, abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

in Finland and the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of the Finnish capital,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, where it is published. It is considered a

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

for Finland.

History and profile

The paper was founded in 1889 as '' Päivälehti'', when Finland was a Grand Duchy under the

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Political censorship by the Russian authorities, prompted by the paper's strong advocacy of greater Finnish freedoms and even outright independence, forced Päivälehti to often temporarily suspend publication, and finally to close permanently in 1904. Its proprietors re-opened the paper under its current name in 1905. Founded as the organ of the Young Finnish Party, the paper has been politically independent and non-aligned since 1932. During the Cold War period was among the Finnish newspapers which were accused by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

of being the instrument of US propaganda, and the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki frequently protested the editors of the paper. has a long history as a

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...

, owned by the Erkko family. It is currently owned by the Sanoma media group which also owns '' Ilta-Sanomat''. The relationship between the owners of and Finland's government have sometimes been close. For instance, during the run-up to the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, Eljas Erkko was at the same time the paper's publisher and Finland's foreign minister. strongly advocated Finland joining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in the run-up to the decision to do so in 1994. It has also openly expressed support for Finland's membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Mikael Pentikäinen was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

until May 2013 when he was fired from the post. Riikka Venäläinen replaced him temporarily in the post. After Riikka Venäläinen the post has been held by Kaius Niemi. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the newspaper established a Russian-language news website to cover the war. In May 2022, Russian authorities blocked access to the website of the newspaper. On 5 April 2023, editor-in-chief Kaius Niemi was arrested for driving under the influence. He was fined in court and resigned from his post. Erja Yläjärvi became the new editor-in-chief in August.

Format

is published daily in Finnish in compact format with the exception of the days after public holidays when the paper does not appear. Subscriptions make up 97% of the newspaper's circulation. The front page is usually devoted to advertisements. The newspaper was published in

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

format until 6 January 2013. The paper also has a monthly supplement named ''Kuukausiliite'' (Finnish for ''Monthly Supplement''), and a weekly TV guide and entertainment-oriented supplement named '' Nyt'' (meaning ''Now'' in English). Between 1999 and 2012 there were also both Finnish and English-language

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

editions. Content of can be accessed also through mobile devices.

Circulation and influence

The circulation of was 476,163 copies in 1993, making it the most read newspaper in Finland. In the period of 1995–96 the paper sold 470,600 copies. Its circulation was 446,380 copies in 2001, making it the largest paper in the country. In 2008 the paper sold 412,421 on weekdaysFinnish Audit Bureau of Circulations Statistics
(a change of −1.8% from 2007) and 468,505 copies on Sundays (−1.3%). In 2011 the daily had a circulation of 365,994 copies, making it the most read paper in the country. The same year it was also the largest paper in terms of readership. Approximately 75% of households in the

Helsinki metropolitan area Helsinki metropolitan area (, ) or Greater Helsinki (, ) is the metropolitan area around Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It also includes the smaller Helsinki capital region, capital region. The terms Helsinki metropolitan area, Greater H ...

subscribe to , and it functions as the region's local paper. Its total daily circulation is well over 400,000, or about 8% of Finland's total population, making it the biggest daily subscription newspaper in the

. This reaches about 14% of all households in Finland. The paper is a significant factor in Finnish society and in public opinion. Pertti Klemola, a Finnish journalist and scholar, once called it a state authority, an institution with its own independent social and political will. In June 2009 the site was the sixth most popular Finnish website. In 2010 it was the seventh most visited website in Finland in 2010 and was visited by 1,236,527 people per week.

''Helsingin Sanomat International Edition''

The

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

section of the website, the ''Helsingin Sanomat International Edition'' (''HSIE''), ran for thirteen years. The ''International Edition'' launched on 14 September 1999 with the aim of informing readers of news from Finland during the Finnish presidency of the European Union. It continued after the European presidency owing to the quantity of readers it was getting became one of the major English-language sources of news regarding Finland—making it popular with English-speaking immigrants to the country. The ''Helsingin Sanomat International Edition'' closed down on 26 October 2012. English material is now published in cooperation with '' Helsinki Times'' weekly newspaper. For a while, also published some of its material in Russian, but the service was discontinued on 6 October 2014.Русскоязычный сайт ”Хельсингин Саномат” закрывается.
5 October 2014.

References

External links

Helsingin Sanomat

Helsingin Sanomat International Edition (English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helsingin Sanomat 1905 establishments in Finland Daily newspapers published in Finland Finnish-language newspapers Newspapers published in Helsinki Liberal media Newspapers established in 1905