Jari Peltomäki, editor-in-chief of Seiska magazine, commented on the allegations reported to Yle in Journalisti magazine. He says that the intention was not to let the employees go to the brink of exhaustion.
In its latest issue, Journalisti, the trade magazine of the Journalists’ Union, reports extensively on the problems of the entertainment magazine Seiska.
According to the story, several employees at Seiska’s editorial office are exhausted by the workload and the working atmosphere has been bad for a long time.
There are sick leaves, resignations, anxiety, fear and nausea. The front-line staff are rude and incompetent,” says the journalist.
According to the article, the pressure and rush of the editors in the magazine increases unreasonably.
Journalisti-lehti has interviewed former and current employees of Seiska for the story. In the article, they do not comment with their own names, but the names have been changed because the respondents are afraid of retaliation from the management.
According to the story, there are also problems with Seiska’s editing methods. Many who have worked at the magazine talk about the magazine’s special editing culture.
According to the interviewees, editorial managers violate good journalistic etiquette and modify their stories in such a way that they do not correspond to reality.
On the other hand, some of the employees interviewed by Journalist do not recognize the problems in the work culture mentioned in the story.
– As the leader of Seiska’s editorial team, I am of course upset that the people who spoke in the story have experienced exhausting features and shortcomings in our work culture. This is clearly a place for discussion and development, Peltomäki answers.
– I know that the job of an entertainment journalist is demanding. However, the purpose is by no means to let employees to the brink of exhaustion. My starting point is always that my employees have a good time. We make sure that things and work are distributed evenly and we monitor how the employee copes on a daily basis.
– This is not true: for example, Seiska’s result is over 80/100 in the measurement of work well-being in September. There is also no favoritism here, instead the tasks are divided according to specialization and competence.
– Naturally, during downtime, the journalist’s instructions are followed. I do not recognize such claims at all. We have an experienced news desk that edits stories and headlines according to normal journalistic delivery practices. Of course, mistakes can happen, and they will be corrected accordingly.
– I, as the head of the department, of course bear my responsibility and it is clear that not everyone has received the necessary support, so I have not been successful in this and I apologize for this. In the next few days, we will go over the need for people’s support, how to cope, and we will look for solutions together under my leadership, Peltomäki replies by email.
Seiska has over a million readers online
Journalisti-lehti notes that Seiska’s chief editors have changed frequently in recent years.
Seiska turns 30 this year.
In Yle’s story published on 11 September.
In the story, he states that Seiska is Finland’s largest producer of entertainment news, and the magazine responds to an age-old need.
– Humanity has been gossiping since time immemorial. It is an essential part of communication. Seiska does that gossip openly.
The print magazine’s popularity has declined, but Seiska is doing well online. The magazine reaches more than one million online visitors every month.