Heikki Hellman

My background is firmly in journalism. I finished my master’s degree at the University of Tampere with journalism and mass communication as major in 1980. For 30 years (1980–2010), I worked as a journalist in Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's major national daily, most of that time as the Culture Editor of the paper. Besides journalism, however, I did research on programme competition in media and broadcasting policy. 

In 1993–1994, I took part in the Doctoral Programme of the CCIS at the University of Westminster, London, and defended my dissertation in Tampere in 1999. The study, From Companions to Competitors, dealt with the changes and uses of programming in broadcasting competition in Finland in the 1980s and the 1990s. In 2008–2009, I served as the Visiting Professor of Journalism and, in 2011–2016, as the Dean of the School of Communication, Media and Theatre (CMT) at the University of Tampere. In 2012, I published a book Koko illan ilo? (Pleasures all night long?) analysing the commercialization of television in Finland through a case study on Finland's Channel Three (Kolmoskanava). The study demonstrated how the launch of the new channel in 1986 signalled the beginning of the marketisation of television broadcasting in Finland.

Since 2017, serving first as Senior Research Fellow, I had a chance to concentrate fully on research. As to my research on journalism, I'm focusing on the dissolving authority of cultural journalism which, in many ways, predicts future developments of the profession. I contributed actively to a Nordic NOS-HS network aiming at promoting research in the field, resulting in several conference panel sessions, two edited volumes and various co-authored articles. Other research interests include media policy issues, radio playlists and, in particular, measurement of media content diversity.

In February 2019, I retired officially but continue as Docent, contributing to both teaching and research at the new Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences (ITC). 

Media and broadcasting policy, public service broadcasting, television programming patterns, digitalisation of television, cultural journalism, radio music

Member of the YLE (Finnish Broadcastng Company) Board of Executives, 2013–2017

Media and broadcasting policy, public service broadcasting, television programming patterns, digitalisation of television, cultural journalism, radio music.

Monographs:

Koko illan ilo? Kolmoskanava ja television kaupallistuminen Suomessa [Pleasures all night long? Channel Three and the marketization of television in Finland]. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2012. (Historiallisia Tutkimuksia 258; Kansallisen audiovisuaalisen arkiston julkaisuja.)

From Companions to Competitors. The Changing Broadcasting Markets and Television Programming in Finland. Tampere: University of Tampere, 199. (Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 652.)

Uustelevision aika? Yleisradiotoiminnan edellytykset television rakennemuutoksessa [Age of neo-television? Public broadcasting in the structural transformation of television]. Helsinki: Hanki ja Jää, 1988.

Refereed articles in English:

Cultural Mediators Seduced by Mad Men: How Cultural Journalists Legitimized a Quality TV Series in the Nordic Region. Television and New Media, 20(2019):3, pp. 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476417743574. [Co-authored with Nete Nørgaard Kristensen and Kristina Riegert.]

Public Service Hit Radio? Playlists and Product Differentiation in the Competition for Listeners. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 15(2017):1, 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao.15.1.27_1. [Co-authored with Arto Vilkko.]

What Is Cultural News Good For? Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish Cultural Journalism in Public Service Organisations. In: Cultural Journalism in the Nordic Countries / eds. Nete Nørgaard Kristensen & Kristina Riegert. Göteborg: Nordicom, 2017, 111–133. [Co-authored with Leif Ove Larsen, Kristina Riegert, Andreas Widholm and Silje Nygaard.]

From Culture Wars to Combat Games: The Differentiation and Development of Culture Departments in Finland. In: Cultural Journalism in the Nordic Countries / eds. Nete Nørgaard Kristensen & Kristina Riegert. Göteborg: Nordicom, 2017, 49–68. [Co-authored with Maarit Jaakkola and Raimo Salokangas.]

Liquid Modern Journalists with a Difference: The Changing Professional Ethos of Cultural Journalism. Journalism Practice, 9(2015):6, 810–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2015.1051361. [Co-authored with Maarit Jaakkola, Kari Koljonen and Jari Väliverronen.]
– Published also in: Cultural Journalism and Cultural Critique in the Media / eds. Nete Nørgaard Christensen & Unni From. London: Routledge, 2017, 52–69.

Semi-Commercial or Semi-Public Service? Legitimacy and Regulation of Commercial Television in Finland. Comunicazioni Sociali, 35(2013):1, 44–57. [Co-authored with Heidi Keinonen.]

From Aesthetes to Reporters: The Paradigm Shift in Arts Journalism in Finland. Journalism, 13(2012):6, 783–801. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911431382. [Co-authored with Maarit Jaakkola.]

Liberal Turn in Media Policy: The Case of Finland’s Digital Television. International Journal of Digital Television, 1(2010):2, 193–213. https://doi.org/10.1386/jdtv.1.2.193_1.

Digitalizing Diversity: Public Service Strategies and Television Program Supply in Finland in 2002. International Journal on Media Management, 6(2004):3–4, 152–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/14241277.2004.9669397. [Co-authored with Minna Aslama and Tuomo Sauri.]

Does Market-Entry Regulation Matter? Competition in Television Broadcasting and Programme Diversity in Finland, 1993–2002. Gazette, 66(2004):2, 113–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016549204041473. [Co-authored with Minna Aslama and Tuomo Sauri.]

Diversity – An End in Itself? Developing a Multi-Measure Methodology of Television Programme Variety Studies. European Journal of Communication, 16(2001):2, 181–208. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323101016002003.

Legitimations of Television Programme Policies: Patterns of Argumentation and Discursive Convergencies in a Multichannel Age. In: Rethinking the Media Audience: The New Agenda / ed. Pertti Alasuutari. London: Sage, 1996, 105–129.

The Formation of Television in Finland: A Case in Pragmatist Media Policy. In: Television in Scandinavia: History, Politics, Aesthetics / eds. Ib Bondebjerg & Francesco Bono. Luton: University of Luton Press, 1996, 91–111. (Acamedia Research Monograph 20).

A Toy for the Boys Only? Reconsidering the Gender Effects of Video Technology. European Journal of Communication, 11(1996):1, 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323196011001001.

The Formation of Television in Finland: A Case in Pragmatist Media Policy. In: Nordic Television: History, Politics and Aesthetics / eds. Ib Bondebjerg & Francesco Bono. Copenhagen and Roma: Department of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen ja Festival Nordico, 1994, pp. 79–101. (Sekvens yearbook.)

Competition and Content in the U.S. Video Market. Journal of Media Economics, 7(1994):1, 29–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344394016001004. [Co-authored with Martti Soramäki.]

Public Service Television and the Tendency towards Convergence: Trends in Prime-time Programme Structure in Finland, 1970–1992. Media, Culture & Society, 16(1994):1, 47–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344394016001004. [Co-authored with Tuomo Sauri.]

Economic Concentration in the Videocassette Industry: A Cultural Comparison. Journal of Communication, 35(1985):3, 122–134. [Co-authored with Martti Soramäki.]

Disarmament, Strip-Tease in the Ideological. Current Research on Peace and Violence, 6(1983):4, ss. 209–232. [Co-authored with Kauko Pietilä and Leena Paldán.]