Saturday’s interview with Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson Riikka Purra on Ykkösaamu was a good example of how the media avoids asking tough questions, never mind doing fact-checking. Purra was able to spread her urban tales about migrants. Considering that the PS is a radical right party, host Serija Vaaherkumpu did not as one question about the party’s ties with far-right groups.
The PS’ cooperation and links with far-right groups in Finland is topical today considering that in Germany the police had arrested a far-right group that was aiming to overthrow the government.
Moreover, the police announced a year ago Finland’s first neo-Nazi group that was planning a terrorist attack. Detective inspector Toni Sjöblom confirmed to Migrant Tales at the end of November in an email that charges would be brought against the five suspects “within a few weeks.”
The interview with Riikka Purra revealed how much the PS wants to keep non-white Finns and migrants as second-class members of society when the PS chairperson said that only Finns could get social welfare. Shameful that Purra would suggest it and toothless reporting by Vaaherkumpu for not asking if excluding people’s civil rights is ethical.
“The Perussuomalaiset’s long-term aim is to make social welfare rights based on nationality, but this will, unfortunately, not happen in the next [parliamentary] term but is a long-term aim,” said Purra.
The PS chairperson stated that her party wants to slash public spending by cutting back on social benefits and development aid, among other sectors. Purra said that Ukrainians would not be affected by such cuts.
Certainly, she can make such a claim because the PS believes it’s okay that certain groups of people in Finland are second- and third-class citizens.
The host should have done a more thorough job in the interview.
Even if the media and some politicians believe that youth gang violence is on the rise, no statistical data has appeared on how much. On some talk and news shows, these points of view are quoted from unnamed police sources.
Moreover, Purra believed that Ukrainians would return to their country after a short stay in Finland. It is the exact wrong expectation Germans had of Turks who migrated to the country.
Few Turks returned, the majority stayed.
Purra could throw other below-the-belt punches about migrants. One of these was that certain migrants, the second-class ones, the ones that the PS constantly belittles, only come to Finland to live off social welfare. They work for a while, then quit their jobs and live off benefits.
A poor interview indeed that gave Purra and her party the opportunity to spread their lies.
The media is part of Finland’s racism problem.
