A1 Journal article (refereed)
Journalistic Framing of Finnish Ice Hockey Club Jokerit in the Russian-Led Kontinental Hockey League (2024)

Särkivuori, J., & Laine, A. (2024). Journalistic Framing of Finnish Ice Hockey Club Jokerit in the Russian-Led Kontinental Hockey League. Media and Communication, In progress. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8120

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Särkivuori, Joakim; Laine, Antti

Journal or series: Media and Communication

eISSN: 2183-2439

Publication year: 2024

Publication date: 09/05/2024

Volume: In progress

Publisher: Cogitatio Press

Publication country: Portugal

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8120

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/94934

Abstract

One of the major franchises in Finland’s top division in men’s ice hockey (Liiga), Jokerit Helsinki, sold its home arena and half of its shares to Finnish-Russian oligarchs in 2013. Jokerit also switched to the Russian-led Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and competed there from 2014 to 2022. Russia’s KHL project and its expansion to the West can be viewed as a form of soft power. This study delves into the journalistic coverage of Jokerit during two specific periods: Its early days in the KHL and its later stages when exiting the league. These periods coincide with critical geopolitical events, such as Russia’s annexation of Crimea (2014), Belarusian protests (2020–2021), and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (2022). Our data consists of Jokerit-related articles in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat as well as interviews of the journalists who followed the team closely. We explore the critical socio-political coverage of Jokerit in Helsingin Sanomat during these periods and investigate whether the sports journalists recognized the broader geopolitical context of the KHL project and, if so, how this influenced their reporting. Utilizing the framing theory, we identified five frames under which to divide the articles: (a) sports events, (b) international relations, (c) power and governance, (d) business, and (e) unity. The sports event frame predominated during the early KHL era, whereas international relations and power and governance frames only emerged later. These shifts were not initiated by sports journalists but resulted from the efforts of journalists in other fields and increased the societal scrutiny of ties to Russia.

Keywords: ice hockey; ice hockey clubs; sports journalism; news reportage; newspapers; geopolitics

Free keywords: ice hockey; Jokerit Helsinki; Kontinental Hockey League; newspapers; Russia; sports journalism

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Preliminary JUFO rating: 1