerbø, Øyvind Ihlen, Nete Nørgaard Kristensen og Lars Nord (red.): Power, Communication and Politics in the Nordic Countries. Nordicom, 2021, 396 pp. Journalistica , 16 (1).

[https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.133972](https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.133972)

- Morini, F., Dörk, M., & Appelgren, E. (2022). Sensing what's new: considering ethics when using sensor data in journalistic practices. Digital Journalism , 1-19.

[https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2134161](https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2134161)

Morlandstø, L. & Mathiesen, B. R. (2022). Podcasts - Commentary journalism in a digital public. Journalistica , 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.128840

- Usher, B. (2020). The celebrified columnist and opinion spectacle: Journlism's changing place in networked public spheres. Journalism 22(11), 2836-2854.

[https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919897815](https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919897815)

## ESTER APPELGREN

Associate Professor Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies Södertörn University ester.appelgren@sh.se

## BENTE KALSNES

Associate Professor Departement of Communication Kristiania University College bente.kalsnes@kristiania.no