Journalism expert sees no NATO conspiracy in Finnish media
Perception of pro-NATO bias attributed to "nature of journalism"
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By Tanja Aitamurto
Juho Rahkonen, a researcher into journalism at the University of Tampere, rejects the idea of a media conspiracy to bring Finland into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. According to Rahkonen, both supporters and opponents of NATO membership get equal amounts of space in the Finnish media.
As he sees it, the nature of journalism may give rise to an impression of a pro-NATO stance by the media. News requires change, and journalists seek change by bombarding decision-makers with questions about joining NATO.
"Journalism questions the status quo - that is, Finland’s non-aligned status - and in so doing it helps create the impression that Finland is moving toward NATO membership", Rahkonen says.
Furthermore, the media is keeping NATO in the public eye, which means that the defence alliance becomes a familiar issue and a permanent topic of debate.
"On the other hand, the media also creates a negative image of NATO with news about crises that NATO is involved in, such as Iraq and the war in Kosovo", Rahkonen points out.
For his study Rahkonen examined the discussion that had been going on in the media about possible Finnish NATO membership. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.
Klaus Korhonen, a department head at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, says that the ministries wanted to know about media practices that affect foreign and security policy debate.
According to the results of the study, one of the problems with writing in the media is that the question of possible NATO membership is depicted too often as a political struggle between parties. The military and strategic significance of the defence alliance is not sufficiently examined.
NATO stories are also rarely illustrated with images of war. Usually the pictures are of politicians.
"The image of NATO is very clean and bureaucratic. NATO’s basic character as an organisation that wields military power is pushed into the background", Rahkonen says.
Rahkonen criticises the media for leaving the news items detached from each other, and not asking for comments from anyone outside the political elite. In his view, citizens’ initiatives should be taken into consideration in the writing.
"For instance, journalists could ask decision-makers questions based on citizens’ initiatives."
In the view of security policy experts interviewed for the study, the media should be more thorough in its handling of NATO, and include historical links with the stories.
The study covered the articles concerning NATO that were published in the four Finnish newspapers with the widest circulation: Helsingin Sanomat, Aamulehti, Ilta-Sanomat, and Iltalehti over a period of a year and a half, concluding in June 2004.
The research material also included a number of stories in other papers, and on radio and television.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 11.9.2004
TANJA AITAMURTO / Helsingin Sanomat
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| 14.9.2004 - THIS WEEK |
 Journalism expert sees no NATO conspiracy in Finnish media |
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