Social responsibility
Alma Media’s commitment to the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact means a clear commitment to the prevention of child labour, human trafficking and forced labour in its operations and supply chain.
In addition Alma Media is committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Rights and Principles at Work, and other core international human rights conventions and recommendations.
Transforming work and competence development
Ways of working are shifting alongside the advancement of technology, digitalisation, and artificial intelligence. When developing competence and transforming work at Alma Media, artificial intelligence is primarily viewed as an opportunity to improve ways of working. The goal is to free up time for tasks where human expertise, judgement, creativity, decision-making, and interaction generate the most value. At the same time, artificial intelligence is transforming not only individual tasks but entire workflows and operating models.
Training the workforce and developing competence has a significant positive impact on Alma Media’s employees. Continuous competence development supports employees’ professional growth, sustained employability, and ability to respond to changing job descriptions and skill requirements. Long-term development and reskilling strengthen competence, job performance, and career advancement opportunities, while also supporting employee retention in an evolving operating environment.
Alma Media respects the UN Global Compact initiative, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Alma has set time-bound and results-oriented targets for training its workforce, developing competence, and supporting commitment. Training and competence development are linked to the company’s strategy as well as to the skill requirements driven by operating environment changes, digitalisation, and artificial intelligence. These targets help strengthen personnel competence, professional preparedness, and retention, while also mitigating risks associated with skill obsolescence.
In Alma’s view, even in the era of artificial intelligence, a company’s most important asset remains its skilled people and an evolving organisation. The value generated by technology arises when people are able to combine it with their own professional skills and expertise. We want to ensure that our personnel have the opportunity to learn new ways of working, develop their competence, and grow into new roles as working life changes.
Ethical principles
Alma Media recruits new employees purely based on their competence and aptitude.
In accordance with the Group’s Code of Conduct, everyone must respect basic human rights. The company Code of Conduct prohibits all forms of discrimination, harassment, human trafficking, forced labour, and child labour, and requires respect for all internationally recognized human rights. The guidelines are based on the UN Global Compact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work.
Awareness of diversity, equity, inclusion and non-discrimination is increased by means of online training on the Code of Conduct and online DEI training aimed at all employees. The themes are part of the orientation of all new employees and the company’s training for supervisors and managers.
The implementation of human rights principles is monitored at Alma Media through employee surveys, supervisor training, feedback channels, and the ethical Whistleblowing channel. The Whistleblowing channel is available to both employees and partners, and reports are handled confidentially. This ensures that any deviations are identified and addressed appropriately.
Human rights requirements for the supply chain and partners are defined in Alma Media’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which requires suppliers to comply with applicable laws and international human rights standards. The supplier code includes provisions on employee safety and health, non-discriminatory and fair treatment, respect for freedom of association, and prohibitions on child labour, forced labour, human trafficking, or other human rights violations. These requirements are consistent with the ILO’s key conventions and apply to subcontracting and work performed through third parties.
Responsible media
Media are perceived to play a central role in defending democracy, pluralism, freedom of speech and peace in society. The responsibility of Alma’s media is measured by means of performance indicators associated with the truthfulness of the content, the reliability of the sources, the accuracy of the content and the promotion of good commercial practice.
In its policies, Alma Media emphasises the significance of operating ethically, responsibly and in accordance with the company’s values. This includes promoting freedom of expression and responsible marketing and advertising through comprehensive, precise, ethical and transparent practices. The company also ensures the independence of editorial teams and ensures the appropriate independent supervision of management, which enables the representation of social, ethnic and political diversity in impartial, pluralistic and fact-based media content. Alma Media’s commitment to freedom of expression and pluralistic journalism is an integral aspect of the company’s operations, which helps to maintain trust among audiences and has a positive impact on Finnish society.
The editorial departments of our media are committed to truthful, open and pluralistic journalism.
We utilise artificial intelligence to support data processing, analysis, and content production. Artificial intelligence serves as a tool in editorial work, but the responsibility for journalistic decisions, content, and quality always remains with humans. The importance of reliable information is heightened in the era of artificial intelligence, which is why editorial judgment, transparency, and journalistic accountability remain a core part of our operations.
Alma Media’s editorial teams are committed to the Council for Mass Media Guidelines for Journalists, and they comply with the principles of responsible journalism that are based on the media sector’s self-regulation. Alma’s media outlets are guided by principles that supplement the Guidelines for Journalists and are published on the media outlets’ websites. The Group’s target for the reliability and accuracy of content is that the number of condemnatory decisions of the Council for Mass Media addressed to the Group’s media must not exceed the threshold of five (5) condemnatory decisions.
Alma Media does not receive or grant political or other contributions that could compromise its independence. The Group’s media grant discounts on advertising to non-profits and non-governmental organisations as well as parties and candidates in election advertising, and the terms of the discounts are the same for everyone.
Our editorial teams have open and direct feedback channels for their audiences, and the media outlets’ own discussion forums facilitate active and open dialogue. In addition, financial independence ensures that Alma Media’s journalism can operate freely and be fully committed to promoting freedom of expression.
Responsible marketing
Marketing is an integral part of the consumer’s and end-user’s media and service experience, and it affects engagement with content and services. Consumers and end-users who encounter marketing in services or content must also be able to trust the commercial content. If a consumer or end-user encounters disturbing, unethical, dishonest or false advertising, their trust in the media or service will be eroded. The truthfulness of marketing and preventing the misleading of consumers is a basic condition for campaigns published in the Group’s media and services. The automation and internationalisation of advertising and the increasingly complex digital advertising ecosystem also require Alma Media to continuously make significant investments in maintaining a high-quality and safe media environment.
Alma Media complies with the legislation governing marketing as well as the marketing communications industry’s self-regulation in monitoring the advertising activities of its customers and when engaging in marketing communications for its media brands and services. The company promotes good commercial practice and complies with the marketing rules of the International Chamber of Commerce and the guidelines of the Council of Ethics in Advertising. Alma also complies with the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF), which increases the transparency of advertising data for consumers. This Consent Management Platform (CMP) was deployed across all of Alma’s consumer and business services in August 2020. For example, these changes make it possible to display or measure programmatically bought advertising targeted on a data-driven basis, personalise content and create advertising profiles only for users who have consented to it. Alma Media refuses to publish advertising campaigns that have deficiencies related to the collection of personal data or include content that does not correspond to ICC Code.
Political Advertising
The EU Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (Regulation (EU) 2024/900) aims to increase the transparency of political advertising by ensuring that citizens can clearly see who has funded an advertisement and why they are seeing it.
Alma Media ensures compliance with the requirements set out in the Regulation for publishers of political advertisements. One of these requirements is to provide a free, easily accessible mechanism allowing anyone to report political advertising that violates the Regulation. Reports regarding non-compliant political advertising published on Alma Media’s channels can be submitted here.
Secure service use, data security and data protection
The trust of Alma Media’s digital product users is based on the company’s responsible handling of data and compliance with data protection regulations. Internal data protection monitoring is designed to ensure that Alma Media protects personal data and operates in accordance with data privacy laws. These practices include comprehensive guidelines and procedures defining how data is processed, stored, and protected across all business operations. These guidelines and procedures are binding on all business segments and functions, ensuring compliance with data protection laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The users of digital services can feel confident that their customer data is stored, managed and used responsibly.
The operating principles include regular risk assessments and the development of controls to ensure regulatory compliance, as well as to identify and manage risks related to data protection and information security. Users of digital services can trust that their data is stored, managed, and utilized responsibly.
The same principles also guide the use of artificial intelligence in Alma Media’s services and business operations. The ethical principles of AI include safety, privacy protection, and the reliable operation of systems. The goal is to ensure that AI-driven solutions are safe, fit for purpose, and compliant with data protection regulations. Furthermore, risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence are managed as part of Alma Media’s AI governance model, which covers risk management, allocation of responsibilities, documentation, and operational monitoring, among other things.
Alma Media maintains mechanisms for monitoring data protection practices and reporting violations and deviations. This allows potential issues to be identified and resolved quickly, minimizing their impact. The data protection practices also ensure that the rights of data subjects are upheld, including the right to access their data and request its rectification or erasure.
The data protection policies also incorporate controls for managing third parties, such as vendors and partners, whenever they have access to personal data. This ensures that partners also comply with data protection regulations as well as Alma Media’s data privacy requirements.
To ensure data protection and manage risks, Alma Media trains its staff on evolving data privacy legislation and its associated obligations. In addition, the company regularly maintains and updates its data protection policies and processes. The practical operating model emphasizes an early response to potential data security and privacy concerns, alongside transparent reporting to authorities.
Read more from the annual report.
Read also about Alma Media’s environmental responsibility and good governance.