Journal of Co-operative Studies 54(4), 51-62

Abstract

In 2015, consumer retailer S-ryhmä (S Group), the biggest co-operative group in Finland, launched a nationwide operation to cut the prices of hundreds of consumer products. The operation became national news with lengthy discussions on various forums. This article analyses those discussions via the lens of two significant Finnish newspapers. Using a discourse analytical approach, we argue that news discourses reflect dominant norms of private ownership; maximising profits as the primary purpose for businesses; and a presumptively competitive ethos for commercial life. In the S Group campaign, newspaper coverage largely reflected lack of knowledge or interest in co-operatives’ unique features. Consequently, we suggest newsroom reforms and journalism education that acknowledge the characteristics and purposes of different business forms would yield more meaningful representations of economic and social reality. School of journalism and in-service instruction in economic pluralism, including co-operative education, would thus advance journalism’s professional commitment to truth-seeking and robustly democratic self-governance. However, we note the active complicity of the co-operative federation in setting the news agenda, encouraging the framing of their actions as a simple price war. The extent to which co-operative communications strategies may de-emphasise their unique character and importance therefore needs to also be considered.

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