''Hymy'' ( Finnish: "Smile") is a monthly celebrity magazine published in

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 ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It has been in circulation since 1959.

History and profile

''Hymy'' was launched in 1959 by publisher

Urpo Lahtinen Urpo Juhani Lahtinen was a Finnish magazine publisher. He was born on 22 April 1931 in Helsinki and died on 15 October 1994 in Tampere. Urpo Lahtinen started his journalistic career in 1952 writing for the Social Democratic paper ''Eteenpäin'' ...

and named after his wife Hymy Lahtinen. The magazine dealt with the experiences of the

low income Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

and is an example of

yellow journalism In journalism, yellow journalism and the yellow press are American newspapers that use eye-catching headlines and sensationalized exaggerations for increased sales. This term is chiefly used in American English, whereas in the United Kingdom, ...

. It is based in

and is published monthly by Otavamedia Oy. In the 1960s and 1970s ''Hymy'' became a success with sensationalist stories containing much sex and gossip about Finnish celebrities, often verging on the

invasion of privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. Since the global ...

. All texts and articles published in the magazine are written by professional journalists. Typical ''Hymy'' stories would be about the singer

Irwin Goodman Antti Yrjö Hammarberg (14 September 1943 – 14 January 1991), professionally known as Irwin Goodman, was a Finnish rock and folk singer. He started as a protest song singer in the folk boom of the mid-1960s; his humorous songs, often mocking ...

, Finland's first openly gay celebrity Monsieur Mosse, or the notorious pictorial on

Jörn Donner Jörn Johan Donner (5 February 1933 – 30 January 2020) was a cinema of Finland, Finnish writer, film director, actor, film producer, producer, politician and founder of Finnish Film Archive. He produced Ingmar Bergman's film ''Fanny and Alexan ...

naked on a Gambian beach with a local underage girl. The most famous writer for ''Hymy'' was Veikko Ennala, and probably one of the most infamous stories was about the author

Timo K. Mukka Timo Kustaa Mukka (17 December 1944 – 27 March 1973) was a Finnish author who wrote about the lives of people in Lapland. Early life Timo Mukka was born in Bollnäs in Sweden where his family had been evacuated to during the Lapland War. He sp ...

. The story allegedly became one of the main causes for the author's early death soon afterwards. This resulted in a Finnish law called the ''Lex Hymy'', regulating any press stories published about private persons. In March 2008 the magazine published story of the then Finnish Foreign Minister

Ilkka Kanerva Ilkka Armas Mikael Kanerva (28 January 1948 – 14 April 2022) was a Finnish politician and a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was born in Lokalahti, now a part of Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs ...

's SMS messages to erotic dancer

Johanna Tukiainen Johanna Tukiainen (born July 29, 1978) is a Finnish former television personality and singer. Background Tukiainen first became known in March 2008 with a news report that Finland's foreign minister, Ilkka Kanerva, had been sending her sexually ...

. The magazine also published several of the messages on 1 April 2008 and Kanerva had to step down from his cabinet member position. 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 ...

of ''Hymy'' is Mika Lahtonen.

Circulation

In 1970 ''Hymy'' had a circulation of 435,000 copies. Its circulation was 904,000 copies in 2007. In 2010 the magazine had a circulation of 88,637 copies. The 2011 circulation of the monthly was 87,876 copies. It fell to 73,788 copies in 2012. The number of its subscribers was 237,000 based on the 2013 data by the Finnish Audit Bureau of Circulations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hymy 1959 establishments in Finland Celebrity magazines Magazines established in 1959 Magazines published in Helsinki Monthly magazines published in Finland