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Abstract
The ongoing changes in journalism in Finland have forced the profession to consider its position and practices. This need for reflection was particularly clear after the recent school shooting cases in Jokela in 2007 and in Kauhajoki in 2008 that gave rise to a public debate about journalists’ actions. Using qualitative content analysis and the idea of reflective practice as its methods, this study investigates how 45 Finnish journalists reflected on their and their profession's work after the two cases. The study focuses on journalists’ views of reporting on the shooters and victims, and reveals a shift in journalists’ thinking from a strong deontological ethos towards a more teleological stance. It also highlights the need for further research to determine whether the change observed is a permanent one.
Notes
1. The first school shooting took place in Jokela Upper Secondary School in southern Finland on 7 November 2007, and claimed the lives of nine people. The second shooting followed in a vocational college in Kauhajoki in the west of the country on 23 September 2008, and resulted in the death of 11.
2. See Raittila et al. (2008, 2009, 2010).
3. Interviews were conducted by Laura Juntunen, Laura Kangasluoma, Kari Koljonen, Pentti Raittila, Tiia Rantalainen and Jari Väliverronen.
4. After the Jokela school shooting, we conducted 20 research interviews with journalists in different positions: we talked to eight mid- or upper-level managers (editors-in-chief, editors, and sub-editors), nine reporters and four photographers who were all at the scene in Jokela, and three online desk journalists. In four interviews, researchers talked to two journalists during a single session. Eight of the 24 interviewees worked on TV, seven in dailies, five for magazines, and four in tabloids. The interviews were conducted in February and March 2008. After Kauhajoki, the breakdown of interviewees was as follows: eight mid- or upper-level managers, 10 at-the-scene reporters and one at-the-scene photographer, plus two online desk journalists (who were interviewed in a single session). Five of the 21 journalists interviewed worked on TV, eight in dailies, and the remaining eight in tabloids. The interviews took place from November to December 2008. The average duration of an interview was 1.5–2 hours in both school shooting cases.
5. Remarks about journalistic decisions concerning the victims and shooters were sought in the interviews and then divided into five categories: description, comparison, explanation, evaluation (good, bad or uncertainty), and direction of action (in the future). These resulting categories of reflection were then analysed in more detail for remarks that lend support to the dominant practices and ideals, and remarks that question them. In this study, we paid special attention to how journalists explained and evaluated their actions.
6. The Guidelines were revised in December 2010—partly as a result of the school shootings and their coverage—but the section on autonomy remained unchanged.
7. The Jokela school shooting was the first big news event in Finland where all the major media outlets were competing for news online (Juntunen, 2010; Raittila et al., Citation2010).
8. The petition by Jokela youth was an exceptional media protest in Finland because of its intensity. However, in crisis situations relations between journalists and victims are often marked by friction. For instance, after the massacres in Columbine, United States, and Port Arthur, Australia, many of the victims voiced their disappointment with the media (Kay et al., 2010; McLellan, Citation1999; Simpson and Coté, 2006).
9. In the psychological after-care for Jokela and Kauhajoki school shooting survivors, it was discovered that journalists’ treatment of the situation had caused added anxiety among the relatives of the deceased, and this was slowing down the actual grieving process. According to the studies conducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, a large portion of the pupils interviewed by journalists in Jokela and Kauhajoki have been diagnosed with an elevated risk of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Haravuori et al., Citation2009; Suomalainen et al., Citation2009). The media's actions seemed to worsen particularly the condition of severely mentally traumatized and symptomatic young people.
10. The critical function of journalism was also brought up in the case of the Kauhajoki shooter. Journalists pointed out that showing his shooting videos was important because it allowed the audiences to assess the work of the local police who had received a tip about the videos a few days before the shooting. A day before the killings, the local police questioned the shooter but found no sufficient grounds for revoking his gun licence and only gave him a verbal notice.
