Johanna Tukiainen: Nothing improper in Kanerva's SMS messages

Dancer fails to win injunction to block publication

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Dancer Johanna Tukiainen, the main figure behind the furore over text messages sent by Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party), insisted on Thursday that there should not be anything "particularly indecent" in the messages.
      Nevertheless, on Thursday, Tukiainen tried to persuade Helsinki District Court to block the publication of the messages by the entertainment magazine Hymy. The magazine plans to publish some of the messages next week.
      Hymy declared on its website that the publication of the messages would also be "in Kanerva's interests".
     
Tukiainen did not want to reveal the exact content of the messages to Helsingin Sanomat, because she felt that commenting on them was a matter for her lawyer.
      Asked if there were any overt references to sex, Tukiainen answered "there wasn't anything that indecent there".
      Tukiainen has previously said in the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat that the messages were suggestive and flirtatious, and that they did not involve "work matters". On the other hand, she says that she did not feel that she was being harassed by Kanerva.
      Ilta-Sanomat has said that it has reliable information on the content of the messages. Editor-in-chief Taipo Sadeoja has confirmed that Ilta-Sanomat is not in possession of the messages themselves, but that it has information that "many of the messages are very intimate, and contain direct sexual innuendo".
     
Tukiainen said that she wanted the injunction against the publication of the messages by noting that neither the sender nor the recipient wanted them made public, and that publishing them would be "a crime" and a violation of privacy, in her opinion.
      She also says that the messages were completely normal communication from one person to another. The fact that such a big fuss has been raised about it is "completely ridiculous" in her view.
      Tukiainen also says that she regrets the whole furore. She emphasised that she has not been pressured by anyone, and that nobody has tried to buy her silence.
     
Originally, Johanna Tukiainen's mobile phone and the text messages on it reached Hymy through a journalist acquaintance. The magazine still has the mobile phone.
      Hymy paid Tukiainen a fee for the interview, but not for the publication of the SMS messages.
      Tukiainen, 29, emphasises that her studies at a polytech included classes on morality and ethics, and that she has sought to behave in such a way as to maintain a good conscience.
      The next issue of Hymy will be on sale on Tuesday next week.

More on this subject:
 Gossip magazine editor denies it was pressured on SMS issue
 National Coalition Party ponders possible reshuffle of ministers

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Security Police investigating Kanerva death threats (19.3.2008)
  Kanerva apologises over SMS uproar (14.3.2008)
  Foreign Minister Kanerva to Slovenia; controversial SMS messages may be published next week (27.3.2008)
  Foreign Minister admits to sending text messages to dancer (11.3.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat