The Journalists as a Brand: a comparative study between Finnish and Portuguese journalists

Abstract

This work explores has personal branding started to be part of journalists´ profession. In a time when journalism is said to be in crises because of globalization, reductions in media houses and European economic crisis the topic of this survey is important. "The Journalist as a Brand" inquiry was sent to 60 journalists from Finland and Portugal in spring 2015. The comparative inquiry explored the differences in journalists´ attitudes toward personal branding among Finnish and Portuguese journalists. The research method was a questionnaire. Interviewees, who were well-known Finnish and Portuguese journalists, were contacted via email and social media tools Facebook and LinkedIn. The data were collected by semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed by themes. The survey will answer to following questions: Are journalists making a brand of themselves as professionals? In what way branding can help journalists in their career? What are the disadvantages in personal branding? Conclusions of the survey Previous studies have shown that journalism has not been linked to brand building as it is, in some way, considered to be incompatible with the journalism code of ethics. This type of scepticism can also be seen in the responses to this survey. Some of the Finnish and Portuguese journalists viewed personal branding in journalism sceptically. According to the results, the biggest problem of personal branding is that "branding is a threat to journalistic principles like objectivity". According to the results, Finnish journalists are more critical of personal branding than their Portuguese counterparts. Among the risks mentioned were the problem that "branding is a threat to team spirit at work" and that "branding is a threat to equality among journalists". Despite the scepticism, personal branding is mostly viewed in a positive light among well-known Portuguese and Finnish journalists. Finnish journalists do more personal branding than their Portuguese colleagues. Finnish journalists are also a bit more active in their use of social media than their Portuguese counterparts.

According to the results of this survey, 70 per cent of well-known Finnish and Portuguese journalists are building a personal brand of themselves as journalists - at least in some way. Personal branding is more popular among Finnish journalists; 64 per cent of them strongly agree that they are building a brand of themselves as journalists. The corresponding percentage among Portuguese journalists was 44. Personal branding happens at least in some way on social media. 80 per cent of the respondents often share their work on social media. Among Finnish journalists the percentage was 82 and among Portuguese 78.

The responses to this survey show that personal branding benefits individual journalists, too. Personal branding was seen as important especially because it can open new work opportunities both now and in the future. According to this survey, personal branding is a part of journalistic work among well-known journalists today. In a time when journalism has become more market-oriented, some think that it is in crisis. With unemployment in the media field growing, personal branding can be seen as a way to stand out in a competitive labour market.