Respect your audience – and help them understand the role of journalism today.
That’s the key message from Sami Koivisto, head of audience dialogue with Finnish national public broadcaster Yle. The International Press Institute (IPI) interviewed Koivisto during a week-long visit to Finland in June as part of its Ontheline project, which aims to collect and share newsroom strategies for responding to online harassment.
READ IPI’S FULL REPORT ON ONLINE HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS IN FINLAND
“If we don’t show that we are taking online harassment seriously, we are not carrying out our responsibility in democracy”, Koivisto said
Newsrooms should respect the views of readers and viewers, he said, but also correct misunderstandings about journalism’s role.
“If we don’t tell people how we do our work, someone else will take that space.”
Interview by Javier Luque, IPI Head of Digital Communications; Alma Onali, Helsingin Sanomat Foundation Journalism Fellow at IPI