Authors

• Haara, Paula (University of Tampere. Faculty of Communication Sciences)
• Reunanen, Esa (University of Tampere. Faculty of Communication Sciences)

Keywords

assault, crime and security, crimes against persons, fear of crime, mass media use, media literacy, personal safety

Abstract

The study charted views and notions of violence in Finland. The interview participants shared their opinions on safety in their neighbourhood and Finland in general. They were also asked where they searched for and received information on violent crime and which media sources they considered reliable.

Four focus groups were formed with the goal of having as different media users as possible: people involved in harness racing, elderly women's arts and crafts club, young men working for the Defence Forces and 20-year-old university students. The study also examined the effect of the group's age and gender distribution on the fear of violence and the discussion about it. Group size varied from three to eleven participants, and there were 24 participants in total. The data contain transcribed group interviews and they were collected as a part of a project entitled 'Views of Violence in a Changing Media Landscape', funded by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (grant ID: 201600122).

The dataset is only available in Finnish.