Editor Johanna Korhonen vs. Alma Media in court

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Court proceedings in a case involving journalist Johanna Korhonen and the owner of the Rovaniemi-based newspaper Lapin Kansa started in the Helsinki District Court on Wednesday.
      The appointment of journalist Johanna Korhonen as editor-in-chief of Lapin Kansa was cancelled before she actually ever sat behind her desk.
      Korhonen, who left her previous job as editor-in-chief of Journalisti, the newspaper of the Finnish Union of Journalists, was named to the Lapin Kansa post at the beginning of September, and she was to have started at the newspaper in mid-December.
     
In court, both parties maintained their grounds relating to the reason for Korhonen’s dismissal.
      According to Korhonen, the reason for the cancellation of her appointment was her sexual orientation.
      Kai Telanne, the CEO of the media group Alma Media, claimed that the board of the company decided to cancel the contract of Johanna Korhonen because of a “lack of trust”, claiming that she had told lies during the recruitment process.
      In September, the media group received an anonymous letter, revealing that Korhonen’s spouse was a woman and that the partner was a candidate in the municipal elections in Vantaa.
     
Following the revelation, Korhonen was called in to a strongly-worded meeting, in which she was pressured to withdraw voluntarily and to say that she was not willing to move to Rovaniemi after all.
      Moreover, Korhonen says that Alma Media had offered her a severance contract worth about EUR 100,000.
     
Nevertheless, Korhonen refused to withdraw in silence, saying that she did not report on the gender of her spouse nor her partner’s political activism in her job interview as she did not regard these facts as significant .
      The board of Alma Media cancelled the contract of Johanna Korhonen in October.
     
Korhonen decided to take the northern subsidiary of Alma Media to court for illegal termination of employment, demanding close to EUR 230,000 in damages.
      The court proceedings will continue on Friday, when the parties are to deliver their closing speeches.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sacked editor plans to demand significant damages from Alma Media (7.10.2008)
  Editor Johanna Korhonen demands damages from Lapin Kansa (31.10.2008)
  New editor-in-chief dropped from newspaper, allegedly over lesbian relationship (2.10.2008)

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