Inclusion and distance : embedded messages in Finnish magazinescape

Abstract

Over the past decades, traditional magazines have suffered economic and readership losses in many countries and have failed to gain momentum with their website activities. For old media, particularly magazines, establishing fresh connections with readers is essential. Today, magazines—print and digital—encourage readers to participate in comments, discussions and games. However, research found that calls to action directed at readers tend to remain at the level of invitations to react and comment rather than to exercise true decision-making power, as in participatory journalism. This limited empirical study focuses on four issues of three popular Finnish magazines. It analyses their print versions to determine whether true participation has a chance in the magazinescape. The results indicate that the form of participation suggested to readers is limited. Calls for inclusion are mostly subtle, disguised as part of the ‘editorial line’. While explicit exclusionis rare, strong stereotyping can serve as a form of exclusion. The study, experimenting with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, identified four frequently used inclusive narratives in these magazines: narratives of accidents, narratives of overcoming challenges, narratives of happiness and season-bound narratives.