The Neighboring Country in Headlines

Report for the ”Mental borders” theme, group 2 Heli Rossi, Julianna Saareks, Natasha Melnik and Nikita Temerev Date 27.11.2013 Cross-Border Citizen Scientists -project

Contents

Page

1. Introduction 1

2. Analysis of the Finnish Newspaper 1

2.1. Introduction to the study on the Finnish side 1

2.2. Analysis and research results 1

3. Analysis of the Russian Newspapers 2

3.1. Introduction to the study on the Russian side 2

3.2. Analysis and research results 2

4. Conclusions 4

1. Introduction

The aim of this research was to study local newspapers in Finland and Russia to find out what is written about the neighboring country and the Finnish-Russian border; how much is written and what the articles are like. The study was carried out in two parts. The Finnish researchers studied the Finnish newspaper “Etelä-Saimaa”, and the Russian researchers studied the Russian newspapers “Vesti” and “Rekvisit”. The articles were first analysed separately in Finland and Russia, using a thematic approach. Final conclusions were made based on a joint analysis of the Finnish and Russian data.

2. Analysis of the Finnish Newspaper

2.1. Introduction to the study on the Finnish side

The aim of the research was to examine what is written about Russia, Russians and the Finnish- Russian border in the local newspaper “Etelä-Saimaa”. Etelä-Saimaa is a politically uncommitted newspaper, which is published in the province of South Karelia with a circulation of 27 000 pieces. Our goal was to study how many articles there are, what the most popular themes are, what the most popular sections of the newspaper are and how the articles picture Russia and the Russians. We went through the September 2013 issues of the paper (issues 1-30). There were all together forty articles about Russia, Russians and the Finnish-Russian border. We divided the articles into themes based on shared features. We selected one to six articles from each theme and studied them closer.

2.2. Analysis and research results

We divided the forty articles into five different themes based on shared features. These themes were (1) politics, (2) tourism, (3) border crossings and visas, (4) culture and (5) Russian affairs. The tourism theme had the biggest amount of articles. Most of the articles were news, which were published in the Homeland-section of the newspaper. From our point of view the articles were written from a neutral and objective perspective.

We chose two articles for a closer analysis.

The first article was called “Russian shuns law and authorities”. The article deals with the differences between Finnish and Russian people. For the article Finnish and Russian people were interviewed and asked what their border neighbors are like. The idea of the article is to tell about differences between Finns and Russians, and to discuss whether there are any differences. The article raises differences equally both in Finns and Russians. The text is written in the passive and the author does not come up. The article is illustrated by a couple of pictures of Finnish and Russian people who were interviewed. A lot of examples are given. The article could have been written in a very stereotypical way, but good and bad sides are brought up from both nationalities. Russians are pictured a bit more superficial and obstinate than Finns, while Finns are said to be close to nature and law-abiding decent citizens. On the other hand, the way Finnish people think about Russians is questioned by

mentioning that from a global perspective Finns are more peculiar than Russians, and that from the perspective of other nationalities, such as Asians, Finnish and Russian people have a lot in common.

The second article was entitled “Putin describes Snowden as a weird guy”. The article describes how Russian President Vladimir Putin had called the American leaker of information Edward Snowden a “weird guy” in an interview for the Russian television. The events are presented from a neutral perspective. The writer of the article has picked Putin’s characterization of Snowden from the interview. Putin, instead, has not been characterized in any way. The author does not come up in the article and there is no illustration. The choices of words, on the other hand, are interesting, taking into account the words used: “weird”, “guy” and “no clue”. The article could have been written from another perspective. As it is, the article communicates how Putin steps back from the leaker of information that Russia has been protecting. Earlier, Russia has appeared to take an approving stance on Snowden. Finland and the Finns are not present in the article, besides from being onlookers. The article is concerned mostly with the relations between the United States and Russia, in which Finland does not play a significant role on the international level.

It is possible to conclude that Russia is significant for the Finnish border area, because it is being reported of abundantly. There were all together 40 articles about Russia, Russians and the Finnish- Russian border in Etelä-Saimaa in September 2013. The news articles took a neutral perspective on Russia and the Russians.

3. Analysis of the Russian Newspapers

3.1. Introduction to the study on the Russian side

Our study of the Russian newspapers faced some difficulties. Initially we planned to focus on two newspapers, those of "Vyborg" (the Vyborg newspaper) and "Vesti" (official newspaper of Leningrad region). Unfortunately, the work on the newspaper "Vyborg" could not be carried out. We had viewed September and October 2013 issues of the newspaper and selected five articles devoted Finland, Finns and the Finnish-Russian border, but on the stage of analysis web-pages ( and consequently the web-archive) of the newspaper did not work. That is why at the last minute we changed the newspaper and focused on one issue of the newspaper "Rekvisit". It seemed a very interesting example for analysis, because even in one issue of the newspaper there were many articles about Finland. Below there are two parts: 1) analysis of the newspaper "Rekvisit " and 2) analysis of the newspaper "Vesti" .

3.2. Analysis and research results

Analysis of the newspaper "Rekvisit" (Nikita Temerev)

Newspaper "Rekvisit" is published in the city of Vyborg. This newspaper is distributed in Vyborg, Primorsk and Sovietsk, which are border towns of Leningrad region. This newspaper is a non-

governmental paper and it offers a lot of advertising. However, it publishes some informative and analytical articles as well. Information about the circulation of the newspaper could not be found.

I focus on one issue of the newspaper (October 2013). Right on the first page of the newspaper there is an article about the road connection between Russia and Finland. In general, the newspaper "Rekvisit" has a lot of information about Finland and borders. Almost every second page of the newspaper has an article or a small mention of Finland. Among them there is information about the construction of the new road between Lappeenranta and Brusnichnoe. This article is written in official business language. There is also information from the Russian customs about customs regulations, information about Finland, an article about a Finnish delegation that visited the Vyborg castle, an article about Finns who rejected Russian milk, and a lot of advertisements of Finnish goods, which are sold in the cities of Leningrad region. One whole page of the newspaper is subtitled "Finland”. On this page tourist information about Helsinki is published. According to this article the city is in the top of world's best cities. The second article of the page is for some reason dedicated to Estonian alcohol.

To conclude, the paper presents Vyborg, Primorsk and Sovetsk as border towns and therefore it publishes a lot of information about Finland. Majority of the information is advertisements of Finnish products and information about transport communication between Russia and Finland. Finland is represented as a space of consumption. There is very little non-touristic information about Finland and the Finns. One article about the refusal of the Russian milk has a negative tone.

Analysis of the newspaper "Vesti" (Natasha Miller)

Newspaper "Vesti" is published by the Government of the Leningrad region. It contains official information and analytical articles. I looked through the archive of the newspaper, and selected two months in 2012 for analysis. I found four articles devoted to Finland. The articles included following topics:

- Ecology. One article focuses on the environmental issues of the border. The article tells about cooperation of environmental organizations of Leningrad region and ecological organizations of southeast Finland. Several joint activities were organized as part of the cooperation. Ecologists reconstructed several rapid sections of a river on the Finnish territory (15 km from Lappeenranta), and equipped a nature trail in Vyborg region.

- Culture. One article is devoted to everyday culture in Finland. The article presents several recipes for making sauerkraut the Finnish way.

- History. One article is devoted to the shared history of Russia and Finland. The article tells about relatives of the Russian artist Ilya Repin. They lived on the former territory of Finland and now they are buried in Finland.

- Spa-hotel. Information about the Finnish spa hotel Anttolanhovi, which is located 25 km from the city of Mikkeli.

To conclude, the official newspaper of the Leningrad region gives us examples of successful cooperation between Russia and Finland, provides information about everyday life in Finland and demonstrates the closeness of our histories. In addition, there is an advertisement of a hotel as an example of opportunities to relax in Finland. The newspaper thus gives an idea of the cooperation that takes place between Russia and Finland, and provides positive information about life abroad.

4. Conclusions

Both Finnish and Russian local newspapers have articles about the neighboring country and the Finnish-Russian border. However, the amount of articles differs. In Russian newspapers there is a small amount of articles and Finland as a theme is not popular. Much more is written about Russia in the Finnish newspaper. The most popular common themes for the Finnish and Russian newspapers are travel, visas and Russian tourists.

The reason for the larger amount of articles in the Finnish newspaper is most probably the large amount of Russian tourists in Finland and the economic dependence of Finnish border towns on tourism from Russia. Many Finnish companies are directed to Russian people and couldn’t work without Russian customers. Russians have become a usual sight in Finnish border cities. Nowadays Russia is also a lot discussed topic in Finland.

In Russia the situation is different. The largest amount of information about Finland in Russian newspapers is information and advertisements for tourists. This implies that for Russia Finland is a space for leisure, a holiday destination. In this way the articles in the Russian and Finnish newspapers are related to the same phenomena: Russian tourism to Finland.