"HS Council" seeks to open up new perspectives on topical debates

Two out of three in favour of publishing Tiitinen List.

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The Helsingin Sanomat Culture Desk has gathered together a group of influential Finnish individuals from the worlds of culture, science, and media.
      Every Friday, this so-called "HS Council" will be asked to comment on topical issues to which there are no immediate or unambiguous answers. Hopefully the members of the council have views that will open up some fresh points of view on the debates of current interest.
     
At present the council consists of 105 visionary types, representing expertise in various branches and keeping up with current events.
      Apart from full-time opinion leaders in the fields of culture and science, some prominent political figures are also involved, based on their having participated in cultural, scientific, and political debates.
      The sample of the prominent cultural and scientific figures is representative, while not written in stone. The makeup of the council can change as time goes by.
     
Every week the members of the council have to answer a question set by the editorial staff of Helsingin Sanomat, whereby they are asked to pick one answer out of several alternatives.
      Even though this questioning resembles a traditional opinion poll, the aim is to end up in a more profound and more interactive approach.
      While an article published in the newspaper may present only the distribution of the opinions of the council members as well as some samples of their answers, all arguments given by the members are shown on the hs.fi web portal. On that site, readers can also comment on the views expressed by the council members, participate in the discussions, and propose further questions to be answered by the council.
      The members of the HS Council have promised to participate in the work of the council on a regular basis. However, it is possible to be temporarily absent for example when travelling abroad.
     
The wide spectrum of topics will include not just cultural issues but also themes relating to politics or other social debates. A good example is the current debate on the possible publication of the so-called ”Tiitinen List”, the material concerning suspected Finnish contacts of the East German secret police Stasi.
      A total of 66 per cent of the HS Council respondents are in favour of the publication of the ”Tiitinen List”, while some 18 per cent feel that the list should not be made public. Moreover, some 16 per cent of those questioned did not have any opinion on the matter, which just goes to prove that even people elected to a council can have difficulty making their mind up.
      Some respondents qualified their "Yes" answer by saying that releasing the material to an independent body of researchers and legal experts would ease the atmosphere of secrecy and conspiracy surrounding the Stasi information. Some saw the publication as a test-case of transparency in action or as a means of exorcising Cold War demons, while others questioned whether publication would not simply be an opportunity for the tabloid press to crucify people who have not actually been found guilty of anything.
     
One sarcastic comment expressed by dramaturgist Juha-Pekka Hotinen suggests that the list should be published just because the general public so wishes it. "And apparently the public demands that Finland be the only state in the world in which the Security Police is not secret, but public", he adds.
      Hotinen feels convinced that really the list should be revealed to us by Seppo Tiitinen himself, reciting the names from the main stage of the Finnish National Opera. While being the current Secretary General of the Finnish Parliament, Tiitinen is also the former Security Police director and a former Chairman of the Board of the Finnnish National Opera.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Security Police will not release Stasi list (7.9.2007)

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