Hundreds of free journalists protested against Sanoma News in Helsinki yesterday. The media house says they stop collaboration with free lancers who won’t sign the dictated new agreement. Sanoma News aims to take all known and unknown usage rights with syndication, selling further and manipulation rights to texts, photographs and illustrations for the price of a single publication, while leaving the free lancers alone juridically responsible.
Sanoma News is part of the Sanoma Group. The corporate altogether (with a 300 million euro operating profit) publishes over 300 European magazines and Finland’s two most read newspapers along with above ten other newspapers. They own the leading picture agency in Finland. In book publishing they are the Finnish market leader and significant europe-wise too. They have five TV stations and three radio stations in Finland. In the Baltics and Finland Sanoma Group is the market leader in press distribution, kiosks, cinema theatres etc.
It seems as the Finnish media emporium’s first aim is to deliver maximum profit for shareholders and to gain maximum grip over production and distribution of information – free journalism comes only after that. What else can you make of it?
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