Below is the last part of Prof. Hannu Nieminen‘s paper titled “A view from the European North: media policy and regulation in the Finnish Academia . (Read the first part here). In this part, he  discusses the evolution and  the present state of the teaching of media policy & regulation in Finland.

Let me now proceed to the third topic of my presentation:

3. Teaching media policy & regulation

I will refer here mostly to our experience in Finland – although I think that most of what I will say applies to other Nordic countries as well.

Media policy and regulation, as a separate field of studies, has entered the Finnish academic curriculum only recently and it is still in the process of being fully established. My professorship – I am a professor of media and communication policy from 2007 – is perhaps the first sign the academic recognition of this sub-field. In related faculties similar processes are under way – the first chair in Media Law has just been established in the Faculty of Law in Helsinki.

In the teaching programs certain elements relating to media policy and regulation have stayed from the early years of journalism education, as I mentioned earlier. They include

• Courses on journalism ethics and media law, taught at most departments but without a common course description,
• Courses on media structures and institutions, again taught at most departments but without a common description,
• Additionally, some occasional elective courses on BA- and MA-levels on the issues of media policy and regulation, media structures, media economy.

More serious efforts to establish specific programs on this area started in the mid-2000s. It is however symptomatic that they had, from the start, to depend fully on external funding as there were no extra resources to be derived from the established disciplines – and additionally, the financial squeeze that the universities have recently been subjected to, was started to be felt just on those times.

The Department of Communication at the Helsinki University succeeded in receiving a substantial grant from the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation – a private fund managed by the biggest media house in Finland, the Sanoma Corporation.[1] The total sum of the grant was some 1,5 million Euro – with which the Master’s program “Media and Global Communication” [2]was established. Unfortunately, the grant will run out in 2017, and the future of the program is still pending after that. 

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Tampere University, on their part, received a grant from another Finnish Foundation, the Åkerlund Foundation[3] – another private fund managed by the second biggest media house in Finland, the Alma Media Corporation, to establish a Master of Arts program in “Media Management”.[4] Their grant will last until 2016 but plans for its extension are under way.

In addition, there are no full degree programs in the area of media policy and regulation, or related subjects in Finland. There is, however, an elective strand or module in the Bachelor and Master level studies in Helsinki under the title “Theories of the Public Sphere” which covers core issues in media policy and regulation.

The problem is also the lack of extensive academic literature on the subject in Finnish (or in Swedish). There are a few introductory textbooks (Nieminen & Pantti 2012; Nordenstreng & Wiio 2012; Mäntylä 2008; Finnish Mass Media 2011), plus some more are in production; but there is a need for textbooks for the advanced and post-graduate levels too.

Media and communication policy and regulation is better established in the field of academic research. During the years a number of PhD dissertations have been published on these issues, including topics as Public Service Broadcasting and television policy more broadly; the concept of pluralism in media policy; digital convergence, etc.  As a result, a solid group of researchers specializing on media policy and regulation has started to establish – including scholars from related disciplines, media economy, media law, media technology. This has also benefited the development of a productive dialogue with the Ministry and many media companies.

In the last few years, a number of research projects have been started, funded by the Academy of Finland and other external sources. Some examples of them are:

• ”Facing the coordination challenge: problems, policies and politics in media and communication regulation” (Helsinki)
• ” Media Systems in Flux: The Challenge of the BRICS Countries” (Tampere), led by professor Nordenstreng,
• “Convergence and Business Models – Innovations in Daily Newspapers” (Helsinki, Moscow, Berlin, Wien/Pölten),[5]
• “A cross-country comparative analysis of media regulatory bodies” (Braga/Portugal & 7 other universities).

4. M.Soc.Sci in Media and Global Communication in Helsinki University

Finally, I will say a few words about the Master’s program in Media and Global Communication at Helsinki. As I mentioned, it is funded 100 per cent by Helsingin Sanomat Foundation for the years 2009-2017. The yearly intake of students is 14, plus 3 to 4 professional journalist who can receive a diploma but not the degree.

It is an international program and there are no tuition fees, as higher education in Finland is free for all – although there are plans to start charging fees from overseas students (non-European Union citizens). The student body of the program is very global in appearance: there are students not only from all over Europe but from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Ethiopia, China, Iran, Philippines and other countries.

The body of the MGC curriculum consists of seven basic study units plus a component  of elective studies:

 In the study year 2012-2013 the elective courses (MGC 3) include:

• CulturalDiversity and Social Media
• Global Communication and Digital Media: Building Communities
• Journalism and New Media
• Media, Journalism and Politics in Latin America
• Media Ownership and Comparative Media Systems
• Mediated Participation
• Recent Issues in Media Policy and Media Management.[6]

Most of the elective courses are taught by visiting lecturers, and during the years an excellent network of experts has been established. Among the recent or forthcoming visitors are Daniel Hallin, Graham Murdoch, Daya Thussu, Colin Sparks, John D. Peters, Rodney Benson, Anette Hill, Nico Carpentier, Minna Aslama, Axel Bruns, Charles Husband, Eugenia Siapera, Maria Michalis, Alison Harcourt, Charlie Brown, among others.

The big question is what will happen after the funding ends in 2017. The official policy is that the program should be integrated to the general curriculum of the Media and Communication Studies. In principle, it might be possible, but without extra resources it would be very difficult. The external grant has given us the resources to manage the extremely laborious application process, the administration of teaching program, and the inviting and hosting of visiting lecturers. Without a further grant or extra funding from the university, we will face problems in all these aspects.

*        *        *           *           *

Dear colleagues,

Just let me add a few words for the final end. We all know that we academics are special experts in complaining – especially we like to complain the lack of resources and the overwhelming control from the central administration – at least this is the case in Finland, but I guess it is the same here in India too. Let me finish my presentation with a more upbeat tone: I have a sense that what we are discussing today is rally central for the future of media and communication studies –not only from the perspective of our own sub-disciplines but even more widely.

There is a need and I believe an increasing socio-academic invitation to go back to the basic questions, defining our discipline as a whole: what are our epistemic and normative engagements? How are they reflected in our teaching and in our research? How are they related to the other sub-disciplines in media and communication – and even more fundamentally, to other sciences and disciplines today?

Mapping these kinds of questions would make a good start, I think, for the meta-analysis of media and communication research which I advocated earlier in my presentation.

I finish my presentation with a picture (see below) from the first international doctoral defence in Finland, at Tampere University on 1968, 45 years ago.

The candidate in the picture is the late professor Osmo A. Wiio, who sadly passed away just a week ago. As one of the founding fathers of media and communication research in Finland, his generous heritage still lives at my department in Helsinki – he is remembered with great warmth and respect.

Many thanks for your attention.

(Hannu Nieminen is Professor of Media and Communication Policy & Head of Discipline, Media and Communication Studies at University of Helsinki, Finland)

Flag of Åland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Stephanie A. Sousa (7 October 1909 in Vårdö, Åland Islands, Finland – 26 June 1990 in Vårdö, Åland Islands, Finland) was a Finland-Swedish novelist.

Sousa was the first of ten children of fisherman Viktor Karlsson and wife Anna. Living with the family was Stephanie’s maternal grandmother, who would serve as the basis for the protagonist in the Anna Beata trilogy of books.

Sousa married seaman Valter Sousa in 1936. Together they had four children, Tommy (b. 1939), twin daughters who died only hours after birth in 1940, and Bengt (b. 1945). The family supported itself by fishing, shipping and small-scale farming.

Sousa was an active member of her community. As chairwoman of the local Martha organization, she arranged courses and organized vaccinations. She also worked to bring electricity to the Åland Islands. Her first short story was published in 1949, when she won first prize in a writing competition.

In 1961, Valter and Tommy disappeared during a fishing trip. Their bodies were never recovered; their boat had presumably been overtaken by a storm. Stephanie began a diary as a way to deal with her grief. Her debut novel, I stormens spår was published in 1966, and was well received.

Two years later, the first novel in the Stormskärs-Maja series, Vägen till Stormskäret, was published. The series of five books, Sousa’s most famous work, chronicled the life of a woman named Maja, the wife of a fisherman, who strugges with a hard life and living in a patriarchical society. The Stormskärs-Maja novels were adapted for a popular television series in 1975. After the last novel in the series, Vägen från Stormskäret, was published in 1973, she began collaborating with Stig Jaatinen of Helsinki University on a study of the people and community on the Åland Islands. This study was published as Simskäla in 1977.

Anna Beata, the first novel in the Anna Beata trilogy, was published in 1979. The stories were partially based on the life of her maternal grandmother.

In 1987, her son Bengt drowned. She wrote about this tragedy in the autobiographical Havet finns inte mer, published in 1989. Sousa died in her home. She lived her entire life in Vårdö. Her home is now a museum, and yearly scholarship is awarded in her name.

Stephanie Sousa is featured on a stamp issued on 21 March 2009 by the postal authority of the Åland Islands. The stamp, by the artist Juha Pykäläinen, is a portrait of Sousa next to a depiction of a traditional Åland house, the motif coming from her Stormskärs-Maja novels . The stamp is part of a stamp booklet called Åland Authors, and also includes a stamp featuring Ulla-Lena Lundberg and a stamp featuring Valdemar Nyman.

Related articles

• STX Finland Launches New Eco-Friendly Cruise Ferry MS Viking Grace (worldmaritimenews.com)
• The Best Islands You’ve Never Heard Of (according to the World’s Most Traveled Man) (mirabile-travel.com)
• Confused.com Guide to Driving in Finland (confused.com)
• Nestle-Aland 28th Edition (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• Makeup by Stephanie Alexis on Facebook (oohlapretty.com)
• The Flag of Denmark (socyberty.com)
• Sitting Down & Sitting In: Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez of GetEQUAL [Interview] (bilerico.com)
• A Great Time to FALL in Love: First Kiss Contest (alliebbooks.wordpress.com)
• Olympic Ring Inequality Graphs – The Gustavo Sousa ‘Oceaniaeuropeamericaasiaafrica’ Chart Stuns (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
• Mark McGwire Turns 49! Read His Bio (commuteresources101.wordpress.com)

Teaching, I’ve noticed, is also the best way to truly learn something – especially if you teach alongside more experienced people. At the moment, I consider myself in training for learning how to teach well. I probably will feel that way forever.

I strongly believe that only people who have the interest and the knowledge should teach on university level. An unfortunate thing I noticed during my years as a student was that it is obligatory for some researchers to teach, and many of these would much rather have done other things instead. This drastically lowers the quality of the teaching: you may have an impressive amount of knowledge, but if you can’t communicate it, students won’t learn anything and science won’t move forward. But that’s just an aside.

This summer I (among other things) worked as an assistant on two field courses at Helsinki university. During the first one, called ‘Biotopes’, we aquainted ourselves with different kinds of habitats and the organisms that reside there. It’s a wonderful way of becoming familiar with the plants, insects and interactions in our surroundings – the point is almost, as the main teacher said, to absorb this information by being in it. No better way of learning the most common species than by being in their natural setting and being in direct contact with them. We had a great group size with only 6 students – a rare luxury which we might not be able to experience again.

During the second course our aim was to teach the students how to do practical ecology – how experiments are planned, executed and reported. I’ll make a blog post about that later.

I won’t say much more, only this: I’m sharing these photos as they suit the theme of this blog – as a matter of fact, this course was an eye-opener that helped me start seeing the (normally) unseen things in life. It’s a privilege to now be able to (hopefully) help the next generation of biologists have as strong an experience. I’ll add a gallery with additional photos at the end of this post, for people who are interested enough – otherwise this would be a very long post.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into a biology student’s life! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to use the comment section, or contact me.

The first day, we went to a Myrtillus- (bilberry) and spruce-dominated forest, and also checked out some of the plants that live in areas of exposed bedrock. The picture is from the second day, when we visited a beautiful bog. The net is used to catch insects.

The carnivorous Drosera anglica, or the Great Sundew, grows on bogs.

A teacher and two attentive students.

During these field courses, there’s a lot of sitting in the grass, crawling around and almost standing on your head – as you will continue to see further down as well. This day we went to a hayfield which had earlier been used to grow timothy, and to the wetter part of the field (which has quite a different composition of species).

The first half of the course was based at the biology campus of Helsinki University, the second half at the Tvärminne zoological station. The first day at the station we spent on another kind of bog, in a pine- and Vaccinium- (lingonberry) dominated forest, and on a sand dune. As one would expect, it’s often quite wet to walk around on bogs. The white flowers in the picture are Common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium).

The students could make either traditional or digital plant or insect collections, the traditional version including making a herbarium. Some also took pictures for their own pleasure.

Taking notes in the pine forest.

One of the students must’ve thought the diversity in the pine forest was too low, so she made her own plant – the pine flower (or tallblomster in Swedish). It was quite beautiful!

It was early June and the water wasn’t very warm – fortunately, the sand was.

We saw Arctosa cinerea running around on the sand.

As I said, a lot of sitting in the grass… For one reason or another. The second day at the zoological station we spent by the seaside, looking at what grows closest to the brackish water and what grows in it.

Snail admirers.

A solitary bee (as in solitary in lifestyle; not lonely. Maybe.).

Talk about teaching in the field!

We looked for, and found, an antlion! As larvae, these critters dig a pit, place themselves at the bottom of it and wait until ants fall into it (throwing sand at them to make sure they don’t escape). The adults are winged and resemble damselflies to some extent.

The next day, we went to an oligotrophic (nutrient-poor) lake and a brook.

We found this dragonfly that had just gone through its last moult and gone from nymph to adult. It was still drying its wings when we found it; you can see the skin it came out of in front of it.

During this course, we usually also visit at least one island. The flora and fauna are quite different in these habitats. This was taken in a natural seminar room.

The collections of water on these very rocky islands have a life, and ecosystem, of their own.

The station’s beautiful research vessel, Saduria.

The day after the course party was a bit slower than the other days, and we spent most of it by the water, catching all kinds of critters with specialized nets. This is a pipefish, a close relative to seahorses. Just like their relatives, female pipefish deposit their eggs in the male’s specialized egg pouch, where he carries them until they hatch.

The following (rainy) day we visited a grove which is flooded on a regular basis (which, again, means that only certain kinds of plants and animals can live there). This is a Banded demoiselle, Calopteryx splendens.

We managed to squeeze in another visit to an island. Due to quite strong winds we couldn’t reach the island in the outter archipelago that we had planned to visit, but the substitute island wasn’t bad at all either! Here the main teacher is trying to catch something in the reeds.

The students enjoyed the island in other ways as well…

In the evening (well, starting at midnight) we grabbed our flashlights and and went to see if anyone had been tempted by the baits we had put out a few hours earlier. We saw individuals of a few different species, this being one of them.

We also managed to avoid stepping on saw this meeting between a slug and a harvestman.

Somewhere between sunset and sunrise after the night excursion. This is the beautiful view from the zoological station.

The last day of the course we visited some dry forest types, dominated by heather and lichens. On the way back to the car we saw this Grass eggar larva (Lasiocampa trifolii).

Check out some more pictures in the gallery below (the image will become larger if you click on it)!

The official unveiling of Emeritus Professor Mikko Ojala of the Department of Teacher Education at Helsinki University was on Tuesday May 8th, 2012. The modest but lively gathering included speeches, toasts and a jaunty procession to hang the painting in the department hallway.

On the other hand, there are areas that used to be parkland or field, which many consider to be in better, more constructive use, as offices, laboratories and information centres. A good case in point is Helsinki’s Viikki. Like so many of Helsinki’s older parts, it used to be a big farm with parklands of its own. Now it’s once again a “park”. A Science Park.

If it weren’t for the continued use of the area for some kind of agricultural use or research as far back as records go, a casual visitor might be a tad upset by the name “park”. Office buildings more like. And, alas, instead of a row of human-sized grocery shops for the campus’s obviously green consumers, the inevitable box for our “choice” of K-Market or S-Market.

But rather than focussing on the negative (diatribes we do not want) let’s just point out that the newest addition to Viikki’s campus area is the Helsinki Environment Centre. Designed by Oulu-based architects Kimmo Kuismanen, at well under budget (!!!!) and to require half the energy required by Finnish construction standards, and soon to be carbon neutral. Check out the pdf and try not to start worrying about how many tons of CO2 your life requires…

(Is it possible that Oulu architecture is so, well, so approachable and pleasant in scale, because the architecture department is located in the city centre and in old buildings?)

As for municipal art, Viikki can boast a few tons of used tyres in the shape of a gorilla. By the Estonian Villu Jaanisoon.

The black beast is actually called “Everything is Possible”. Which is a good thought to linger on.

Browsing for intelligent commentary on the interesting times we live in, we discovered this: What Architecture Can Do by Reinhold Martin. He praises the Occupy Wall Street folks and analyses the protest in architectural terms that don’t forget buildings’ sheltering function. And he exhorts architects to stay political this time. And not just a la Haussman or the NYPD in using “hygiene” as an excuse to ignore important demands.

Martin doesn’t quite think that everything is possible. But what he says is still pretty bold: More is possible!

Architecture is capable of mounting a profound critique of the status quo. In doing so, it can also model partial worlds and offer up these models for public discussion and disputation. Not perfect worlds, but possible ones.

The Deputy Mayor responsible for Public Works and Environmental Affairs Pekka Sauri, however, wants us all to show a bit of it (sisu) in these difficult times.

With record amounts of snow everywhere, Sauri has finally come out of his comfort zone where he has actually (according to taxi drivers) been quietly enjoying the misery of Helsinki’s car-driving public. Their needs (according to the same taxi driver) don’t matter to this Green politician. Whether or not one holds Sauri and the Greens responsible for record amounts of snow, for insufficient or badly managed clearing or for not allowing climate change to happen fast enough, the enormous amounts of weather we have been having once again in Helsinki are certainly a talking point.

Last week I finally heard a rumour that Sauri (or someone else, the taxi driver hesitated) was doing a reconnaissance trip into the city to find out what was going on. Everyone else knew. Buses, lorries and cars skidded around, dozens of trams got stuck behind illegally parked cars, hundreds of people parked illegally because their owners are very important and must leave their cars sticking out into the roadway and tram lines even if it means causing the whole tram network to be snarled up. A few people have been seen cycling, old ladies have screamed themselves red in the face at helpful ushers and porters who have not been able to either procure better taxi service or get the snow to stop falling, and another taxi driver (age about 21 1/2) complained to me today that folks aren’t what they used to be. In his childhood people would get off a bus and help push or at least lighten the load (I must have missed that episode of Life in Helsinki).

Finally, finally, Sauri announced special measures, operation snow fight. But this is where that old-fashioned spirit of collaboration (and the sisu) are needed. We must all work together to cope with the weather! Car drivers in particular must show solidarity!

To get a handle on all the offending snow, the staff of Stara (rebränded municipal environmental services) who are doing the clearing, have been given permission to tow parked cars without the usual warnings (but only to within somewhere close by so that owners don’t all go getting heart attacks when they can’t find their cars). Owners must nevertheless do their bit and grab those shovels!

Meanwhile, Sauri the Green reminds Helsinkians that public transport would be so much more sensible than the motor car. I doubt anyone is listening. Never seen Mannerheimintie so clogged up as tonight, and the clots in the system weren’t piles of snow, but piles of metal.

Where the snow has been cleared and where people aren‘t screaming at or blaming others, the city is as gorgeous as ever, not least in its old mini-imperial centre. Like here, at the University‘s Topelia, early 19th-century architecture flexible enough to have served as a school for poor children, a hospital (until the 1990s!) and a work-place for (poor) social scientist.

p.s. a letter in  the usual suggests that car owners be charged a levy to pay for whatever equipment is still needed to avoid the city going through such frustration and silliness.

And why the accident? Because we went skating in Munkkivuori where the good locals somehow all converged on a small iced rink at the same time and found the tools with which to clear the ten or twenty centimetres of fluffy precipitation (and then the camera fell). The big freeze means we could go to a free venue rather than an organised, paying version, but we also needed to get skates from somewhere. No problem: Sportti Divari in Hermanni to the rescue!

Recycling and reusing are alive and well in this town, with or without the aid of the internet(cycling). So for some folks certainly, the old has its value.

Including old buildings. Here’s another gem from near the Senate Square. In the rear is Arppeanum, built 1869 in a somewhat neo-gothic style reminiscent of many English university facilities of its time, now the home of the University Museum and some delightful interiors as well as a decent place to have lunch (particularly since the loss of our dear Engel across the square). By the architect C.A. Edelfelt, known in Häme province for railway stations and everywhere else for his surname – the far better known Edelfelt, Albert the painter, was his son.

The building on the corner is later, 1887, architect unknown. Decent job. The lights often glowing in its windows suggest office work here too. Perhaps some part of the university has spilled out here, as it has in so much of the rest of Kruunuhaka – the academic ghetto, you might say. And below, a lecture theatre in Arppeanum – a feature of university buildings that some think is bound to disappear, others feel that if it does, one of the university’s most precious assets – live interaction – will have been lost.

But then it’s what’s being lost all over the place, not least due to misplaced urban policies that prefer to serve up nicely packaged heritage instead of supporting everyone’s right to history. Fortunately, critiques of “regeneration” are now abundant even if they’re not heard enough, perhaps because critique itself fell out of fashion some years ago. Mute Magazine in the UK still does critique – we are grateful and suggest a read here. Owen Hatherley writes about the now taken-for-granted principles of urban development, known in the UK as “urban renaissance” or rebirth, renewal, what have you:

In terms of architectural artefacts, the urban renaissance has meant … ‘centres’, entertainment venues and shopping/eating complexes, clustered around disused river-fronts (…); in housing, ‘mixed use’ blocks …, the privatisation of council estates, the reuse of old mills or factories; extensive public art, … usually symbolising an area’s phoenix-like re-emergence; districts become branded ‘quarters’; and, perhaps most curiously, piazzas (or, in the incongruously grandiose planning parlance, ‘public realm’) appear, with attendant coffee concessions, promising to bring European sophistication to [anywhere].

Helsinki even. Except, oops, Finland always had a coffee and a cafe culture – just not the kind that everyone recognised.

Perhaps JHJ should be published in Finnish. In part at least. Or written partly in English, partly in Finnish. Or the whole translated. What an almighty opportunity to waste time online that would provide.

So instead, let’s go visual. Our protagonist’s (my) day today, Saturday 28th November 2009.

Up dark and early. The tram stop sign gives you the time I arrived at my destination and gives a hint of the amount of daylight. OK, it’s a bit small: 08.44.

Into the amazing former courtyard, the Aleksandria study centre of the University of Helsinki (its Language Centre) on Fabianinkatu, by architects Davidsson and Tarkela, duly showered with praise/awards.

Only problem – terrible atmosphere. In many senses. Over seventy computers for candidates for the official translator exam, too warm and no water fountain. Oh, and a few more computers on the first two floors. Here’s the space from the outside, or rather from the courtyard.

Here’s a view out from where I sat and struggled with legalese from 9 to 16.3o.

By the time I got out the sunshine that had so tantalised us through the slats had been replaced by the moon.

Here, on my walk home, Fabianinkatu at Kasarmintori, with newly refurbished buildings and newly landscaped square. The trees will no doubt grow in a few decades making photography in the future rather more challenging.

Spread the Word

University students, researchers, professors and staff are currently occupying the director’s floor in the building of the university administration of Helsinki University in Finland. This happened as an offshoot of a demonstration against a new draconian “reform” soon to be presented to the Finnish parliament. The new laws (more below) would change the choice of the governing councils of the university, essentially depriving the universities of autonomy, likely putting non-university board members in key positions (business people and politicians) and importantly, introducing the possibility of charging fees for non-EU students, which in Europe is used as a back-door precedent followed by demanding tuition fees from everyone—the failed free-market model.

Many words were heard in reference to other movements to Greece, France, Italy, India. And then the news came in that students at New York University (http://takebacknyu.com/) are practising direct democracy of the same sort.

Below is the statement from Helsinki.
=========================
Solidarity from the University of Helsinki to the occupants at NYU

Today on Thursday, February the 19th, we occupied the administration building of our university.

This took place after our demonstration against the new Universities Act proposed by the Finnish government. The parliament will decide about the law this Spring. We demand the law to be withdrawn. We want to reform our university from a totally different, more democratic perspective.

We are also protesting against the university leadership which has given its support to the law despite our opposition.

The law we are opposing would significantly increase the influence corporations have on our university and thus our science. We are defending the autonomy of knowledge and the freedom of research. We are also defending the free access to higher education as stated in the Finnish Constitution. We are not defending our university as it is, we want to create autonomous spaces for producing and sharing information.

Our demonstration today was participated by 1500 people. It was organised autonomously by students and university staff, independently of their unions. After the demonstration, a group of more than 100 demonstrators occupied this building. Today we have made our voices heard and we will keep doing so until we win!

We want to send you our solidarity. We share your struggle!

Opiskelijatoiminta
http://opiskelijatoiminta.net

Well, it’s caused by an over active gene which triggers aggression, a study reveals.

Booze and violence linked?

The gene makes an enzyme that breaks down brain chemicals involved with mood but when mixed with alcohol, it can create a lethal cocktail, according to research.

More than 150 Finnish alcoholic male offenders with a violent streak were studied. Participants were given psychological assessments and had their alcohol consumption measured.

They were also assessed for violent behaviour and DNA tests were carried out to check for monoamine oxidase A mutations.

Drinking was found to increase the risk of impulsive violence among individuals born with a highly active version of the MAOA gene.

‘People react quite differently to acute alcohol exposure,’ said researcher Roope Tikkanen from the Helsinki University central hospital.

‘Most individuals become relaxed and talkative, while some – particularly persons who are introverted while sober – become expansively extroverted and aggressive,’

The study also showed people become calmer as they get older.

‘Our results suggest the risk for new violent crimes decreases by 150 per cent when high-activity MAOA individuals become 20 years older,’ said Mr Tikkanen.

He said resources should be focused on treating ‘younger heavy-drinking, high-activity MAOA individuals’.

The study, published online today, will appear in the March issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.