The International Press Institute (IPI) has published a new report examining updates on media freedom reforms in Finland and the country’s swift alignment with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
The 2026 country report is part of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, produced annually by IPI and the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC).
The report examines how Finland became one of the first countries in the European Union to align its domestic legislation with EMFA and subsequent developments in the past year.
Work to align national legislation in Finland with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) began in October 2024 and concluded on August 8, 2025, when the Act on the Supervision of Media Markets and the amended Act on Yleisradio entered into force. This made Finland one of the fastest EU Member States to complete the EMFA reform process, providing a model for the bloc for swift and effective legislative alignment.
The key developments of 2026 relate to Traficom’s new role as supervisory authority. During the year, Traficom published the first version of the media ownership database, set the framework for annual reporting on state advertising, and carried out its first merger assessment under the EMFA, on Otava’s acquisition of effective control over Alma Media. It received no additional funding for any of it, and the legislation deliberately withholds the power to prohibit a merger.
This is the third iteration of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, which covers eight EU countries: Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
IPI and MJRC have announced a major expansion of the annual report series to all 27 EU Member States shortly, creating a new EMFA implementation monitor.
These reports are intended as a vital resource for media rights organizations, civil society groups, policymakers, and advocates dedicated to monitoring and fostering media freedom across the EU.
Each country assesses the four safeguards in the EMFA that bear most directly on media capture: the independence of public service media, the independence of media regulators, protection against the misuse of state funds to influence the media, and transparency of media ownership and safeguards for media pluralism.
The 2026 edition follows the EMFA’s first year of full application, from August 8, 2025. Written by national experts and edited by MJRC and IPI, the reports are deliberately short: they track what has changed since the 2025 baseline assessment and identify the problems that remain.
The project is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. It is co-funded by the European Commission.
This report was coordinated by IPI and the MJRC as part of IPI’s work under the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries
