Finnish news agency STT will close its news service in spring 2027. 89 jobs go

STT, Finland’s national news agency, will shut its news and photo service, the agency said on 29 October 2026. Its board made the decision after talks with staff. The service runs as normal until the end of March 2027.

The closure ends 89 jobs, 68 of them held by journalists, STT said. Another 30 fixed-term and freelance contracts end as well. About six people outside the newsroom will be offered other roles.

Sanoma’s papers stopped buying STT news at the start of 2026

STT first warned on 30 September that its business in its current form might end. The news and photo service had lost money for years. Until last year, profits from its press-release service covered the losses, the Finnish daily Kaleva reported.

The heaviest blow came from STT’s majority owner. Sanoma Media Finland stopped using the agency in its own news media at the turn of 2025 and 2026, STT said. Kaleva named Helsingin Sanomat and Ilta-Sanomat and put the lost income at millions of euros a year. STT serves about 50 news clients and 40 photo clients in Finland, according to Kaleva.

Finland’s government offered about €1m, STT needed up to €7m

The state was ready to pay a one-off sum of about €1m, Kaleva reported. STT’s needs were estimated at €5m to €7m. No aid has been paid. Pekka Mervola, deputy chair of STT’s board, said in the agency’s release that “there are no media subsidies in Finland” (translated from Finnish).

STT dates back to 1887. Its photo agency Lehtikuva, founded in 1951, has been part of STT since 2010. Photo clients will be served as before until March, the agency said.

STT Info keeps distributing company press releases

The closure does not affect STT Info, the agency’s press-release service. It has seven staff and no changes are planned, STT said. Regional papers that relied on STT copy will need another source. Kaleva’s editor-in-chief Antti Kokkonen said the paper would look for alternatives after spring 2027.

STT is one of several European newsrooms cutting back this autumn. Hungary’s public broadcaster started mass layoffs, and Germany’s WDR is cutting 76 programmes.

The losers are Finnish communications teams. From April 2027 they lose the one desk that turned a company announcement into a story for dozens of regional papers at once. Keskisuomalainen, one of STT’s owners, has said it would then have to build its own news monitoring.