Prime Minister Vanhanen considers legal action against tabloid
Paper reports on SMS messages sent to women
Matti Vanhanen
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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen says that he is considering legal action against the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat for violation of privacy. The daily recently reported on SMS messages he sent to women.
"This has become a matter of principle for me", wrote Vanhanen on Sunday on his blog.
Previously, the Prime Minister has refrained from reacting to what is written about his private life in the press.
The Prime Minister is especially annoyed that Ilta-Sanomat quoted the content of the messages almost verbatim.
Vanhanen feels that the case could involve violation of communication privacy. He notes that the Finnish constitution guarantees the inviolability of privacy involving letters, telephone calls, and other confidential messages.
Communications expert Timo Vuortama does not believe that communications privacy has been violated in this case. According to Vuortama, conviction would require proof that information had been acquired in an illegal manner - by opening up the message without permission.
He said that in this case, people informed the newspaper about the content of the messages. "If someone tells something to someone else, it does not yet violate communications privacy."
As Vuortama sees it, people wielding as much power as the Prime Minister need to withstand criticism better than others, as well as the public airing of other kinds of matters.
Antti-Pekka Pietilä, editor--in-chief of Ilta-Sanomat also denies that the paper violated communications privacy.
He emphasises that the newspaper merely reported the factual content of the individual messages.
"The matter came to light through the recipient of the message. She showed me the message, and that is how I found out about it." Pietilä added that Vanhanen has not denied the accuracy of the story.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 27.3.2006 - TODAY |
 Prime Minister Vanhanen considers legal action against tabloid
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