The union is making change to the process of issuing press cards for 2021-2022. The card will no longer be automatically sent to members. From next year, members will have to order the card from the union themselves. Existing cards will expire at the end of this year. Applications for the press card can beRead More
The Rovaniemi Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by Finnish journalist Johanna Vehkoo in the defamation case brought by far-right local counsellor Junes Lokka. Vehkoo was found guilty in April of defaming Lokka by labelling him a racist and Nazi clown on one of her closed-group Facebook posts. She was given a 14-day income-linkedRead More
The UJF and other media organisations plus the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) have drawn up a checklist for the press and other media to use when reporting on cases of suicide. The organisations publicised the checklist at a seminar on suicide, held in Helsinki on World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 September. TheRead More
Since the undemocratic election in Belarus on 9 August, the situation for the country’s journalists has deteriorated. Even before the election, freedom of the press in Belarus was severely restricted and it is now clear that President Alexander Lukashenko is doing everything he can to silence the country’s journalists.
The UJF has expressed concern at the worsening situation in Belarus and the treatment of journalists trying to carry out their work. The police have violently put down protests that erupted following the presidential elections. Violence has also been used in some places specifically to stop the free flow of information. At least 25 journalistsRead More
The #HoldTheLine Coalition demands the Philippines authorities drop a barrage of bogus tax and foreign ownership cases against internationally celebrated journalist Maria Ressa and Rappler – the news organisation she founded.
Online media as a source of news now surpasses that of print media and TV news in Finland. Sixty-eight percent of people in Finland go directly to the internet apps to check the news, according to the survey-based Oxford University and Reuters Institute Digital News Report for 2020, published today. Finns also use social media Read More
The protests that erupted in the US following the killing of George Floyd have spread throughout the country. In some instances rioters have attacked journalists, but the assaults by law enforcement against journalists have been unprecedented. “We’ve never witnessed this before”, said UJF president Hanne Aho. “The Union of Journalists in Finland voices its supportRead More
The UJF has welcomed the draft legislation drawn up by the Ministry of Justice and published 27 May aimed at tackling threats and trolling by making them subject to prosecution. The draft bill results from the goal outlined in the programme of the current government to intervene more forcefully in systematic acts of harassment, threatsRead More
The corona pandemic has hit freelancers where it hurts, in their wallets and work. A UJF survey conducted over April-May has revealed that as a result of the pandemic income has decreased ‘a lot’ for 43 per cent of respondents and ‘somewhat’ for 24 per cent. For two-thirds of respondents the amount of work theyRead More