Looks like things are getting crazy in Finland, too
“Dear” Donald,
“Dear” Donald,
At the end of last year somethings totally crazy happened in Finland.
And now, it’s getting even crazier. More about that in a minute. But first, let me take you back to November 25th.
You were at home watching TV and tweeting to the world about how much you hate the media. The Prime Minister of Finland was at home pretty much doing the same thing, only his channel of choice was email and he wanted to keep his fight secret.
Earlier that day the national broadcaster Yle had run a story about an ongoing scandal involving a company owned by some of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s relatives. Scandal… family business… I’m sure you can relate.
Anyway, the Sipilä family business, Katera Steel, had gotten an order from the state-owned and struggling mining company, Terrafame, right after it had received a government bailout. It smelled fishy.
Yle journalist Salla Vuorikoski emailed Sipilä and asked him to comment. He took too long to answer and she ran the story anyway.
And then the real story broke.
That night, Sipilä sent Vuorikoski like 20 angry emails, ultimately cc:ing in Yle’s chief editor and Vuorikosksi’s boss, Atte Jääskeläinen.
As you of all people know, when you see 20 emails in your inbox from the same address, they’re usually about how to enlarge your penis. Not from the Prime Minister of Finland.
Anyway, instead of defending Vuorikoski and the media’s freedom of speech, Jääskeläinen forbid – or tried to forbid – Yle journalists from following up on the case or publishing the emails.
Well, unlike you, Finns take integrity pretty seriously, especially Finnish journalists. So Vuorikoski, her supervisor Jussi Eronen and two more of Yle’s best and brightest ended up quitting.
Sipilä later apologized, saying:
“There was not the slightest intention at any stage to limit the freedom of the press or to influence what Yle says or does not say. I admit to having reacted emotionally.”
The Finnish public was shocked. I mean, everyone knows Sipilä has no emotions.
But seriously.
Like I said, the “story” wasn’t really the story. The real story was about two things:
Someone in political power trying to (ab)use that power by telling Yle to keep quiet.
And Yle bosses lubing up and pulling their pants down.
So now back to today and how things are getting even crazier. To make a long story short, the Finnish government wants to put Yle’s administrative council in charge of Yle’s strategy. I know, I know… “administrative” and “council” are like two of the most boring and harmless-sounding words in the English language. But guess what? Yle’s administrative council is made up entirely of politicians.
Currently Yle’s strategy is crafted by a board of directors made up of people from the arts, academia, business and the like. No politicians.
The brains behind this evil… sorry brilliant idea is a steering group led by National Coalition Party MP Arto Satonen. But on Thursday, two people I think you’d really like, Teuvo Hakkarainen and Kike Elomaa, both of the populist and nationalist party The Finns tried to make it look like it was their idea. Why? Because… they don’t like how they’re covered in Yle news…. *Facepalm*
I swear to God, Donald, between you and this, I’m really starting to think someone is spiking my morning coffee with LSD or something, because this s***t just can’t be real.
So far both the government and the opposition seem fine with all of this, despite the fact that like anyone on the planet could see that the timing could not possibly be worse.
And Yle’s CEO, Lauri Kivinen is fine with it, too. “I have never been concerned about politicians influencing journalistic content, and I’m still not concerned about that now after this proposal, because the roles are clearly defined.”
What?!? Come on Lauri… you can’t even be serious!
Just a few weeks ago the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post and the rest of the “mainstream” media would never have believed they’d find themselves at war with the President of the United States. Yet here we are. Just a few weeks ago none of us would have believed it. Yet here we all are, powerless.
It’s journalists who are in the trenches fighting. But just like in any war, it’s citizens who are the real victims.
At the heart of this story is the same thing that’s at the heart of the American version of it: When it comes to the press, freedom of speech is less about a journalist’s right to speak and more about the public’s right to hear.
We have the right to hear the truth about the world we live in, especially when it comes to the government and people in positions of power. It’s the foundation of any democracy, and last time I checked Finland still was one. Unlike the US.
When that foundation breaks, we’re all completely f***ed.
Just like Yle is now.
“Love”, Lissu