Experts back public-law model to keep STT operating

A public-law model supported by state funding is the best way to continue the work of Finnish news agency STT, according to two experts cited by Yle. The model would require new legislation, which could help protect the agency’s independence.

STT announced on October 29 that it would end its news operations in March. Journalist Union chair Marjaana Varmavuori and Heikki Hellman, an associate professor of media and communication studies at Tampere University, discussed possible ways to continue STT’s work or establish a similar service.

Rescuing the current company

The owners have not found a financially viable way to keep the current company operating. Hellman said its ownership structure has been a problem: Sanoma owns about 75 percent of the company and has held a majority on its board.

Varmavuori said the company model would need to change and its operations be renewed. She also warned that STT’s international news agency connections, established working practices and service level would be difficult to replace.

A cooperative

Varmavuori said a cooperative could distribute ownership and decision-making more evenly. Hellman cited Germany’s DPA news agency, which has a large number of shareholders and limits each shareholder to no more than 1.5 percent ownership.

However, Hellman said a cooperative alone might not be enough. The agency would need bridge financing, state support or similar assistance, because Finland’s small market might not sustain a news agency on its own.

A foundation

Varmavuori said a foundation-based structure was another option, pointing to foundation-funded media in the United States. She questioned whether enough start-up capital could be found in Finland but said the idea was worth examining.

Hellman estimated that a foundation would need 50 million to 100 million euros in capital. The agency would still need income from customer fees.

Private investors

Varmavuori pointed to Australia, where private investors rescued the country’s news agency in 2020, during the Covid pandemic, before the state later joined in funding its operations. She said no comparable investor group had yet emerged in Finland, although funding options were being discussed.

Hellman said a similar model operates in the Netherlands, where a news agency is owned by one investor. He was unsure whether Finland could attract investors with both the interest and resources to support an agency. The need, he said, would be at most a few million euros a year, a sum that wealthy Finnish foundations might be able to provide.

State ownership

Both experts largely rejected direct state ownership, citing risks to editorial independence. Hellman said state-owned agencies in several Eastern European countries had followed government lines, with their direction changing after political shifts. He also noted that the neutrality of French state-owned AFP is sometimes questioned, although it is widely regarded as a high-quality and widely used news agency.

One proposal has been to increase the Yle tax or direct some of its proceeds to STT. Varmavuori opposed the idea, saying Yle does more than news and its funding has recently been cut. She also raised concern about the decline in journalism overall: Statistics Finland figures show the number of journalists in Finland has fallen by more than 3,000 since 2010.

Hellman said the few million euros STT would need was a small amount compared with Yle’s budget, but the two organisations’ funding should not be mixed.