History
The paper was founded in 1889 as Päivälehti, when Finland was a Grand Duchy under the Tsar of Russia.
Political censorship by the Russian authorities, prompted by the paper's strong advocacy of greater Finnish freedoms and even outright independence, forced Päivälehti to often temporarily suspend publication, and finally to close permanently in 1904. Its proprietors re-opened the paper under its current name in 1905.
Originally founded as the organ of the Young Finnish Party, the paper has been politically independent and non-aligned since the 1930s.
Helsingin Sanomat has a long history as a family business, owned by the Erkko family.
It is currently owned by the Sanoma media group.
The relationship between the owners of Helsingin Sanomat and Finland's government have sometimes been close. For instance, during the run-up to the Winter War, Eljas Erkko was at the same time the paper's publisher and Finland's foreign minister.
Read more about this topic: Helsingin Sanomat
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“The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.”
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“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
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