Media communications practices

The city's media relations are guided by:

• Communications policy (pdf)
• Communications guidelines (pdf in Finnish)

Press releases and materials

• The City of Helsinki issues press releases on matters that meet news criteria. Press releases are published via the city’s STT Info distribution channels. The press release published via STT Info is in the Finnish language, and, depending on the situation, press releases in the Swedish and English languages are also published. In addition, the majority of press releases sent to the media are published as online news articles in Finnish and Swedish – and in most cases also in English – on the City of Helsinki’s website Hel.fi. It is possible to subscribe to have the city’s press releases sent directly to your email from the following STT Info pages:
  • City Executive Office(Link leads to external service)
  • Education Division(Link leads to external service)
  • Urban Environment Division(Link leads to external service)
  • Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division(Link leads to external service)
  • Culture and Leisure Division (Link leads to external service)
  • Helsinki Employment Services(Link leads to external service)
• In the event of disruptions or crises, the City of Helsinki’s primary communication channel is its hel.fi website, which maintains the most up-to-date information on the situation. In the event of disruptions or crises, the city also shares information in press releases and via the city’s social media channels.
• Alongside the press releases, supplementary material such as images, statistics and publications can be provided on a case-by-case basis. When publishing images, the name of the photographer must be mentioned; for other materials, the source must be cited.
• The City of Helsinki Media Bank(Link leads to external service) and the MyHelsinki Material Bank(Link leads to external service) are sources of hundreds of images that are suitable for journalistic use. Permission must be obtained from the interviewees when using photos of people.

Embargo practices

• Press releases may, at the city’s discretion, be provided to the media prior to publication, but will be subject to an embargo.
• Embargoes are used in connection with the publication of various reports and research findings in particular. This gives the editorial staff time to familiarise themselves with the material and to arrange and conduct interviews.

Information and background events

• The city organises press conferences on topics that meet news criteria. Some of these events are also livestreamed on the city’s online video service Helsinki Channel. 
• Background information sessions can also be held to explore certain themes in more detail. These background briefings may be aimed at one specific media outlet or multiple outlets at the same time.

Storytips

The City of Helsinki may provide story tips on topical issues and phenomena that do not, as such, meet the city’s news criteria, but which may be of interest to the media and the general public. Tips can be targeted based on a journalist’s or media outlet’s specific area of expertise or previous interest (for example, previous interviews and articles on the subject). News of broader social significance is always widely disseminated to all media outlets via STT Info or press conferences.

Interviews

• We seek to promptly respond to interview requests, often answering on the same day. If separate research is required before a spokesperson can participate in an interview, (for example, compiling related statistics), a suitable time will be agreed upon separately with the journalist.
• A spokesperson who is familiar with the subject will be made available for an interview. As a rule, the city does not respond to interviews anonymously.
• We aim to offer the Swedish-language media the opportunity to conduct interviews in Swedish.

Information requests

• The City of Helsinki aims to respond to official requests for information from the media as soon as possible, within a maximum of two weeks. Official requests for information should be addressed to the City of Helsinki Registry Office at: helsinki.kirjaamo@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program).
• The communications departments of the City of Helsinki’s City Executive Office and the city’s administrative divisions can also offer prompt assistance with any information requests. The contact information of the relevant city employees can be found in the Media contacts section of the city’s hel.fi website.

On-call media service

• Communications specialists working for the city’s on-call media service can direct people to the relevant experts or appropriate representatives of senior management. The City Executive Office and each of the city’s administrative divisions has its own email address for its on-call media service, and the City Executive Office and the Education Division also have a media hotline, open weekdays from 9.00 to 16.00. The same opening hours apply to the email service as well.
• Up-to-date contact information for the on-call media service can be found in the Media contacts section of the hel.fi website.