Lapin Kansa journalists demand resignation of Alma Media CEO and paper's editor

Current editor doubts “openly lesbian” newspaper editor can thrive in Lapland

Kai Telanne

Kai Mäkelä

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Representatives of journalists of the newspaper Lapin Kansa are calling for the resignation of Kai Telanne, CEO of the newspaper’s owner Alma Media. The call is in response to the cancellation of the contract of Johanna Korhonen, who was to have taken on the post of editor-in-chief of the paper in December.
     On Wednesday Korhonen said that she had been sacked when it it was revealed that she lives in a registered civil union with another woman.
     
Alma Media’s Kai Telanne denies any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He says that the reason for cancelling Korhonen’s contract is that she had been dishonest during her job interview by not disclosing the political activities of her partner, who is running in the upcoming municipal elections in Vantaa.
     Telanne indicated on Thursday that the neutrality of newspaper editors requires that neither they nor their spouses should be involved in political activities.
     However, it has also come out that the spouse of at least one editor-in-chief of an Alma Media newspaper is heavily involved in the local politics of the city where the paper is located.
     
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Lapin Kansa journalists said that the Telanne had “acted in an ill-considered manner and caused damage” to both the newspaper and to Alma Media as a whole.
     “No genuine reasons for the cancellation of Johanna Korhonen’s contract have come to our attention”, the Lapin Kansa journalists point out.
     
On Friday the newspaper’s staff also called for the resignation of the current editor-in-chief of Lapin Kansa, Heikki Tuomi-Nikula, for comments on the furore that he made in a radio interview on Thursday.
      Tuomi-Nikula, who is scheduled to retire in December, criticised Alma Media for not sufficiently looking into the background of Johanna Korhonen.
     Tuomi-Nikula said on Thursday that that it would be difficult for someone who lives openly as a lesbian to work as his successor.
      Tuomi-Nikula emphasises that he has never asked about the sexual orientation of an applicant for a journalist’s position.
     “But if we talk about someone who represents Lapin Kansa this involves representing not just the newspaper, but the whole province [the name “Lapin Kansa” translates as ‘the people of Lapland’]. And if that person lives in an open couple relationship with someone of the same gender, then everything that the person writes is easily seen in light of what that person’s private relationship is. This can cause difficulties. If I were a publisher, I would think twice before choosing such a person to be an editor-in-chief”, Tuomi-Nikula said.
      The Lapin Kansa journalists’ representatives said that the statement harms the newspaper’s reputation, causing economic problems and making the work of the staff more difficult, and called on Tuomi-Nikula to leave before his December retirement.
      Tuomi-Nikula said that he will not resign, adding that his comments on Lesbians are his personal opinions, and not the policy of his newspaper.
     
Political activism of a person’s spouse is not seen as a legitimate consideration when choosing an editor for a newspaper, says Heikki Hakala, editor-in-chief of the Lahti-based newspaper Etelä Suomen Sanomat. Hakala is also the chairman of the Guild of Finnish Editors.
     “I feel that it is impossible to make the activities of a spouse a basis for choosing an editor. I feel that then we would be very much involved with issues of civil rights”, Hakala says.
     He adds, however, that in a small town, the work of a newspaper editor can be so comprehensive that a very strong role of a spouse could attract attention.
     Johanna Korhonen’s partner is a candidate in the municipal elections in Vantaa, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The newspaper Lapin Kansa appears in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland. Korhonen says that her partner planned to move to Rovaniemi along with Korhonen.
     Hakala says that a much greater problem than political activism by spouses is the difficulty in finding editors who would be willing to live outside the Helsinki region so that they would genuinely be full-fledged members of the communities where the newspapers appear.
     
Commenting on Alma Media’s assertion that the reason that Korhonen was sacked was a lack of trust stemming from lies that Korhonen allegedly told during the job interview, Hakala said that it is very important for an editor of a newspaper to enjoy the full confidence of the publisher.
     “A publisher places a good deal of spiritual and other property at the disposal of the editor. In the case of Alma, for instance, editors in chief decide very independently on the policies taken by a newspaper.”
     
The Board of Directors of Alma Media still has full confidence in CEO Kai Telanne, says Lauri Helve, a member of the board.
     Helve says that the board held a telephone conference on the matter on Thursday.
     Meanwhile, Telanne aired his feelings about the matter in a message to Alma Media staff, which was published in the online edition of the Tampere-based newspaper Aamulehti.
     The message repeated the views expressed on the matter previously, and indicated that the company does not want to discuss the matter further. “We do not want to continue the public debate launched by Korhonen beyond yesterday’s statements, as we do not want to bring into public matters that do not belong there.”
     
Investor Kai Mäkelä, who owns about one third of Alma Media’s stock both directly, and through various other arrangements, says that the controversy raised by the sacking of Johanna Korhonen will only boost the value of the company.
     “Everyone will just start paying more attention to the company”, Mäkelä said in an interview with the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.

More on this subject:
 Ministers and President weigh in on Korhonen case

Previously in HS International Edition:
  New editor-in-chief dropped from newspaper, allegedly over lesbian relationship (2.10.2008)

Links:
  Alma Media press release: RECRUITMENT OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF LAPIN KANSA TO CONTINUE AT ALMA MEDIA

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