Finn journalist Salla Nazarenko wrote for the 5th issue of JournalistPost Magazine;
At the time of writing this, I got more bad news. A colleague in Belarus had been arrested. He is a courageous guy and knew this could happen any day: still hearing the news of his detention made me very sad. And he is not the only one: during my career, I have seen colleagues fleeing their home countries, even shot dead. These were people I shared many things with the profession, values, sense of humor, curiosity for life, and a yearning for social justice. The only difference between me and them was the fact that for them, this job is very dangerous. For me, it is not.
Let me get this straight. Finland is known as an open democracy that ranks very high in the statistics for freedom of speech. And this is true for most parts: most of my colleagues are not threatened or sued by the authorities. Some of them are, though. At the very moment three Helsingin Sanomat journalists are prosecuted for disclosure of a state secret. The process is under way and is likely to take years. The end result is yet to be seen.
Despite occasional setbacks, press freedom is a core value in our society. When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisted that the “state televisions need to be controlled” in Finland and Sweden, because they show the interviews of “terrorist leaders”, the editor-in-in-chief of Finnish public broadcaster Yle Jouko Jokinen answered quite bluntly, calling Erdoğan´s statements “typical delusion of an autocrat that he thinks that the world gets better better by trying to control media and freedom of speech,” and continued by saying that “the fact that dictators get mad at us tells us that we are doing a good job. “
It’s not that there are no tensions between politicians and media in Finland. Many of our politicians do not like the media. Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s partying hit the headlines all over the world, and many journalists felt the attention was exaggerated. Cannot a young woman party? Yes she can, but at the same time: if the woman is Prime Minister, her partying will be covered by the press. The importance of the issue for us all is something we can debate, but the fact that her partying will be covered cannot be undermined. That is how a democracy works: heads of state are kept accountable – even for things that can seem irritating or mundane. The Council for Mass Media in Finland is dealing with several complaints concerning the leaked partying videos. The decision on whether there were breaches of good professional practice is about to arrive in a few weeks.
In many countries of the world, presidents and state leaders have no understanding of a free press. Despite the fact that many, if not most constitutions guarantee free speech and few state leaders have publicly declared being against it, in practice press freedom requires a lot of work – also from our leaders. Press freedom means making decisions that promote it. Press freedom means access to public documents and well grounded reasons for any limitations to it. Press freedom means proactivity: answering the questions and enquiries of journalists. It also requires media policy: infrastructure that give people access to different media outlets. It means a functioning mail service, internet connections and more.
Also it is a two-way street. Professional journalists are self-regulated and take the ethical considerations very seriously. For instance, in many Finnish media outlets journalists cannot take any gifts from interviewees – even well-meaning hospitability gifts can be considered a risk to integrity. Journalists need to fact-check, use multiple sources, give their interviewees a fair account on where and when their interview shall be published.
Trust in media is declining in many societies. This is not untrue for Finland despite the fact that according to the latest Digital Media report by the Reuters institute for the study of journalism Finnish news remains the most highly trusted among the countries surveyed.
This trust is only earned by hard work every day. For journalists it means being open about journalistic processes, sources and angles. For authorities it means readiness for public scrutiny.
Who is Salla Nazarenko?
Salla Nazarenko works as an international relations specialist at the Finnish Journalists’ Union. She worked as a foreign correspondent for the Finnish media and took part in international organizations fighting for freedom of expression in Central Asia and the Caucasus. She completed her Ph.D. on patriotism on Russian and Georgian television in August 2021 at the University of Tampere in Finland and she is a Rotary Peace Fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.