Council for Mass Media exonerates YLE on Vanhanen board story - chairman Hyvärinen resigns

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The Council for Mass Media in Finland (CMM), Finland’s watchdog organisation for journalistic ethics, has exonerated the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) over a story in a current affairs programme on YLE TV 2. The programme, aired in September, alleged that Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) had received free construction materials for his house in Nurmijärvi from a company which did contract work for the youth housing foundation Nuorisosäätiö.
      In its decision, the CMM found that YLE had sufficiently investigated the claims that were made in the programme. The council’s Chairman, Pekka Hyvärinen, sharply disagreed with the decision; after a straw vote indicated that the council would vote to exonerate, he resigned from his position with immediate effect, walking out of the meeting. Two other members who also wanted to find that YLE had violated journalistic ethics, also walked out of the meeting before a vote was held. Consequently, the decision was formally unanimous.
     
“This was one of the most important decisions of the CMM. The proposal that I made as the chairman was thorough and comprehensive. The fact that my proposal was rejected was a vote of no confidence”, Hyvärinen said to Helsingin Sanomat.
      “I do not feel that it is possible for me to publicly defended a decision which strongly goes against my journalistic values.”
     
A decisive factor in Thursday’s decision was an explanation submitted by YLE, according to which the director of a construction company, who had been the source of YLE’s information, had personally approved the invoice for the consignment of boards delivered to Vanhanen’s house.
      The director had told YLE that the approval had been requested by a person with close ties to Vanhanen, who at the time served as the chairman of Nuorisosäätiö.
      YLE noted further that the events took place in the early part of the decade, and that the authenticity of that source got partial confirmation from another source as well.
      YLE had heard second-hand that there had been talk at a Nuorisosäätiö construction site about a load of wood construction material that was referred to as “Vanhanen’s boards”, which awaited transport. Also, a representative of the foundation had commented on the matter to YLE, saying “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.
      Also a factor in CMM’s decision was that YLE’s source had signed a consent agreement to break confidentiality in case the story led to libel action.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen said in Brussels on Thursday that he will not bring the issue to court.
      Vanhanen had heard that the issue before the CMM involved a construction project in the early part of the decade.
      “This is getting more confusing all the time. At that time I had only one construction project only involved a small amount of boards. All the rest was concrete and brick.”
      “YLE simply has an incorrect claim, and this claim was used in an attempt to topple the Prime Minister. The more deep YLE goes in these details, the more lost it gets”, Vanhanen said.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  YLE clarifies claims over Vanhanen’s timber delivery (30.9.2009)
  YLE claims: PM Vanhanen received building materials from construction company free of charge (29.9.2009)
  Ilta-Sanomat: Vanhanen’s house does not contain timber claimed in YLE programme (8.10.2009)
  PM Vanhanen accuses YLE of systematic attempt to topple him (12.10.2009)
  No police investigation over Vanhanen’s boards (2.10.2009)

Links:
  Council for Mass Media in Finland

Helsingin Sanomat