After being fined 45,000 euros Monday by a Finnish court for ethnic agitation by publishing the anti-Semitic writings of Ted Pike, David Duke and others on Magneettimedia, a publication that advertises J. Kärkkäinen’s department store products, a new story appeared in the latest issue criticizing Zionism and the court sentence as “juridical murder” and “liquidating freedom of speech.”
That’s not all in the bizarre Magnettimedia anti-Semitic crusade. Helsingin Sanomat, revealed Saturday the publication’s relationship with Arto Merisalo, the former Nova Group president sentenced in 2012 to prison for numerous bribery and financial graft charges. Both were planning to launch a free newspaper at the end of the year.
Read full story here.
According to Merisalo, the new newspaper has no relationship with Magneettimedia.
“It will be more in style of free city newspapers like Tamperelainen or Turkulainen,” he was quoted as saying on Helsingin Sanomat.
Even if Merisalo says that the new complimentary newspaper will be “clearly a business venture,” he didn’t reveal what kinds of stories it will publish.
Just because it will be a business venture is no assurance that it won’t publish anti-Semitic writings. Free newspapers like Helsingin Uutiset write anti-immigrant stories that normally wouldn’t get published in the national media.
Taking into account Magneettimedia’s recent article about Zionism, Kärkkäinen’s anger over the ethnic agitation sentence, and the department store owner’s business relationship with Merisalo, it’s clear that this won’t be the last we’ll read from them.
You link Arto Merisalo to the anti-semitic and (anti-?)zionist writings without any facts.
This is slandering, or at least very close to it.
In any case very BAD journalism, don’t you agree?
And I don’t really get your post. What is your point?
“Free newspapers like Helsingin Uutiset write anti-immigrant stories that normally wouldn’t get published in the national media.”
What are you criticising here? Are you criticising national media for one-sided journalism or do you think media really should censor opinions, that are critical to our current immigration politics? We should censor, because it increases racism? but is that so simple? And just forget free speech, right?
–And I don’t really get your post. What is your point?
The point of the post is simple: a publication that has published some of the worst anti-Semites in the US. If you look at Finland, the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment, it’s clear that this invites other forms of intolerance, like anti-Semitism.
You can’t play around with intolerance and think that it will be your master. It knows no master and can bite back hard as it did with Anders Breivik on July 22, 2011.
Ok, so why did you choose to focus on Arto Merisalo?
Let me guess. Only because he is sentenced to prison?
And you are taking advantage of this to cast a shadow on their newspaper-project, which you know nothing about?
That’s nasty. Maybe it’s different in US, but here this type of journalism isn’t much praised.
What is the ‘newspaper-project’, by the way, Vesa? I’d like to know more.
Vesajarv, don’t you think it is odd that Arto Merisalo of all people is teaming up with Juha Kärkäinen to launch a free newspaper?
Or what are we supposed to make out of this cooperation?
If neither Kärkkäinen nor Merisalo tell us anything concrete about their business cooperation and what type of stories its going to publish, that then leaves a lot of room for speculation. It’s not the journalist’s fault but the person giving the news.
I don’t know, but to hint, that their newspaper will contain anti-semitic or racist writings without any facts, is ridiculous. Your claim is based purely on prejudice.