Locally, Regionally and Nationally Online: Online News Comments Sections as Public Arenas in Geographically Anchored Media Structures

Figures & data

Table 1. References to Geography and Scale.

Newspaper	a) Geographic location and agency	Local (near) and hyperlocal	Regional	National	Global
SL n=1,013 references	In total 387 references (38.2%)/ 54 phrases	150 ref./ 7 phr.	107 ref./ 30 phr.	87 ref./ 8 phr.	43 ref./ 9 phr.
KS n=3,795 references	In total 1531 references (40.3%)/ 65 phrases	217 ref./ 12 phr.	716 ref./ 25 phr.	332 ref./ 9 phr.	266 ref./ 19 phr.
HS n=2,310 references	In total 806 references (34.9%)/ 81 phrases	15 ref./ 2 phr.	219 ref./ 37 phr.	421 ref./ 6 phr.	205 ref./ 36 phr.
	b) Origin of people (and things)	Local (near) and hyperlocal	Regional	National	Global
SL n=1,013 references	In total 210 references (20.7%)/ 32 phrases	118 ref./ 17 phr.	30 ref./ 4 phr.	47 ref./ 9 phr.	15 ref./ 2 phr.
KS n=3,795 references	In total 1031 references (27.2%)/ 63 phrases	278 ref./ 28 phr.	364 ref./ 12 phr.	323 ref./ 15 phr.	67 ref./ 8 phr.
HS n=2,310 references	In total 632 references (27.3%)/ 36 phrases	183 ref./ 12 phr.	46 ref./ 6 phr.	359 ref./ 14 phr.	44 ref./ 4 phr.

n = overall number of references in both categories.

Table 2 References to Talvivaara Mine.

Newspaper	a) As a locale and place
SL n=1,013 references	134 references (13.2%)/ 7 phrases
KS n=3,795 references	291 references (7.7%)/ 10 phrases
HS n=2,310 references	251 references (10.9%)/ 16 phrases
	b) Causing effects	Nearby nature/ environment	Names of specific places and locations	Nature/environment in general
SL n=1,013 references	In total 282 references (27.8%)/ 52 phrases	131 ref./ 15 phr.	113 ref./ 33 phr.	38 ref./ 4 phr.
KS n=3,795 references	In total 942 references (24.8%)/ 68 phrases	411 ref./ 20 phr.	375 ref./ 44 phr.	156 ref./ 4 phr.
HS n=2,310 references	In total 621 references (26.9%)/ 61 phrases	212 ref./ 18 phr.	186 ref./ 37 phr.	223 ref./ 6 phr.

Table 3. The overall use of phrases: Number of comments with one or more references to Category 1 or/and 2.

Newspaper	Number of all comments	Comments to category 1 & 2		Number of references
		Total	Percent
SL	1,648	842	51.1	1,013
KS	6,186	2,780	44.9	3,795
HS	1,665	1,096	65.8	2,310

Table 4. The mostly used phrases.

	Category 1	Category 2
SL	Sotkamo (as a location and a municipality), 104 comments Finland (as a location and a country), 53 comments Kainuu (as a region), 52 comments A person from Sotkamo, 33 comments We/us (from Sotkamo), 33 comments	The mining area, 45 comments Nearby environment, 28 comments Nearby drainage systems, 19 comments (- specific names of rivers and lakes, altogether 80 references to 20 names)
KS	Kainuu (as a region), 383 comments Finland (as a location and a country),176 comments Sotkamo (as a location and a municipality),113 comments A person from Kainuu, 157 comments We/us: from Sotkamo, 32 comments; from Kainuu 35; from Finland 40	The environment (in general), 111 comments Nearby drainage systems, 106 comments The mining area, 90 comments (- specific names of rivers and lakes, altogether 216 references to 23 names)
HS	Finland (as a location and a country), 265 comments The country, 73 comments The state, 69 comments (the three above relate to Finland, altogether 407 comments) We/us (from Finland), 105 comments A taxpayer, 49 comments (the two above relate to citizenship, altogether 154 comments) Kainuu (as a region), 57 comments	Drainage systems (in general), 69 comments The environment (in general), 76 comments The mining area, 73 comments (- specific names of rivers and lakes, altogether 49 references to 12 names)