Comment: Of all the far-right anti-immigration PS MPs, James Hirvisaari has got to be the scariest. A railway engineer by profession, Hirvisaari not only reveals his ignorance about the role of the media in a democratic society but his true political colors whenever he gives his opinion on immigration never mind Muslims.
In his latest blog entry on Uusi Suomi, he accuses journalists of being “arragont and lying scum.” Hirvisaari has gone on the rampage at newspapers that use the term persu, or shortened term for Perussuomalaiset, by comparing it with the term nekru, or a synonym of the n-word.
The JSN announced today that using the term persu, which comes close to the term perse or anus, can be used by the media sparingly.
In a blog entry shortly after Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway, Hirvisaari blamed immigration for the mass killings. “I really am not surprised that something like this could happen in Norway,” he wrote on Uusi Suomi. “In the last years at least ALL (100%) of tens of those accused of violent rapes have been immigrants/foreigners that have come from outside Europe.”
Hirvisaari is also a strong believer of ethnic hygiene. He believes that it is a bad matter for Finns to marry foreigners.
One of Hirvisaari’s recent pet topics recently is the Finnish media. He and PS MP Jussi Halla-aho have tried to teach the media their job with dismal results.
Hirvisaari’s latest target is the Finnish Broadcast Company (YLE), which he accuses of brainwashing the public. “For as long as in YLE’s bylaws read that one of the aims of the company is to further multiculturalism, or brainwash Finnish citizens (not foreign citizens?), I would not want any state money (to go to YLE),” he was quoted as saying on Lahti-based daily ESS.
A question for Hirvisaari: Is it the state or viewers who finance YLE? If it is the latter then it cannot be the state.
Hirvisaari, like Jussi Halla-aho and his PS cronies, believes that multiculturalism is a conspiracy or a left-wing tool that permits non-Europeans and Muslims from moving to Finland and Europe.
If it were up to Hirvisaari, he’d close Finland’s borders and start a state-sponsored hate campaign against visible immigrants and minorities.
Fortunately, Hirvisaari’s party is not in government and that he is up for relection in 2015.
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Perussuomalaisten kansanedustaja James Hirvisaari leimaa Yleisradion täysin ylimitoitetuksi ja kohtuuttomasti rahaa kuluttavaksi muinaisjäänteeksi, jolla nykymuodossaan ei ole olemassaolon oikeutusta. Hirvisaari vastasi sähköpostilla Etelä-Suomen Sanomien kysymykseen Yleisradion tulevasta rahoitusmallista. Hän ei suostu puhelinhaastatteluihin.
I don’t agree about he multiculturalism parts of his comment, but in these I agree with him 100%:
“Hirvisaaren mukaan Yleisradio on muinaisjäänne, jolla nykymuodossaan ei ole olemassaolon oikeutusta.”
“- Olen sitä mieltä, että Yle voi rahoittaa toimintansa niiden kansalaisten vapaaehtoisella tuella, jotka haluavat moisesta roskasta jotain maksaa”
Yle is garbage and the people who want to watch it, can pay for it. Not all of us are watching TV…
I also agree on YLE being an obsolete institution. Despite YLE employing several people who are aware of social media and of new trends in media distribution channels, YLE’s management simply is as hopelessly outdated as the copyright industry is. Let it die and let us get rid of media fees altogether, while we’re at it.
I think Yle is a highly important institution. It’s important we have a non-commercially dependent public service broadcaster that produces thoughtful programming for all sectors of society, not just focused upon how many people are watching or listening. Let’s not forget, Yle is more than just television. The TV fee also goes towards the funding of Yle’s radio channels. Can you imagine the commercial sector succeeding in providing radio programmes in the Sami language, would MTV start making television news in Swedish if Yle disappeared?
Clearly there is room for change and improvement. Yle does not have the same level of quality programmes as it’s counterpart in Sweden (SVT, at least when it comes to TV anyway), so there is something to be learnt there.
I am against the recent ideas banded about (by amongst others the former Managing Director of Yle, the SDP MP Mikael Jungner) that Yle should be funded out of general taxation. I think the idea of a media fee was a good idea, it reduced the per household cost and recognised that many people consume Yle by the internet these days, not just through the more traditional methods of their radio and tv.
Jonas
At the moment Yle has TEN radio channels and SIX television channels. They could easily have one Finnish TV channel and one Swedish TV channel. Same thing with the radio. Nowadays there are so many better and more reliable information/news sources than Yle – for example, internet. And why we should support some unhealthy way of life (aka watching television) from our taxes? Education, health care, road works etc. can’t be compared to this, because these are what everyone needs, TV is not.
We should stop supporting education then as well, if we adopt your logic. 70 plus percent of Finns get news from Yle weekly. Less than that sit in university lecture rooms, which of course is also quite a sedentary activity, and probably thus not a lot better for the health than TV-watching.
But in all seriousness, I do think it is a good think that we have an independent public service broadcaster free from commercial interests. But, I do agree that Yle has perhaps overstretched itself, which probably has had a negative affect on the quality of core services. Although, I would not go as far to say that there should only be two television and radio channels. That would not offer time to offer the diversity of content required to serve the entire audience, especially minority interest programmes on, for example, arts and culture or religion. If you only had one radio channel, how would you tailor it to all ages? Is a 15 year old going to want to listen to news presented in the same way as a 65 year old? Probably not. Is it right that they both have access to quality, public service choices, yes. The commercial operators simply aren’t interested in offering the same breadth of programming because a lot of what Yle offers is not guaranteed to make the biggest profits in advertising sales.
Hands off my TV and Radio!
If PS doesn’t like journalists who criticize them then maybe they should move to North Korea or China. We have no place for fascists intent on crushing the media like they want military junta to crush Greek protesters my Finland!
As I already said, education can’t be compared to this, because it is something what everybody needs in some points of their lives. Education actually has a purpose why it is supported by tax money: to create more tax payers and keep the wheels running.
News can be read in newspapers, internet and even in other TV channels. Yle is not essential source of information anymore. It was maybe 40 years ago, but the times are changing. Now it is just an old, dying institute which doesn’t provide anything what other media sources couldn’t provide better.
And I think two channels would be more than enough. There are also other choices to choose from, with advertisement or with monthly fee, but it is up to the viewers. Isn’t it fair that if someone wants to watch TV, then the person pays for his own watching and if someone doesn’t even own a TV, he doesn’t have to? The best option would be TV card, but of course this will never happen, because Yle knows that nobody would be interested enough to buy it.
Has nobody noticed the evident disconnect between Hirvisaari’s views and the PS election manifesto stuff about the need to promote Finnish culture? Nearly all of the most popular YLE television programmes broadcast in 2010 were produced in Finland. No commercial channel comes close to YLE in promoting and giving expression to the diverse cultural strands of contemporary Finnish society.