Our alum Erkka Mikkonen: Journalists help people understand the world

In the crossfire of ambition and time pressure

Erkka Mikkonen started working as a foreign reporter for the Finnish Public Service Media Company Yle in April 2025. His work involves material reviewing from international news agencies and other sources, expert interviews and news production for all Yle channels: TV, radio and online.

Both foreign reporting and Yle as an organisation have been familiar to Erkka for a long time. Before his current position, Erkka edited and hosted Yle's news podcast, which explored and discussed current news topics, both domestic and international. The aim was to help the audience understand the background of topical events and to answer the question ‘why’ – why a specific thing was happening at the time.

“Compared to my previous work, a practical difference is that I now work in shifts. Most of the work is done at Yle's premises in Helsinki, but it also involves occasional reporting trips. I am hoping to make more and more use of my special knowledge of Russia, its neighbouring regions and also Latin America,” Erkka says.

As is typical for news desks, Erkka's daily work requires constant balancing between ambition and deadlines. A journalist needs to absorb large amounts of information in a short time.

Time pressure also comes from small technical details that the audience may not come to think of."

Erkka Mikkonen

“Time pressure also comes from small technical details that the audience may not come to think of. For example, TV news production requires that we command a number of programmes for retrieving, processing and publishing materials. Fine-tuning the graphic elements on the screen is another precise and time-consuming task. These are all part of the job description – the underlying idea is that everyone knows how to do everything,” says Erkka.

Erkka is also working on a debut book about his life in Russia, where he lived and worked for more than a decade. The book analyses the changes in Russia and how attitudes towards sexual minorities have also changed.

Moscow, St. Petersburg, Milan and Buenos Aires

Erkka graduated as a Master of Arts in 2009, majoring in Slavic Philology. The study contents in his major mainly focused on Russian language and culture, but Erkka’s passion was found elsewhere. He found his journalist career through his minor.

I started studying Journalism and Mass Communication as a minor in my first year already. Even back then, I thought I would become a journalist and do work related to Russia. I come from Kouvola in South-Eastern Finland, and my interest in the Russian language was sparked there during upper secondary school, largely thanks to our inspiring teacher."

Erkka Mikkonen

“I started studying Journalism and Mass Communication as a minor in my first year already. Even back then, I thought I would become a journalist and do work related to Russia. I come from Kouvola in South-Eastern Finland, and my interest in the Russian language was sparked there during upper secondary school, largely thanks to our inspiring teacher,” Erkka says.

Erkka does not consider his career path to have been particularly determined. He has rather trusted that life has its own way of leading you. In a positive sense, that is exactly what he feels has happened.

“My career as a journalist can be fully attributed to the university. I was admitted to journalist training which was meant for Journalism and Mass Communication majors. As part of that, I did a traineeship at Yle's domestic news desk. I first spent a summer as a radio reporter and then continued to work on journalist shifts and as a news reporter for the YleX radio station while working on my master’s thesis. In 2012, I heard about a permanent assistant position in Moscow and decided to apply. I landed the job – thanks to my previous work experience.”

Erkka has lived and worked not only in Russia but also in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a journalist for Yle South America. Erkka's interest in foreign countries was already evident during his studies, which were marked by several exchange periods. Erkka spent one semester at the Moscow State Linguistic University, another at the European University at St. Petersburg and a third one on an Erasmus exchange in Milan, Italy. In addition to this, he was a CIMO trainee in St. Petersburg right after graduation.

I wanted to make the most of the opportunities offered by the university. I was able to go on several exchanges, study on a great campus and also be involved in some student activities. All in all, I have really good memories of my time at the university."

Erkka Mikkonen

“I wanted to make the most of the opportunities offered by the university. I was able to go on several exchanges, study on a great campus and also be involved in some student activities. All in all, I have really good memories of my time at the university,” Erkka says.

Text: Tiina Leivo

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