‘I changed my life’s course’: The impact of the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation fellowship on the career path of a journalist

Abstract

This study focuses on the fellowship program of Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, which has sent a hundred mid-career journalists from Finland to study abroad at prominent universities. Based on two surveys, one on the fellows (n = 45) and one on a control group (n = 52), the article discusses the impact the fellowship education has on the journalists and their careers. The surveys are complemented with in-depth interviews of 10 fellow journalists. The results are discussed in the context of protean career concept, and they indicate that the fellowship period has a notable positive impact on the career of an individual journalist, but a contradictory impact on the journalist’s home organization.

Keywords

Career fellowship journalist mid-career training protean career

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arthur

Rousseau

(eds) (1996) The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Becker

McConnell

Punathambekar

(2002) The impact of journalism training on the trainers: Reflections of U.S. International fellows. Available at: http://www.grady.uga.edu/coxcenter/activities/act_2001_to_2002/materials01-02/trainingiamcrjuly2002.pdf (accessed 15 July 2016).

Cartus (2014) Global mobility policy & practices: 2014 survey executive summer report. Available at: http://guidance.cartusrelocation.com/rs/cartus/images/2014_Global_Mobility_Policy_Practices_Survey_Exec_Summary.pdf (accessed 23 July 2016).

Chaudhuri

Ghosh

(2012) Reverse mentoring. A social exchange tool for keeping the boomers engaged and millennials committed. Human Resource Development Review 11(1): 55–76.

Chin

Rasdi

(2014) Protean career development: Exploring the individuals, organizational and job-related factors. Asian Social Science 10(21): 203–215.

Elefante

Deuze

(2012) Media work, career management, and professional identity: Living labour precarity. Northern Lights 10: 9–24.

Grubenmann

Meckel

(2015) Journalists’ professional identity. Journalism Studies. Epub ahead of print 6 October. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2015.1087812.

Hall

(1996) Protean careers of the 21st century. The Academy of Management Executive 10(4): 8–16.

Hall

(2004) The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior 65(1): 1–13.

10.

Hall

Chandler

(2005) Psychological success: When the career is calling. Journal of Organizational Behavior 26(2): 155–176.

11.

Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (n.d.) About. Available at: http://www.hssaatio.fi/en/ (accessed 25 July 2016).

12.

Hovden

Bjørnsen

Ottosen

et al . (2009) The Nordic journalists of tomorrow. An exploration of first year journalism students in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Nordicom Review 30(1): 149–165.

13.

John

. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford (n.d.). About us. Available at: http://jsk.stanford.edu/about/ (accessed 30 July 2016).

14.

Jyrkiäinen

(2008) Journalistit muuttuvassa mediassa [Journalists in the changing media] (Publications B 50). Tampere: Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Tampere.

15.

Jyrkiäinen

Heinonen

(2012) Finnish journalists: The quest for quality amidst new pressures. In: Weaver

Willnat

(eds) The Global Journalist in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge, pp. 171–186.

16.

Kirkpatrick

(2006) Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels. 3rd edn. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

17.

Kolari

(2011) Unelma-ammatin kuolema – nuoren journalistin kohtuulliset odotukset [The death of a dream job – The reasonable expectations of a young journalist]. In: Matikainen

(ed.) Muuttuvat mediat – haasteelliset sukupolvet [Changing media – Challenging generations]. Helsinki: Infor, 50–69.

18.

Koski

(2015) Emails to author, 4 March 2015, 27 August 2015, 31 August 2015 and 1 September 2015.

19.

Lassila-Merisalo

Uskali

(2011) How to educate innovation journalists? Experiences of innovation journalism education in Finland 2004–2010. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator 66(1): 25–38.

20.

Lehtonen

(2013) Itsensä markkinoijat. Nuorten journalistien urapolut ja yksilöllistyvä työelämä [Young journalists’ careers and how to market yourself in more individualized working life]. Tampere: Tampere University Press.

21.

Levy

(2015) Email to author, 21 September 2015.

22.

Lindgren

(2012) Kokemuksia innovaatiojournalismiohjelmasta Stanfordissa 2010–11 [Experiences of the innovation journalism program at Stanford 2010-11]. The University of Jyväskylä and The Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. Available at: http://www.hssaatio.fi/images/stories/HSSINJOF_raportti.pdf (accessed 30 July 2016).

23.

Nieman Foundation Fellowships (n.d.). Available at: http://nieman.harvard.edu/fellowships/ (accessed 30 July 2016).

24.

Nikunen

(2013) Losing my profession: Age, experience and expertise in the changing newsrooms. Journalism 15: 868–888.

25.

Pakkanen

(2011) Käydään juttukauppaa: Freelancerin ja ostajan kohtaamisia journalismin kauppapaikalla [Let’s do story business. Encounters of freelancers and buyers at the marketplace of journalism]. Jyväskylä: The University of Jyväskylä. Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-4476-6 (accessed 17 July 2016).

26.

Porttinen

(2010) Uupunut sukupolvi [The exhausted generation]. Journalisti. Available at: http://journalistiliitto-fi.directo.fi/journalisti/lehti/2010/17/artikkelit/uupunut-sukupolvi// (accessed 17 July 2016).

27.

Raittila

Olin

Stenvall-Virtanen

(2006) Viestintäkoulutuksen nousukäyrä – Monta tietä unelma-ammattiin ja suuriin pettymyksiin [The growth curve of communication education. Many roads towards the dream job and great disappointments]. Tampere: The University of Tampere. Available at: http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/65697/viestintakoulutuksen_nousukayra_2006.pdf (accessed 23 July 2016).

28.

Raivola

Valtonen

Vuorensyrjä

(2000) Käsitteet, mallit ja indikaattorit koulutuksen tehokkuutta ja vaikuttavuutta arvioitaessa [Concepts, models, and indicators in evaluating the efficiency and impact of education]. In: Raivola

(ed.) Vaikuttavuutta koulutukseen. Suomen akatemian koulutuksen vaikuttavuusohjelman tutkimuksia 2 [Effectivity to education. Studies in the effectivity program of education by the Academy of Finland 2], pp. 11–28. Available at: http://www.aka.fi/globalassets/awanhat/documents/tiedostot/julkaisut/vaikuttavuutta-koulutukseen.pdf (accessed 23 July 2016).

29.

Reinardy

(2009) Beyond satisfaction: Journalists doubt career intentions as organizational support diminishes and job satisfaction declines. Atlantic Journal of Communication 17: 126–139.

30.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2013) Annual report 2012–13. Available at: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/annual-report-2012-2013.pdf (accessed 23 July 2016).

31.

Shaver

(1978) Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among journalism graduates. Journalism Quarterly 55(1): 54–66.

32.

The Finnish Newspapers Association (n.d.) Sanomalehtien levikkikehitys 2012–14 [Development of newspaper circulation 2012-14]. Available at: http://www.sanomalehdet.fi/sanomalehtitieto/levikki (accessed 30 July 2016).

33.

Virtanen

Uusikylä

(2004) Exploring the missing links between cause and effect. Framework for understanding micro-macro conversions in programme evaluation. Evaluation: The International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice 10(1): 77–91.

34.

Weaver

Wilhoit

(1986) The American Journalist: A Portrait of U.S. News People and Their Work. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

35.

Weaver

Wilhoit

(1996) The American Journalist in the 1990s: U.S. News People at the End of an Era. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

36.

Weaver

Beam

Brownless

et al . (2007) The American Journalists in the 21st Century: U.S. News People at the Dawn of a New Millennium. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

37.

Willnat

Weaver

Choi

(2013) The global journalist in the twenty-first century: A cross-national study of journalistic competencies. Journalism Practice 7(2): 163–183.