Helsingin Sanomat HS.fi Data Desk Portfolio

2021 Shortlist

Helsingin Sanomat HS.fi Data Desk Portfolio

Country/area: Finland

Organisation: Helsingin Sanomat HS.fi

Organisation size: Big

Helsingin Sanomat has been pushing the envelope in Nordic digital journalism for years. The data desk team has been essential in turning around the previously ailing newspaper into a digital success, both journalistically and business-wise. The team collaborates with the rest of the editorial room on data and visual projects. The team features experts in software development, data journalism, robojournalism, and visual design. In 2020 the team was leading the way in Covid-19 reporting, for example in turning official data into easily accessible open data, but there was time also for other investigative and data projects.

Description of portfolio:

These are short descriptions of the portfolio projects:

Covid-19 Tracking Project: Right from the beginning of the pandemic we started to collect Covid-19 data by hand to our database and also publish that data as open-source API for everyone to use. The project has had huge impact on two fronts: informing the public and in creating a new kind of open-source culture in journalism. Our stories have been read millions of times during the pandemic and the open-source API has been used not only by our competitors but by EU authorities as well.

Viime viikon kala: This investigative story looked into the quality of fresh fish that is being sold in the supermarkets. Lab tests showed that 25 % of the fish was not of good quality.

Missä he ovat nyt: In 2015 Finland saw over 30 000 asylum seekers coming to Finland. This story investigates what has happened to these people.

Naisten vuoro: We wanted to see how the role and share of women in Finnish film industry has changed during the years. The data investigation showed that in Finland women have never made as many movies as today.

Kaasukammio: A classic reportage from India about air pollution added with interactive data journalism. To get the context right the story offers a possibility to compare air quality in your nearest city to the one in Delhi.

Tiedämme ketä tapailet: The phone’s dating apps know almost everything about their user. We, together with an American news channel NBC News, compared which data each of them collects, looked where the data ends up and what that data can cause in the wrong hands.

Kuka hyötyy hitaksesta?: Helsinki city subsidizes some apartment buyers trough a housing price control system called Hitas. In this ground-breaking piece HS acquired and analysed multiple data sets and found out that almost 1 out of 5 apartments are most likely used against their intended purpose.

Kallis Helsiki, halpa maaseutu?: Our story lets the reader explore how much it would cost for them to live somewhere than where they currently live. The story calculates exactly the amount of money they’d have at their disposal if they moved to another town or municipality in Finland.

Jatkot vain, ei seksiä: We reviewed all rape convictions of the Helsinki District Court for more than a year and a half. The verdicts paint a picture of men who rape a woman most often in their own or the victim’s apartment.