Newspaper editors charge that political elite has been given a soft ride on NATO issue
HS's's Janne Virkkunen believes grounds for remaining outside NATO have not been properly demanded
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By Katri Kallionpää
"The media have given the political elite of this country a soft ride. We have not been capable of putting the right sort of pressure on those bearing poltical responsibility, calling them out on what are the central principles why Finland should remain outside NATO", charged Helsingin Sanomat editor-in-chief Janne Virkkunen at a panel discussion on Saturday during the three-day Media Fair in Helsinki's Fair Centre.
"Quite simply, we have not been able to bring good, strong, probing journalism to the table. The fundamental responsibilities have not been met", Virkkunen went on.
Matti Apunen, the editor-in-chief of the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti, nodded his agreement:
"It has only been the NATO supporters who have been called to account to explain what membership would involve. Nobody is making the calculations on what remaining outside will mean", said Apunen.
The two editors engaged in this burst of self-criticism in the course of a panel discussion pondering coverage of Russia and America in the Finnish media. Also present was the veteran diplomat and Helsingin Sanomat columnist Max Jakobson.
It was nigh on impossible to generate any degree of friction or disagreement among the three panellists on anything, so the chair of the event, the editor of Image magazine Mikko Numminen did the next best thing and brought in an opponent from without, albeit one with close ties to Virkkunen.
Numminen asked editor Virkkunen whether it was awkward that the largest owner of Helsingin Sanomat's parent company SanomaWSOY Aatos Erkko, himself a former editor-in-chief of the newspaper, should only recently have declared himself in the contrary camp relative to the paper's pro-NATO editorial line, opposing Finnish membership.
"This comment is not one I'm hearing for the first time", noted Virkkunen drily.
In his opinion it is good that Erkko comes out publicly with his views on the subject. "The newspaper takes a different position. We can live with that."
Virkkunen went on to point out that daily newspapers came into existence so that they might take a stand on matters in society. Both Helsingin Sanomat and Aamulehti have supported membership of NATO via their editorial columns.
"At the same time as the newspaper argues on behalf of its own position, it should leave room for opposing views", added Apunen.
In the opinion of Max Jakobson, many are anti-NATO only out of a critical stance towards the United States.
He and the editors sitting alongside him held the considered view that within the Finnish media as a whole, the attitude towards the United States was often negative for populist reasons.
"Regrettably, one often sees the demonisation of the United States. The conclusions are drawn already before the analyses are made", noted Apunen.
Apunen compared the media's approach with that of the controversial American documentarist Michael Moore. "It is political pranksterism, which should not be confused with [objective] criticism. I would hope we could arrive at more high-minded quality arguments."
Virkkunen believes the media concentrate too easily on simply criticising the actions of the administration of President George W. Bush, while too little is known of U.S. everyday life.
Jakobson said he would like to see more articles in print about the U.S. economy, the country's multicultural society, and its universities, which are clearly ahead of those in Europe.
Turning to the East, Virkkunen expressed his dismay that the media tend all too easily to start from "possible threats" when writing about Russia and Russian affairs.
"In everything that Russia does, it gets pulled back to an appraisal of ‘What kind of threat does it pose to Finland?'", he opined.
In Virkkunen's view, this kind of thinking is a relic from the days of the Soviet Union.
He commented that for his own part he was more concerned about the internal developments within Russia and the issue of freedom of speech.
Matti Apunen charged that it would be overly carefree to assume that there are no threats whatsoever, but he agreed that those that are cultivated by the media tend to date from the 1980s or even earlier.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.4.2007
KATRI KALLIONPÄÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
katri.kallionpaa@hs.fi
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| 17.4.2007 - THIS WEEK |
 Newspaper editors charge that political elite has been given a soft ride on NATO issue |
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