Get Known podcast: Get inside the journalists’ mindset.
In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with the Managing News Editor of Helsingin Sanomat, Jussi Pullinen. Jussi has been with Finland’s largest publisher for the last 15 years, starting out as a journalist. We caught up with him the week before the big Slush conference here in Helsinki.
As a reporter, Jussi has covered everything from domestic reporting to culture and politics before managing the entire news operation, so he has both the practical experience as a journalist and the editorial needs of the publication in mind. He still does a bit of op-ed writing, too.
Kristiina Nieminen, Director of Comms & PR Strategy at San Francisco Agency, sat down with Jussi to talk about an interesting range of everything from the erosion of trust in journalism and the HS News editorial process to Elon Musk and Twitter. For those of you interested in understanding what gets an editor excited about your pitch, this is the episode for you. Jussi gives a bunch of tips and lessons learned. They also dive into what the rest of the world can learn from Finnish media culture.
Key takeaways include:
- “News is something that will impact you either now or in the future”.
- Jussi makes it very clear that you can’t buy a story.
- Advice: Think about how your story impacts the wider world.
- “Mechanical talking points are the worst”.
- Make yourself available to the media and let them know you are open for a live interview.
- Jussi gives a great description of “off the record”.
Listen to the newest episode of the Get Known podcast with Jussi Pullinen to learn more!
