What is the impact?
Verde Voices addressed an evident news desert: the scarcity of fact-based English-language journalism on Finnish society, politics and immigration for immigrant and foreign-background residents. By publishing original articles, translations and guest columns by immigrant authors, we gave readers direct, credible access to information relevant to their integration and civic participation.
The project also showed how hard this desert is to fill sustainably, particularly in such a short timespan. Immigrant communities in Finland – as probably everywhere – are highly heterogeneous, spanning many languages and backgrounds, so no single outlet can serve everyone. Online discourse on immigration is often polarised, sometimes bordering on hate speech, discouraging pluralism-minded voices.
Many organisations share our goals but work independently. With further investment, Verde Voices could become a unifying, trusted space. However, truly closing this news desert would require a much clearer focus on the group(s) targeted as well as sustained resources.
Verde Voices increased immigrant and foreign-background communities' access to fact-based knowledge about Finnish society, politics and decision-making, helping readers form their own views thus supporting integration and democratic participation.
Bilingual (English and Finnish) publishing and translated contents through Verde Media’s social channels very likely impaired the engagement data. However, our newsletter, issued with a timespan of only a few months, achieved an excellent 68 % open rate with very low unsubscribes. Beyond numbers, guest columns by immigrant and foreign-background authors - including activists and published writers - gave community members a genuine public voice, rather than positioning them only as passive recipients of mainstream narratives.
As one survey respondent put it, readers want "a kind of community behind the organisation" with its own views on immigration policy, not just "cold news arriving through email." Building deep community relationships took more time than expected, but early partnerships and audience feedback show a growing sense of connection and trust with the communities we serve.
