Janne Hopsu
Humanist of the day

Janne Hopsu

As a child, Janne Hopsu liked reading and would tap out stories on his typewriter. It is perhaps no accident then that he earned a Master’s degree in history and went on to become a foreign correspondent. He has worked as a journalist for twenty years at MTV3 News, travelling to exciting locations and devouring non-fiction literature. His dream is to combine his three passions: football, Spanish and journalism.

Janne Hopsu

Janne Sakari Hopsu
Born October 3, 1966, Helsinki

Master of Arts (General History), University of Helsinki, 2005

Foreign news correspondent at MTV3 News, 1994-
Fixed-term foreign news correspondent, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper 1990–94
Freelance journalist until 2000

Written by Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta
Translated by Joe McVeigh

Janne Hopsu is one of the University of Helsinki history students who worked at the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper’s archives during his studies, which is how he became a reporter at the newspaper. Hopsu started at the Helsingin Sanomat as a summer intern and continued working there on fixed-term contracts as a foreign reporter until the summer of 1994. He also contributed to the paper’s weekend insert, NYT liite, as a freelancer.

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Janne Hopsu’s favourite jobs are foreign assignments in video journalism. At MTV News, the correspondent does all the work abroad on their own. They schedule the interviews, find interviewers and interviewees, take pictures, edit and forward the material, and arrange a car and driver if necessary. Sometimes with practical matters, it helps to have a local fixer.

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The Egyptian uprising started on January 25, 2011. The opposition to Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial rule started with people gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Janne Hopsu was on the scene two days later. He reported live via satellite from a television studio in Cairo. On the morning of Friday, January 28, 2011, mobile and Internet communication was cut off. The Friday prayers began in the afternoon. Crowds started to gather and join the procession from different directions.

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