Finnish media Archives - Page 8 of 10

UPDATE (Apr. 3): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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. 3

This story was removed by Helsingin Sanomat the following day and the newspaper has apologized for publishing it.

Miten kutsuisimme virolaisia? (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s wrong with this story? This story could show, apart from poor and shoddy journalism, white Finnish privilege and how stereotypes are spread and reinforced. The country’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, asks its readers to vote for the best nickname for Estonians without bothering to ask Estonians what they want to be called. In my opinion some offensive names on the list include virukset (virus = a person who is half Estonian and half Russian), kroonit (they’re so much after money) and retiisit (during Soviet occupation Estonians were red from the outside but white inside). Ever wonder which groups spread stereotypes of migrants and minorities? The Helsingin Sanomat story below is a worst example of how this is done. Their sense of humor may not be shared by Estonians and maybe considered outright offensive to some of them.

Continue reading “UPDATE (Apr. 3): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

Epic failure of the Finnish media in reporting the impact of the Tapanila sexual assault case

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The theory that immigration is responsible for crime, that the most recent “wave of immigration,” whatever the nationality, is less desirable than the old ones, that all newcomers should be regarded with an attitude of suspicion, is a theory that is almost as old as the colonies planted by Englishmen on the New England coast.

—Edith Abbott in the report of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (1931:23)

A-Studio hosts Markus Liimatainen and Annika Damström invited Sadak Elwan, Kadar Gelle and Maryan Askar to give “their views” on the Tapanila gang-rape case. While this wasn’t the worst example of opinionated and prejudiced journalism, it shows the epic failure of the Finnish media in reporting the impact of the Tapanila sexual assault case.

Liimatainen cites a National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula) study published in 2014, “Immigrants as crime victims and offenders in Finland,” which claims that sexual assaults committed by those born in Africa and the Middle East were 17 times higher than those by native Finns.

Damström, who takes this study as the “ultimate truth” about sexual assault and migrants, asks the guests how they explain such a high statistic.

It’s clear that Damström and Liimatainen didn’t do their homework as journalists but apparently allowed themselves to be carried away by tidbits of information that were unreliable to begin in the Optula study.

Even the study that they cite claims that since the statistical information was only provided by the police, we don’t know what the real figures are. Hence, the study is unreliable and cannot be used to give any type of “ultimate truth.”

The reporter doesn’t mention these issues about the study but prefers instead to treat its conclusions as the “ultimate truth.” Anti-immigration groups are making the same conclusions as she.

Watch full talk show (in Finnish) here.

Professor Vesa Puuronen of Oulu University spoke to Migrant Tales and said that since the statistical information is only from one source, it has therefore a lot of holes.

Continue reading “Epic failure of the Finnish media in reporting the impact of the Tapanila sexual assault case”

UPDATE (Mar. 17): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Mar. 17

Krp kiinnostui: Tapanilan raiskaus raivostutti nettikirjoittajat (Ilta-Sanomat)

A good example of disingenuous journalism. If we were to write about how racism spread and got a foothold in Finland in the early 1990s, Ilta-Sanomat would shine above the rest. Its billboards of the 1990s are clear examples of how it fueled racism and bigotry in this country when Somalis started to come to Finland. The story below is another example of their lowly style of journalism. Imagine, the tabloid asks how the rape case in the northern Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila has infuriated people on the web so much that even the National Bureau of Investigation (Krp) is interested. What Ilta-Sanomat does here is add more fuel to the flames of intolerance by asking such a question and thus giving power and recognition to racists on the web. A underhanded disingenious trick by a tabloid that is no stranger to racist reporting.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Mar. 6

Olli Immonen rajoittaisi somaleiden maahanmuuttoa (Verkkouutiset)

What’s wrong with this story? We all know what Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen’s xenophobic views are about migration and especially about Muslims. No news here. It wasn’t too long ago when Finnish officials avoided using the term “refugee” for Soviet citizens that were fleeing the USSR since the term wasn’t liked by its giant eastern neighbor. Similarly, there were so few migrants in Finland in the 1980s that such people weren’t even called migrants but aliens. In the Verkkouutiset story the term asylum is only mentioned once even if Somalis are considered refugees fleeing a civil war that has ravaged the country since the early 1990s. Not only does Verkkouutiset accept Immonen’s terminology but sides with it by default. The Verkkouutiset story is a good example of how the Finnish media plays down the humanitarian suffering of groups like Somalis by simply regurgitating an Islamophobes claims that “migration [not refugees fleeing war] from that country” must be halted.

Continue reading “UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Mar. 6

Yli puolet nuorista on kokenut syrjintää – ongelmia eniten kouluissa (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s the missing story in this story? Migrant Tales has written before about how migrants, or children of migrant parents, are together with sexual minorities victims of bullying. The findings of the survey, which is monitored every year, doesn’t reveal anything new except that the problem persists. The survey showed that 85% of those aged 15-28 years, and especially migrants and sexual minorities, suffered greater bullying than white Finns. But there is an important question missing in the story: What steps are being taken to challenge this type of anti-social behavior? What do the politicians and policy-makers think about the findings? What do they plan to do about the problem? Continue reading “UPDATE (Mar. 6): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

UPDATE (Feb. 27): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Feb. 27

Rasistinen vai ei? Oikeusoppineet arvioivat perussuomalaisten maahanmuutto-ohjelma (YLE Kioski)

What’s wrong with this story? A story published by YLE Kioski asked a number of law professors if the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party program on immigration is racist. While the answers from five professors affirmed that the PS program was racist and/or unconstitutional, not a single non-Finnish professor was approached by YLE Kioski. One professor that could have given “a migrant view” is Jeremy Gould of Jyväskylä University. The fact that representatives of the majority culture, in this case white Finnish professors, are giving their expert opinions about what impacts migrants and minorities is nothing new. Too often migrants and minorities aren’t approached by the media in such cases. One of the journalists who did the story is Sean Ricks. The story mistakenly states that Veronika Honkasalo is an MP for the Left Alliance. She is a Helsinki city councilwoman who is running for parliament. Continue reading “UPDATE (Feb. 27): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

UPDATE (Mar. 1): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Mar. 1

Surmatut ja epäilty ovat ulkomaalaistaustaisia, mutta asuneet Suomessa pitkään (MTV3)

What’s wrong with the headline? Three migrants were killed by another foreigner on Sunday in the small town of Laukaa, located near Jyväskylä. While the victims and the suspect are non-Finns, MTV3 makes a distinction in the headline about this fact. It states that those killed and the suspect are foreigners “but have lived a long time in Finland.” While the headline was brought to my attention by a post on Facebook, there is an obvious question: What is the difference if the “foreigners” had lived a long time or not in Finland? Are they suggesting that foreigners that have lived a shorter time in Finland are more prone to be killed or be suspected killers? Makes you wonder.

UPDATE (Feb. 26): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Feb. 26

Koraaninluku radiossa nosti raivon – “Sotkee nuorten päät ja vihasoppa on valmis” (Helsingin Uutiset)

What’s wrong with this story? Helsingin Uutiset is a community paper that is distributed for free to Helsinki residents. One of the unfortunate qualities of Helsingin Uutiset is that it is known for its anti-immigration stand. The story below about the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) beginning to read the Koran on air has raised a lot of opposition, which Helsingin Uutiset writes a story about based on anonymous comments on its website, some of which are hostile and Islamophobic. One comment claims that the program “mixes young people’s head and ensures a hate brew to be concocted” while another one says it promotes terrorism. The paper asks its readers to vote if they think it is a good idea to read the Koran on radio. About 80% say it’s a bad idea. Since when were anonymous comments credible? Poor opinionated journalism at its worst.

UPDATE (Feb. 19): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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.

Feb. 19

Soini: Perussuomalaiset ei “flirttaile” rasismin kanssa (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s wrong with this news story? The Finnish media has asked over and over again Perussuomalaiset (PS)[1] chairman Timo Soini what he thinks about racism. The PS chairman always gives the same answer, claiming with a poker face that his party doesn’t even flirt with racism.[1] What’s wrong with this question and the story? Everyone in the story, the reporter and Soini, are white Finns asking about racism. Why doesn’t Helsingin Sanomat ask a minority living in Finland or a member of the Romany minority if they think the PS is a racist party? If they approached Migrant Tales with such a question our answer would be clear: The PS is a populist anti-immigration, homophobic and especially anti-Islam party that is against cultural diversity. Soini is the last person that will tell you that his party is racist. Therefore, the reporter should find more ingenious ways of showing how the PS has issues with racism.

[1] The English name of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) is officially the Finns Party. The names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

[2] Soini claimed in 2009 that he’d sack any PS member if they got sentenced for inciting ethnic hatred. PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho did but nothing happened to him. Soini defended his decision not to sack Halla-aho on BBC’s HARDTalk and on top of that gave him the job of drafting the PS’s party program on immigration.

UPDATE (Jan. 24): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Fame of poor journalism

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’2015 Hall of Fame of poor journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Jan. 24

Suomi ei vedä maahanmuuttajia (Helsingin Sanomat)

What was left out? Today’s editorial on Helsingin Sanomat headlined, “Finland doesn’t attract migrants,” defends the country’s tightening of family reunification laws but surprisingly agrees with the anti-immigration populists, the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* that Finland should invest more in integration and offer more Finnish-language courses to newcomers. Is this only mentioned by the PS? Why does Helsingin Sanomat single out the PS in this respect? Do they want to make up with the anti-immigration party? Even if learning the local language is important, it isn’t a passport to equal membership in society. In Spain, where there are many Latin Americans, racism and social exclusion are common despite the fact that such migrants speak Spanish as their native tongue. Integration is a two-way process (not mentioned in the editorial) and certainly one reason why so few skilled migrants come to Finland is due to a number of factors like how do Finns relate to cultural diversity and Otherness? The cartoon depicts the prevailing attitude in all political parties: See no migrant, hear no migrant, speak no migrant.