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.
July 22
Miksi mamulla on varaa merkkivaatteisiin? (Suomen Kuvalehti)
What’s wrong with this opinion piece? While the intentions of the journalist, Sami Kuusela, are noble he falls into a trap: he agrees 50/50 with what the racist claims.
We’ve written about Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jari Ronkainen in February, whose only merit to get elected was publishing a racist video about two migrants. In an interview on Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Ronkainen admits that his claim that migrants get more social welfare than “ethnic” Finns is not based on hard fact but what he read on the Internet. National Coalition Party MP Pia Kauma pulled the same stunt last year. Kuusela claims in the opinion piece that one reason why migrants have more money to buy better clothes than so-called ethnic Finns is because many don’t drink. While this may be the case, is there any study that shows that migrants dress better or drink less than Finns? Why does Kuusela believe that migrants dress better than white Finns? Isn’t that reinforcing 50/50 an urban tale that Ronkainen is trying to capitalize on?
Another matter that raises some questions in Kuusela’s opinion piece is using the term mamu when he refers to migrants.
* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English-language 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.
This is actually a valid point. He is making claims he have no prove what so ever. I can agree with this.