What do you think has been the most interesting change in your organization as a result of the impact of digital technologies and the internet?

The digital technologies have changed almost everything in our news organization during the recent year. We have reorganized the newsroom and editorial departments as well as production into multimedia units: All newsgathering departments work now for all platforms.

 

The new central newsroom consists of desks for tv, radio and online, and it is where the actual services are finalized. We have built new studios around the new newsroom. We have built an internal news agency, which is the heart of our coordinated operations and material exchange. Technologically we have built a totally new digital technology base: tapeless cameras, file-based production, centralized databases for planning, production and material exchange. This year we will roll the new technology out to our 20 regional offices and install an integrated online publishing system as well. The change has been one of the biggest strategic moves in the history of our company. However: The most interesting change has been the success in the market: Although we have significantly decreased the rolling costs of news operations in real terms, we have been able to gain more viewers, listeners and online audience - in some markets the success has been extraordinary.

How have staff roles changed over the last 18 months?

The staff roles have changed dramatically. Reporters work not only for one platform, but at least for the news agency as well. Often, if there is enough time, they may make stories for more than one media, too. However, because of the time pressure of all electronic media, we are not multimedia purists: Sometimes it is more important to invest in quality and tailor the story carefully for one media. In those cases the workflows have to be different. One of the biggest challenges is to be able to manage those decisions, based on the nature of the story, on a daily basis in 24/7 news operation, producing on weekdays about 320 news bulletins and programs for traditional tv and radio plus online services as well. The culture change has been a huge challenge for the organization and we still have to work with that.

What will be the next big challenge for your organization?

The investment in online. The target is to publish all our journalistic content in online, both as text, clips and programs. There are different use cases for different customer needs, and we aim to fulfill many of them.

 

Biography /Work Experience

06/2007 – present Director of YLE News, Sport and Regional Programmes,

Executive Editor-in-Chief of YLE News YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company

11/2006 – 05/2007 Executive Editor-in-Chief, Head of YLE News YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company

2004 – 2006 Managing Director, Editor-in-Chief Finnish News Agency STT

2001 – 2004 Political Editor

1995 – 2001 Economic and Business Editor

1994 – 1995 Journalist, Economic and Business News

1990 – 1993 Journalist, Economic and Business News Helsingin Sanomat

1993 – 1994 Notary District Court of Helsinki

1984 – 1990 Journalist Forssan Lehti, Hämeen Sanomat, Helsingin Sanomat

Publications: Author of the book: European Monetary System EMS and Finland Talentum Media Co, 1991