Finnish media and politicians reject opinion poll restrictions

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The proposal by the head of elections at the Ministry of Justice, Arto Jääskeläinen, to ban the publication of opinion polls about a month before an election has received an icy welcomed from both the media and Finnish politicians.
      "Opinion polls do not endanger democracy", says Jari Niemelä of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.
      "The media have to be able to make their own decisions on the contents of their publications. It is impossible to think that the publishing of opinion polls before elections could be regulated by law", argues editor-in-chief Janne Virkkunen of Helsingin Sanomat.
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) commented on the issue to the Finnish News Agency STT, saying that it is not possible to ban polls by law in a country of free communication.
      The Prime Minister does not believe, either, that the opinion polls that are conducted immediately prior to elections can have excessive influence over voters’ choices.
     
The top official responsible for elections at the Ministry of Justice Arto Jääskeläinen claims that opinion polls might influence people too much when deciding how to cast their vote, especially in conjunction with elections that centre around a person, such as the presidential election and elections for the European Parliament.
      According to an interview with Helsingin Sanomat on Monday, Jääskeläinen would restrict the publishing of opinion polls around one month before elections either by law or by an agreement within the leading mass media.
     
Both Janne Virkkunen and Jari Niemelä regard the proposal as unrealistic, as for instance the Internet would make it impossible to restrict the free flow of intormation.
      "What happened in France would be likely to happen here, too. After the French adopted a legal ban on the publishing of opinion polls, the information was released in Switzerland", says Niemelä.
      Furthermore, voters have to get the same information as politicians. If the media stopped publishing opinion polls prior to elections, various rumours of unreleased opinion poll results would just increase.
     
Docent Sami Borg of the University of Tampere does not regard the ban on the publishing of opinion polls by law as realistic, either. Instead, he would advise the media to strengthen their self-regulation.
      "The point of the issue is not whether opinion polls are restricted or not. The media should have a debate on the quality of opinion poll results. If the results are uncertain, they should be published as such", says Borg.
According to Virkkunen, media sometimes draw false conclusions and should be more careful before publishing information about changes in the support of a particular political party.
      On the other hand, Borg admits that positive development has taken place over the last decade, and the margins for error of results are mentioned in media when determining the accuracy of polls. Moreover, no opinion polls are conducted on the electoral behaviour of advance voters.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Elections supremo would restrict opinion polls from around one month before voting (20.9.2004)

Links:
  Ministry of Justice: Elections

Helsingin Sanomat