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NURSES’ LABOR DISPUTES IN FINNISH MEDIA 1954-2007
Mats NYLUND, Arcada UAS
Finnish nurses have been striking in 1968, 1983 and 1995. In 1954-55 and 2007 nurses planned mass resignations. This paper examines the public discourse and representation of these five nurses’ labor disputes. The newspaper data consists of a good 800 articles published in Helsingin Sanomat during years 1954-2007. The analysis show different representation depending on the socio-historical situation and also changes in the representation style and conventions. However, there are substantial permanent features in the discourse as well. News about industrial action deals mainly with wage negotiations combined with reports on real or imagined consequences of the disputes. Hence, a significant feature of the news on labor disputes is future talk and the representation of a threat. Such news stories are about what could happen if the strike or other industrial action begins, or if it expands further. News and editorials operating within the threat frame purport the consequences of a labor dispute as negative. In the case of the nurses’ industrial action the consequences are seen to be highly severe, even fatal. In most case the imagined consequences are never realized. The changes in Finnish media discourse 1954-2007 include: 1) Feminization (more nurses and other women as news sources), 2) The entrenchment of the news interview (more oral quotes and more variety in quoted or represented news sources), 3) Increasing audience orientation (more emphasis on the consequences for the readers, the general public and the patients, pictures), 4) The rise of the new opinion journalism (fact-oriented news stories accompanied with “mini-columns” with subjective interpretations), 5) More emphasis on story-telling features, rather than just “fact reporting”, 6) Increasing audience participation (ordinary people as news sources, poll journalism, increasing space to letters to the editor and online discussions in 2007), 7) Individualization (individuals rather than institutions talk, journalists appear also individuals with their own opinions). The analysis is based on both quantitative (Content Analysis) and qualitative methodology (Discourse Analysis).
Keywords: labor disputes nurses journalism history newspapers
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