Finnish media seek alternatives as STT faces possible closure

Finnish media outlets are considering how they would replace news agency STT’s services if it closes, Yle reports. Media group Keskisuomalainen says it plans to expand its shared newsroom and is open to working with other publishers.

STT supplies domestic, international and sports news to regional and local newspapers. Many publish its material in print while focusing on their own reporting online.

Matti Posio, editor-in-chief of Keskipohjanmaa, a newspaper published in Kokkola, said he was shocked by the news and questioned how quickly the decision had been made. He said it would be strange if Finland no longer had a national news agency, and asked whether funding from private foundations had been fully explored.

Pekka Mervola, editorial director at Keskisuomalainen, wrote that the group’s shared newsroom would grow and could take on some of STT’s role. The group plans to make necessary hires and other changes by the end of March. Mervola said it would discuss cooperation with other media companies that are interested.

Posio said he wanted to hear all proposals for replacing STT’s most useful services. He added that publishers with sufficient resources could produce national and international news and offer it to others at a reasonable price.

Rami Nieminen, editor-in-chief of Turun Sanomat and Salon Seudun Sanomat, said a similar service could emerge after STT. He described the agency’s basic news coverage as important to media diversity, saying cooperation with STT gives publishers more resources for their own journalism.

Antti Kokkonen, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Kaleva and chair of the Finnish Editors’ Association, was less certain that another provider could make the model work. STT had worked hard to become financially viable, he said, and a replacement might need public support. He hoped new, flexible ways could be found to provide at least some of STT’s services.

STT’s largest owner, Sanoma, stopped using its services about a year ago, a loss that the agency has not recovered from, according to STT’s editor-in-chief, Minna Holopainen. She said the agency had explored every option to save the business but was running out of time.

STT still has several dozen customers, and use of its material has grown since Sanoma’s departure. Holopainen said the remaining customers kept their contracts after they were renegotiated, and more than 1,000 STT news items have been published each day since then. She said she could not see a direct replacement for the agency’s ability to distribute international news photography or images of events in Finland.

STT has begun change negotiations affecting almost all its staff. The restructuring could lead to as many as 95 roles ending. The agency also plans to find new ways to ensure continued use of the Lehtikuva photo archive.