Get Known podcast: Get inside the journalists’ mindset.
Veera Honkanen is the lone California-based correspondent for Finland’s largest business publication, Kauppalehti. She is situated right in the heart of Silicon Valley, where many European companies are trying to break their way into the U.S. market. But Veera covers much more than just tech, and in our conversation, we get into her wide range of topics from business to politics.
We discussed how she got the California assignment and how working outside the country differs from being a reporter inside Finland. She shares about her daily work, some of the tools she uses in her reporting, and the editorial process for a foreign correspondent. We discuss AI, AI tools, and their impact on journalism. She also gives some advice on what it takes to be a story worth writing and this led to a discussion about differences in attitudes towards “failure” in the U.S. vs. Finland.
Living in America is still a work in progress for Veera. There is a lot of trial and error in understanding the culture, but she has learned to adopt some American ways of working, including the need to “just go for it.” She still gets approval for big stuff she wants to cover, but she has learned to move fast, and she says that has been an interesting personal adaptation.
Veera gave lots of real-life examples from her reporting, which made this interview full of insightful nuggets. We ended up talking about how doing business and getting covered in such a big place as the U.S. requires more than just a good product but an excellent story to compete with all the many excellent stories out there coming from the market. Successful companies are well prepared beyond just having a product that does a job better than others.
As Veera says, you need to be able to tell what emotionally drives a company forward and, very often, be an interesting person willing to tell a bigger story. All this led to the general question of whether we are too comfortable with our lives in Finland and that maybe we need to find ways of getting more companies outside their comfort zone to reach more success.
Key takeaways:
- “It’s America, and you have to just go for it.”
- The speed of news is much, much faster, and you have to be ready to act.
- AI helps make the process of journalism faster, but AI can’t write a story.
- The level of entertainment needed to make a story interesting differs between the U.S. and Finland.
- “In America, failing is learning.”
- Know the nuggets of your story and share those clearly. A good headline doesn’t contain your nugget – it might not even get opened.
Listen to the newest episode of the Get Known podcast with Veera Honkanen to learn more!
