Promoting democracy, pluralism and vitality in society

Contributor to a sustainable society

Alma Media’s media brands are committed to defending freedom of speech and a pluralistic and democratic society. They engage in ethical, objective and transparent journalism and help citizens improve their media skills.

Other Alma Media services also strive to enhance the vitality of their communities and support the balanced development of society, often in cooperation with other organisations, educational institutes or other companies.

While the methods vary, the goal is the same: providing people with tools for sustainable growth in both professional and private life.

Turning miners into coders

LMC, a Czech recruitment company and a subsidiary of Alma Media, launched a training project in late 2016 in southeastern Czech Republic, where the mining industry, which has been the traditional source of jobs in the region, is struggling with structural changes.

LMC joined forces with a local NGO and the Technical University of Ostrava to turn miners into coders.

A total of 70 miners participated in the project’s initial one-day introductory session, with some of the participants going on to learn coding independently online. The project was then concluded by a five-month intensive course, which four miners were invited to enrol in following a strict screening process. Almost all of the four participants in the intensive course were over 50 years of age. Their retraining ended with four months of practical work training as a programmer, after which they received their formal qualifications.

“At the start of the project, we had hoped it might result in perhaps one real-life example of someone in their 50s making a giant career leap from a dying occupation to a profession of the future. Instead, we had four such examples,” says Tomáš Ervín Dombrovský, Head of Analysis, Communication and Relations at LMC.

“I have been very impressed by what these men achieved with a little bit of help from us and the other partners,” Dombrovský adds.

An opposing force to fake news and hate speech

Responsible media companies must internalise how they can best support democracy and open dialogue between citizens.

One way to achieve this is to develop the ways editorial teams work and to open up this information to public scrutiny. Alma Media’s editorial teams have set quality goals for the content they publish. The key indicators used in monitoring their achievement include the number of condemnatory decisions by the Council for Mass Media as well as the results of reader surveys.

If the results decline, the editorial teams take action to respond.

Alma Media’s editorial offices also cooperate with schools in many ways. One of the focuses of this cooperation is media education. We consider it important for schools to produce children who have the capacity to act sensibly both as consumers and producers of content.

Interesting but not irresponsible

Headlines can be bold but they must not upset or insult anyone. Facts must be checked and false rumours exposed, states Iltalehti’s Editor-in-Chief Erja Yläjärvi.