Historian jokapäiväinen virta sanomalehdessä

Stream of Everyday History
in a Newspaper

The article explores the stream of history in a newspaper focusing on one year of Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat and its references to the 1960s. The most commonplace of history is called casual journalistic historymaking. These references are usually factual but short mentions to the past of an event or phenomenon described. They reflect the routine of journalistic practices. The more interpretative history-making is called conscious. These references are places for struggles of signification and debates over the history. They depend on the journalistic choices
of either the reporters or the newsroom. In journalism giving perspectives, scale or an
explanation plays a major part, also when telling about the past. The aim of the article is to expand understanding of the link between history and journalism in its most mundane form. Lastly, the article examines how everyday journalism ties journalists to the interpretative community of history.