Examples of the projects conducted by the Journalism Research and Development Centre:

Election funding crisis: media and politics at a crossroads?
The project aims to elucidate the impact of the spring 2008 election funding crisis to journalism and politics and their interrelationship. The study consists of interviews with the parties involved, analysis of media data and assessment of public views. The project is co-conducted with the Communication Research Centre (CRC) at the University of Helsinki. 

How Will the Recession Affect Journalism?
The study examines what kinds of journalistic processes, practices and actors grew stronger or weaker owing to the economic recession of 2008. It focuses especially on 1) the changes in journalistic source practices 2) the consequences of news production done outside the traditional media, and 3) the changes in the status and working capacity of different types of media actors. The research material consists of statistics, interviews, and an expert panel.

The Changing Media Environment of Children and Youth: A Follow-up Study, Phase 2
This is the second phase of a four-part follow-up study dealing with the changing media environment of children and youth. Approximately 60 children living in Tampere and Vesilahti are being monitored for their use of the media. The means being used are interviews, questionnaires, observations, and media diaries. Groups whose members were 8, 11, and 14 years of age participated in a previous study in 2007. Currently, there is also a group of 5-year-olds.

The Economic Change of 2008 in the Media
he study examines the role of journalism in the building of trust in the economy and the legitimation of economic policy during the economic crisis of 2008. The study utilizes both the methods of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The analysis compares economy and economic policy reporting in Helsingin Sanomat, Kauppalehti and Financial Times spanning about two years.

Women’s Magazines as Places of Publicity and Journalism
The study examines how women’s magazine journalism today compares to that in earlier years. It considers the role women’s magazines have had as a public forum and how magazine writers perceive the role of their publications. Answers to these questions will be sought by interviewing journalists who write for women’s magazines and by analysing the content and development of the journalistic image of women’s magazines from 1968 to 2008.

VICOMM Visual commons -Social dialog through visual knowledgedissemination (2009-2011)
This project has been approved to the MOTIVE -program of Academy of Finland. The research shall be conducted as a multidisciplinary project by a consortium, composed of the following institutions: University of Tampere (UTA, coordinator), Helsinki University of Techonlogy (TKK) and University of Art and Design Helsinki (TaiK). The project contributes empirical knowledge about the evolving modes of visual communication, the changing work processes in media production and its interaction with citizen communities, the increasing role of visual knowledge in journalism and how the media production models influence the outcome.

Immigration and Media project (2007-2009) will research on the one hand how immigrants to Finland use media and on the other the interpretations they and the Finnish mainstream population make of media content. In the course of the project, research will also be done in co-operation with other European research institutions in the field. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. Contacts: Mari Maasilta, mari.maasilta@uta.fi  

Media as a holder and a vehicle of power (2007-2009). The study produces concrete and empirical knowledge that illuminates media power in today's information based society. The aim is to analyse the impact of publicity from the point of view of decision-making, its preparation and implementation. On one hand , the issue is one of media's ability and means to influence social decision-making. On the other hand , the issue is how other sectors of society promote their interests by utilising media and publicity. The main interest of the study is to analyse how representatives of different sectors of society perceive media and its power from their own fields' perspective. In previous research, this kind of "external view" of the media and journalism has usefully challenged media's own perceptions of itself. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. Contacts: Esa Reunanen, esa.reunanen@uta.fi  

Annual Monitoring of News Media (2006 - 2012) The project has developed into an observation system with which to annually survey news media output and indicate ongoing trends in the Finnish news media. The objects of the analysis will include subject matter of the main news, the reference groups of the people most featured, age and gender, the geographical perspective of items and the share of material on violence and sexuality. The news media selected for monitoring will include morning newspapers, evening papers, TV news stations, radio news stations and Internet pages of the news media. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. Contacts: Pentti Raittila, pentti.raittila@uta.fi

Bochum and Kemijärvi -Two Cultures, Two Media, One Globalization The events in Bochum and Kemijärvi in mind, the goal of the study is to analyze, from a comparative position, the political and civic cultures of Finland and Germany and the forming of publicity, especially in disputes prompted by globalization. Contacts: Heikki Luostarinen, +358 3 3551 6505, heikki.luostarinen@uta.fi

Civic Journalism in Finnish Editorial Practice The focal point of this doctoral thesis is the change in Finnish journalism that involves the approximation of journalism and ordinary citizens in editorial work. Contacts: Laura Ruusunoksa, +358 3 3551 7842, laura.ruusunoksa@uta.fi

The Challenge of Climate Change for Journalism: A Comparative Study on Reporting Innovation The project generates comparative information on the reporting of the technical, economic and social innovations concerning climate change in different parts of the world. Contacts: Risto Kunelius, +358 3 3551 6281, risto.kunelius@uta.fi

School Massacres in Journalism – a comparison of the media treatment of the events in Jokela and in Kauhajoki The aim of this study is to compare the treatment of two school shootings in the Finnish media. The spring 2008 Jokela Project provides a starting point for the study. Contacts: Pentti Raittila, +358 3 3551 8806, pentti.raittila@uta.fi

Picture of Trust - How readers interpret news photographs? Contacts: Pentti Raittila, +358 3 3551 8806, pentti.raittila@uta.fi

Challenges of Global Innovation Journalism Contacts: Risto Kunelius, +358 3 3551 6988

Towards Engaging Journalism The project aims to improve the method by which audience studies can ever more variedly help editorial staffs to find out novel solutions to the changing problem of appeal. The study starts with the question, what interesting journalism can mean from the point of view of the audience? Contacts: Heikki Luostarinen, +358 3 3551 6505, heikki.luostarinen@uta.fi

Youth, Literacies and Changing Media Environment The study examines the Finnish youth's use of media and different types of media-related literacies at home and at school. Contacts: Reijo Kupiainen, +358 3 3551 8897, reijo.kupiainen@uta.fi

Equality, journalism and career development among Finnish women journalists (2007-2009). This research will examine why equality is not realised in journalism even though official education policy emphasises equality as something to be pursued. The core question in the research is whether the topics of news - the content, form and language - would change if women were to reach a situation in which, as reporters and in leading positions, they could exert more influence over the content than at present. This question will be approached in two subsidiary studies: 1) by investigating possible differences between the male an female relationships to journalism, above all to its ideals and practices, parlance and language; 2) by scrutinising the career development of female journalists and the recruitment of female leaders in Finnish journalism. Partner: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. The interim report of the research project in English:  Subscribing to a woman editor-in-chief? Female and male editors' views on the impact of gender on careers. Contacts: Iiris Ruoho, iiris.ruoho@uta.fi  

Professionals' attitudes towards participatory journalism in Europe and the US The study aims at exploring the attitudes of media professionals towards emerging formats of participatory journalism in selected countries. The study is an expansion of the already ongoing national research project "Readers as a resource for newspapers". The new complementary project will generate international comparative data on the topic. The study will be carried out by an international network of researchers who will conduct parallel semi-structured in-depth interviews with different media operators in Europe and the US. Duration: December 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008. Contacts: Ari Heinonen, +358 3 3551 7031, ari.a.heinonen@uta.fi .

Social Media in the Co-operation between Citizens and Public Administration The project engages in the development, testing and evaluation of new media applications with which the information created by the public sector, different types of media content and the information created by the citizens themselves, can be gathered, augmented and further disseminated. Contacts: Risto Kunelius, +358 3 3551 6988, risto.kunelius@uta.fi

Commercial Television in Finnish TV Culture 1956-1964 This doctoral thesis examines the meanings produced for the Finnish commercial television in the early years of television. Contacts: Heidi Keinonen, +358 3 3551 7953, heidi.keinonen@uta.fi

Finnish Biographical Movies as Popular History 1937-1955 The doctoral thesis examines the relationship between film and history from the perspective of biographical movies. Contacts: Anneli Lehtisalo, +358 3 3551 6304, p.anneli.lehtisalo@uta.fi

Immigrant Youth and the Use of Media The study concentrates especially on the relevance of television and the internet to the everyday life of the youth. Contacts: Kaarina Nikunen, +358 3 3551 7113, kaarina.nikunen@uta.fi

Videos for Newspapers The study examines the role and relevance of video clips posted on the web pages of newspapers. Contacts: Anssi Männistö, +358 3 3551 7995, anssi.a.mannisto@uta.fi