Us Finns Here in Sweden - A Content Analysis of the News on the Finnish Presidential Election in the Swedish Finnish Media

Abstract: Aims and objectives: The aim of the study is to look at how national identity and culture and politics meet in minority language media. The focus is on studying how the minority language media portrays the relationship of the minority and the two countries, the one of origin and the one of residence. The aim is also to find out if the minority status of the minority group for which the media content is aimed at comes across through the reporting of a chosen event - the Finnish presidential elections – and how much and what kind of content is broadcasted. Method: Quantitative content analysis Empirical data: The data includes all the election-related news items, a total of 99 individual items, broadcasted on the nationwide news in the Swedish Finnish media (SR/SVT) between January 17th and January 23rd 2012. Results: All in all the Finnish presidential elections seemed to interest the Swedish Finnish news media during the chosen period of time. The radio and TV news devoted 25% of the broadcasting time to election-related items, which were also broadcasted daily. The election-related reporting showed indicators of the Swedish Finnish minority group having two home countries: something, that I argue, most likely occurs also within other minorities with immigrant background. It seems that in the Swedish Finnish radio or the TV news the news stories from Finland are not categorized as domestic news but not foreign news either Although the Swedish-Finnish media provided sufficient enough information, explanations and discussion around election-related topics to fill the media’s democracy related tasks, the Swedish Finnish minority media did not have the minority on the agenda in the election-related news. The minority and its issues remained silent and invisible in the data. Key words: minority language media, Swedish Finnish minority, national identity