International conference on media in Helsinki on 25 and 26 April – wide-ranging discussions about Yle, Finland and Finns
Gilles Marchand, Director General of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR, and Professor Kristina Riegert from Stockholm will be the keynote speakers at the conference on Nordic public service media history.
The Yle 100 research program is holding an international conference called Northern Narratives and Digital Horizons at Iso Paja in Pasila, Helsinki, from 25 April to 26 April 2024. The event has three core themes: Digital Horizons, Media and National Identity, and Navigating Nordic Voices.
The conference will open with a keynote speech by Gilles Marchand, Member of the Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Director General of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR, on Thursday, 25 April. On Friday, 26 April, Professor Kristina Riegert from Stockholm will be the keynote speaker.
On Thursday, 25 April, there will be a special focus on the relationship between Yle, Finland and the Finns during the first decades of Finnish independence. On Friday, 26 April, the focus will be on Yle and culture as well as Yle’s road to digital services. The full programme and registration information for the conference can be found on the research program’s home page. You can follow the conference via an open stream on the same page.
”Finns have always been interested in Yle as a company. Researchers have also been interested in it. The Yle 100 Research Program has assembled current Finnish Yle research, and it also wants to inspire new academic research on Yle. In addition to the international speeches, more than 20 researchers’ presentations on Yle as a public service media will be heard at the conference. This is an investment in the knowledge capital about Yle for the future,” says Ismo Silvo, who is in charge of the Yle 100 Research Program at Yle.
By studying Yle’s history, we can learn a lot about the development of Finnish media, culture and society
The conference is being organised by the Yle 100 research program, which is the largest academic research program ever to focus on Yle. The research program involves research groups from the universities of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Jyväskylä. The Research Program deepens the discussion on public service and creates building blocks for its future.
”The history of Yle is not just about Yle: by studying Yle’s history, we can learn a lot about the development of Finnish media, culture and society,” says Niklas Jensen-Eriksen, Professor of Business History at the University of Helsinki and the main coordinator of the Research Program.
