Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.
Apr. 2
Finns Party MP would base immigration restrictions on nationality (YLE in English)
Why this story misses the point. A story published Thursday by YLE and later translated into English by the same news service is a perfect example of how the national media is taken for a ride by anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*. True, immigrant can be defined as someone who has lived more than a year in the country irrespective if the person sought asylum, but since this is not explained in the story a distorted picture emerges. Even so, the Suomen Perusta report doesn’t even mention the UN definition but uses its own.
In my opinion there are three important points lacking in the story:
- Somalians and Germans are grouped as “immigrants” in the PS thinktank report. YLE forgets to mention that the Somalis that came to Finland as refugees. The PS may be inclined to use the term “immigrants” since it believes that refugees from Somalia may not be “real” refugees but so-called “welfare shoppers.” The 75-page report by Suomen Perusta only uses the term “refugee” once;
- They mention that the idea of restricting immigration from certain regions is the suggestion of one PS MP and not that of the whole party. PS MP Juho Eerola, who made the suggestion, is third vice president of the anti-immigration party. Certainly he must represent the whole party;
- YLE uses a black hand to drive home the stereotype that “bad” immigration is black. Very commonly the Finnish media uses pictures of Muslim women or of black people to go with a news story about immigration.
Continue reading “UPDATE (Apr. 2): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”
