Politics goes entertainment

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By Jaakko Hautamäki and Hanna Kaarto
     
      Marja Tiura will not be giving the press a sneak peak at the dress that she will wear to the Independence Day reception this year. "Iltalehti called today and asked if it would be possible to photograph my dress. I said no. This year I will walk in through the door of the palace, and that is that. I have too much to do to worry about things like that", the National Coalition Party MP said in early November.
      In stories anticipating the coming Independence Day, Members of Parliament usually put on a different outfit from the one in which they arrive at the Palace, as this maximises the publicity. Christian Democrat Päivi Räsänen went so far as to let a readers' poll in a tabloid newspaper determine which dress she would wear to the reception.
      This time, Tiura has decided to concentrate on politics. Photo shoots take time, but a more important reason is that she has noticed that the attention that she is getting in the field of entertainment publicity is almost getting out of control.
     
Tiura could probably have got her picture into several publications this weekend. As she a politician, she is hot stuff in the entertainment press. At least in the view of Liisa Jäppinen, editor-in-chief of Eeva, a Finnish women's magazine with long traditions.
      "Politicians are today's super-celebrities." She adds that at one time singers were more important, and at another time, beauty queens, authors, artists, and others, who are no longer as big as they used to be.
      This year, half of the issues of Eeva have had a picture of a politician on the front cover. In addition to Eeva, politicians are interviewed by Anna and Me Naiset as well as the tabloid dailies, and newcomers of the popular press, such as Jade, Sara, Olivia...
      New publications emerge all the time, and the celebrity cycle has become faster than before. When reality TV constantly flings new stars into the firmament of the celebrity world, many are forgotten in a week or two.
      The speed of the cycle is one reason why the status of politicians as celebrities has grown stronger. Liisa Jäppinen says that they are truly fixed stars, because their careers usually last at least four years.
     
Magazines and newspapers that live off of celebrity news yearn for stories about love affairs, divorces, engagements, weddings, marriages, pregnancies, adoptions, homes, clothing, gaining and losing weight, illnesses, abstinence from alcohol, the joy of having children, and the heartbreak of childlessness.
      If no stories about politicians are available, the focus is on intoxication (including drink driving, and sailing), arguments, fights, matchmaking, physical abuse and other crimes or suspicions of crime.
      Private lives of politicians have not always covered in the popular press. The publicity boom for women politicians began in 1983, when 24-year-old Sirpa Pietikäinen (Nat. Coalition Party) and 29-year-old Arja Alho (SDP) were elected to Parliament, says political historian Ville Pernaa of the University of Turku.
      Before that there was no room in the media for the likes of a high-profile back-bench MP like Tiura, but now "the media has changed".
      Pernaa says that political parties are happy to benefit from the votes brought in by celebrities. However, celebrities who get into Parliament are not, first and foremost, political party animals, which easily leads to debates within parties on questions of credibility.
      "Those who are seen in public are proclaimed to be second-rate Parliamentarians. It is said that they lack political substance", Pernaa says. This, in spite of the fact that the votes brought in by a single celebrity candidate can be decisive in a national election.
     
According to Pernaa, parties and the media "have produced this set of politicians themselves". Once a long time ago, the only way that a young woman politician would have made it into the public eye would have been by criticising the Finnish-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, for instance.
      However, celebrity politicians have also raised serious personal questions in politics.
      "A politician can be an angry single mother just as easily as a person in a checkout line", the researcher says.
      The fact that middle-aged men in black or grey suits are not the only politicians that are heard nowadays, has brought new topics of conversation into political discourse.
      We have become familiar with the depression of Tanja Saarela, the shyness of Leena Harkimo, the weight loss of Päivi Räsänen - but also with the gardening hobby of Sauli Niinistö and the fact that Paavo Lipponen, who has been declared "cute" by Minna Lintonen, cooks breakfast porridge for his children. Women have made personal issues political - also for men.
      What the publications that live off of celebrities do not write about is the hard core of politics.
      "It is quite clear that the focus of our interest is on what politicians are like as people", Liisa Jäppinen confirms
      Eeva welcomes interviewees who have had some kind of a turning point in their lives, and they should naturally speak about these as openly as possible. The interview with MP Leena Harkimo and her significant other Timo Kousa in the October issue of Eeva, a "story of adult happiness" under the apple trees in Sipoo, was a perfect Eeva story. All entertainment magazines have been drooling to get an interview with Harkimo and Kousa ever since they learned of the new love.
     
Another politician who would naturally be accepted as part of a couple interview in any women's magazine at any time is [Minister of Culture and former beauty queen] Tanja Saarela. She and Olli Saarela have been open to the public eye in many ways, but no traditional couple interviews conducted from their home have been seen. "Tanja is very careful about what she gives to whom, and when", Jäppinen explains.
      Eeva is a "safe" place for celebrities to step out into the public eye. The magazine does not even try to be critical. Instead, it wants to make it easy for the readers to identify with the people being interviewed. Jäppinen says that the aim of Eeva interviews is to make the reader feel that she is involved in a confidential discussion with the person being interviewed - as if with a friend.
      And friends are not placed in an embarrassing light. For instance, on the cover of Eeva, Leena Harkimo is the same hight as Kousa. In other pictures, Harkimo looks like she is 15 centimetres taller.
      "We haven't put anyone on pedestals. It is probably all about camera angles", Jäppinen answers with a laugh.
     
Journals that live off celebrities have a need to maintain good relations with them, because faces of celebrities are what sell magazines. In spite of this, Harkimo will not agree to just any requests for interviews, even with Eeva.
      "Usually Eeva makes contact in the summer, and the story will come out in October or November. I take a critical view of my work, and have a fairly strong sense of self-criticism", Harkimo says.
      She adds that each time she wonders what it is about her that is so interesting. "Nothing has happened to me", she tires to convince the press. Sometimes she says that she agrees to interviews just because she wants to be a nice person.
      May politicians would pay anything just to get the Harkimo treatment: beautiful cover pictures and entire spreads of positive stories - which journalists beg her to do several times a year. As Harkimo does not need to offer to be interviewed, she can dictate what topics may be discussed, and what may not. The same applies to other politicians familiar from the pages of women's magazines.
      But no politician gets the kind of publicity that he or she would like to get most of all. Even Harkimo says that in certain situations, a journalist might give a polite ear to her thoughts about the ongoing discussion on an amendment to transport legislation - without even taking any notes.
      "Then they ask how are you doing, is there an engagement coming? No? Well, have a nice evening then", she laughs.
     
"Political liturgy is removed by the editors", Liisa Jäppinen confirms.
      Some politicians, therefore, are constantly in the eye of a publicity machine that is not interested in politics. Stories are business for entertainment magazines, but why do politicians agree to play along? And why do some make special efforts to get into the game?
      One reason is that the more familiar the face, the better the electoral success. "No point avoiding it", Harkimo admits. Tiura and Harkimo, not to mention Saarela, all get huge amounts of votes.
      Is the whole idea of political credibility obsolete? Green MP Osmo Soininvaara said this autumn that he is leaving Parliament partly because he had grown tired of the endless superficial publicity surrounding politicians. However, Harkimo was a heavyweight celebrity already when she entered politics. She has also been quite comfortable with her own public image.
      "Political credibility - what is it ultimately? What are the scales that it is measured against?" Harkimo asks.
      At the traditional level, political credibility comes when a politician has achieved the position of an expert in certain matters, or advanced issues that he or she considers important. What is needed there is the ability to bring other politicians behind the issue.
      In Harkimo's opinion, credibility cannot be determined on the basis of publicity, but on how a politician performs in Parliament.
      Marja Tiura also emphasises that credibility depends on political actions. After the interview she sends an e-mail in which she says that she checked to confirm that she has given the official speeches of her Parliamentary group as often as the others.
      Tanja Saarela has her own opinion on the matter. "Credibility is measured on the basis of the number of votes one gets", she said on Thursday at an evening event of the Centre Party. According to her own estimate, therefore, Saarela is the country's third-most credible politician. In the last elections she got 19,126 personal votes, nearly three times as many as Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
     
Liisa Jäppinen also defends female celebrity politicians. Thanks to women's magazines, people know something about their values and their thoughts.
      "There are plenty of male dummies there whom the voters know nothing about, who appear in politics as big hot-shots, and nobody knows anything about their ability to make decisions", she says.
      Tiura and Harkimo both admit that a beautiful youngish woman can get more publicity than, say, a man in his sixties.
      However, Tiura notes that publicity can also be used as a weapon against those who are in the public eye. She points out that she often hears snide remarks from male colleagues about her magazine stories.
      Still, Tiura believes that granting interviews to women's magazines is not completely frivolous. She says that she sees to it that the stories contain "real issues" as well. For instance, she feels that in stories concerning dresses to be worn to the Independence Day ball, she has managed to put in a word for Finnish women's entrepreneurship and design.
      At what point does a politician recognise that publicity eats away at credibility? Tiura cannot say. Everything happens on the sly.
      "You come to Parliament and realise that your name starts poping up in the press, and at first, it feels nice, because politicians need publicity. Then it easily reaches the point that it is no longer under your control", she ponders.
     
So is a politician entitled to call off the publicity game? When a politician has, at times, given statements about his or her personal life, journalists see this as a sign that the door to that person's private life is wide open to the media. The fact that the person in question is using his or her private affairs to gain positive publicity, provides a justification for drawing public attention to unpleasant events as well. Not all publicity is friendly, even though Eeva magazine might be.
      If Marja Tiura is seen with a possible new boyfriend, it is likely that the magazine 7 Päivää will be tipped off, says the gossip journal's editor-in-chief Eeva-Helena Jokitaipale.
      Then the magazine will call Tiura, who might choose not to comment. The story might nevertheless be written, if the information is solid. A decision to publish is often considered with the help of a lawyer.
      For 7 Päivää, a news journal of the entertainment world, politicians are no more special than any other celebrities. Whether a politician is on the cover or on the inside pages depends on how surprising a story is, or on the importance of the celebrity.
     
According to Jokitaipale, the Centre Party currently has more celebrities than any other party.
      She lists the politicians that 7 Päivää defines as celebrities, based on how well they are known, and also on how much influence they wield, and on how wealthy they are: Matti Vanhanen, Tanja Saarela, Ben Zyskowicz, Merikukka Forsius, Mikko Alatalo, Antero Kekkonen, Marjukka Karttunen, Janina Andersson, Anni Sinnemäki, Satu Hassi, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Eija-Riitta Korhola, Paavo Lipponen, Esko Aho, Sauli Niinistö, Sirkka-Liisa Anttila... and of course Harkimo and Tiura.
      On the other hand, a run-of-the-mill politician, and even a party secretary will get onto the front cover of 7 Päivää only if something sufficiently astounding happens to that person.
      So what about Antti Kaikkonen and the SDP's Satu Taiveaho? The game of "we're just good friends" that the two back-bench Members of Parliament played with the media raised people's interest, as Jokitaipale sees it.
      "Well done", Jokitaipale comments.
     
It is not hard to imagine that Kaikkonen and Taiveaho will be one of the most-photographed couples at the Independence Day reception.
      Jokitaipale says that to win positive publicity, one needs charisma and a personal desire for it. For instance, Kaikkonen's career as a celebrity has got off to a magnificent start. In October he appeared at a fashion show of a cancer clinic after losing 30 kilos in weight. He moved around gracefully in various suits, and wiped sweat off his brow during pauses. Stories from the dressing room spread into the afternoon tabloids. In the stories, Kaikkonen and Taiveaho were unselfishly promoting a good cause. In the next day's Iltalehti the two said that no election baby is on the way. In Ilta-Sanomat Kaikkonen said that he stays thin by eating right and by running after Taiveaho. Taiveaho said that a possible wedding will be discussed next summer at the earliest.
      Also appearing at the same fashion show was Marja Tiura. In the following day's Iltalehti, she said that she had moved into the "art nouveau house of her dreams". In Ilta-Sanomat she managed to allude to politics by calling for a comeback of Sauli Niinistö.
      The Ilta-Sanomat stories were by society journalist Rita Tainola. She is rather bored with politicians, finding it frustrating that they do not reveal the real tragedies of their lives.
      "I go to an event, ask how things are going, and after that I ask them how things really are going, and if there is nothing 'really' going on, I leave."
      Tainola also does not like it when journalists obediently do what politicians want them to: positive stories before elections. She feels that it is no coincidence that the interview on Harkimo's love life was published this autumn, although the relationship has been going on for more than a year.
      "It would be better not to do it, but if Saarela speaks about her private life, an interview would be taken. Who wouldn't?" Tainola says.
      7 Päivää will take an interview even if it is not offered. The nation got to know Vanhanen's girlfriend specifically through 7 Päivää, and it was no couple interview. Susan Kuronen answered a journalist's questions on the telephone, and the rest is history.
     
"Nobody seems to read this magazine, except maybe at the barber shop", Jokitaipale snorts. Nevertheless, it has a circulation of more than 260,000, and a total readership of more than 920,000.
      The fact that politicians are celebrities, and of interest to 7 Päivää as well, and that the magazine covers stories about matters that other magazines do not write about, has affected political debate. Other media have often had to follow in the footsteps of 7 Päivää. The magazine is also read in political parties.
      Stories that are the natural province of 7 Päivää are not necessarily easy for others. Helsingin Sanomat, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), and the Finnish News Agency (STT) are not accustomed to having their political journalists ask Prime Minister Vanhanen to discuss his female friends. Learning to do so has been awkward. It was discussed within Helsingin Sanomat how to write about the relationship between Finance Minister Sauli Niinistö, and opposition MP Tanja Karpela (now Tanja Saarela).
      Although the private lives of decision-makers have always had political significance, it is only now that they are discussed out loud.
      Parties also need to recognise that the people are interested in matters other than municipal reform. Or what does it mean, when the election campaign theme of the main opposition party is defined as "listening".
      Politicians need to know what the people are talking about, and the people talk about what the entertainment media offers.
     
Jokitaipale believes that the Susan episode was a sheer plus for Vanhanen's electoral success. The ordinary citizen knows Vanhanen much better now than they would have on the basis of the Finnish EU Presidency.
      Vanhanen himself has said that the personal lives of politicians should not be displayed in public.
      "Politicians are treated with just as much respect as any other public figure", Jokitaipale points out. The days of Urho Kekkonen are over.
      Jokitaipale is willing to admit that 7 Päivää should have called Vanhanen in the summer before chartering a helicopter to get a photograph of his swimming pool. The reason, according to Jokitaipale, was simply that the pool is more visible in aerial photographs.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.12.2006

More on this subject:
 Susan speaks out - but not in an exclusive interview

JAAKKO HAUTAMÄKI AND HANNA KAARTO / Helsingin Sanomat
jaakko.hautamaki@hs.fi, hanna.kaarto@hs.fi