Newspapers in Western and Northern Finland to collaborate more closely through Lännen Media
Alma Media Corporation        Press Release        5 February
2014, 9.00 a.m. (EET)
NEWSPAPERS IN WESTERN AND NORTHERN FINLAND TO COLLABORATE MORE CLOSELY THROUGH
LÄNNEN MEDIA
Six Finnish newspaper publishers have signed a memorandum of understanding for a
significant extension of their journalistic collaboration.
The newspapers Aamulehti, Satakunnan Kansa, Lapin Kansa, Kainuun Sanomat,
Pohjolan Sanomat, Turun Sanomat, Kaleva, Ilkka, Pohjalainen, Hämeen Sanomat,
Forssan Lehti and Keskipohjanmaa are planning to establish in 2014 a company
called Lännen Media to provide shared content for all the participating
newspapers.
If the collaboration plans materialise, Lännen Media will provide the domestic
political, financial and societal news for the twelve participating papers. In
addition, Lännen Media will provide news from abroad, weekend materials, theme
pages and domestic online news.
Lännen Media would serve as a joint editorial team consisting of journalists
around Finland. It would process the shared material ready for printing, and
each individual newspaper would be able to focus its resources on strengthening
its local contents and services. The joint team would be comprised of
approximately 40 journalists.
At the same time, the participating papers in Lännen Media would increase their
collaboration with regard to other journalistic content, design, product
development and training. One of the most important objectives of Lännen Media
would be to expedite the product development of digital content.
The establishment of Lännen Media is part of the newspaper publishers' campaign
to ensure the survival of high-quality newspaper media in Finland. According to
the Editors-in-Chief, the deeper collaboration is a logical next step to follow
the mutual journalistic cooperation which has been going on for a long time.
The total reach of the Lännen Media newspapers is nearly two million (1.933,000)
Finns. The aggregate circulation of the printed newspapers is 542,783 (2013) and
the number of readers 1.32 million.
The establishment of Lännen Media will have no direct impacts on employees of
Alma Regional Media.
For more information, please contact:
Jouko Jokinen, Senior Editor-in-Chief of Aamulehti, tel. +358 (0)10Â 665 3100,
jouko.jokinen@aamulehti.fi
Kari Vainio, Senior Editor-in-Chief of Turun Sanomat, tel. +358 (0)2Â 269 3266,
kari.vainio@turunsanomat.fi
Markku Mantila, Senior Editor-in-Chief of Kaleva, tel. +358 50Â 311 7777,
markku.mantila@kaleva.fi
Alma Media in brief
Alma Media is a media company focusing on digital services and publishing. In
addition to news services, the company's products provide useful information
related to lifestyle, career and business development. The services of Alma
Media have expanded from Finland to the Nordic countries, the Baltics and
Central Europe. The company employs approximately 1,900 professionals (excluding
distributors), of whom over 20% work outside Finland. Alma Media's revenue in
2012 totalled approximately MEUR 320. Alma Media's share is listed on NASDAQ OMX
Helsinki. Read more at www.almamedia.com
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Source: Alma Media Oyj via GlobeNewswire
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