Laura Saarikoski

• Position: Editor, Helsingin Sanomat Sunday 
• Dates of Fellowship: Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity terms
• Sponsor: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation

Oxford is the fourth and by far the most famous university I have studied at – and the sixth year I have lived abroad. Yet I have worked for the same newspaper, the leading Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, since I was 20 years old. It’s a big newspaper in a small country, so there are different career paths available within the same paper.

Since 2005 I have worked as the Sunday editor in charge of the Helsingin Sanomat Sunday feature stories, a separate 7-8 page section covering the weeks’ events. Before that I was a political reporter following the EU in Helsinki and travelling to summits in Brussels. In 1997-2001 I was a freelance correspondent based in Washington D.C., where I also took some courses in American politics at the George Washington University.

I got my Masters degree at the universities of Tampere and Helsinki studying journalism and political science. However, my most memorable education by far was received at the Marist College, a Catholic all girls’ school in Auckland, New Zealand, where I went through the Sixth form as an exchange student. That early experience convinced me of the powers of journalism: every culture offers a different window to the world, and those worlds need to be explained.

Research project

Pocket book of methods

My research at the Reuters Institute looks into different forms an article can take in print and on the net. I aim to create a pocket book of narrative and visual methods for everyday use of journalists. These methods could be arranged as a deck of cards that would be easy to give out and memorize. 

I will also interview feature editors from British papers about the future of feature journalism in the internet age; primarily, what have been their experiences in publishing features on the net, for free or for a fee.