Media | Can the media cover the candidate's homosexuality?

My phone kilahti on election night in ten countries. The guy was shocked by the turn the election broadcast took. I didn't immediately know why, because I was leaving Yle's Swedish-language election program and not glued to TV1 like half of Finland. Soon there were other glimpses. The reason was revealed: the host of the broadcast Matti Rönkä had brought up the homosexuality of another presidential candidate who had made it to the next round.

Social media flared up and newspaper stories followed. Ilta-Sanomat wrote on the subject with the title: “The gay debate on Yle's election night is stirring – Matti Rönkä responds to the harsh criticism”. In the story, social media chatters were quoted, according to whom bringing up the topic was “inappropriate”, “uncivilized” and “absurd”.

Kelasi brought up the passage from Yle Areena. This is how the presenter, Yle's newsreader Matti Rönkä asked verbatim: “To put it in Finnish, here you can come up with, for example, another candidate Pekka Haaviston sexual orientation. How can you campaign with it? If you can guess that there are people for whom it is a red garment, or a difficult thing to accept?”

In my own social bubble, the topic was discussed by the former editor of this magazine, my current colleague Ville Blåfield. He wrote that it is inappropriate to consider whether Haavisto's homosexuality is a red dress or a problem for someone else. Instead, we should consider how our values ​​and attitudes have changed as citizens or as a community, i.e. that it is not about Pekka Haavisto's characteristic but about our collective characteristic.

No it's only once or twice that I've heard it discussed whether two men can welcome guests at the Castle's celebrations on Independence Day. Prejudice against homosexuality – on top of all our other prejudices – is still a characteristic of many Finns.

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The hard core of television interviews is in the formulation of questions.

When there are only two candidates facing each other, the vote difference is small streams. That is why gayness in the 2024 presidential election is a topic that the media cannot completely ignore. The task of the media and journalists is to ask about everything that can influence people's voting decisions.

The discussion should not be about whether Yle was allowed to highlight the candidate's homosexuality, but about how the matter was presented. The hard core of television interviews is in the formulation of questions. You have to think carefully about how to ask in a way that doesn't stigmatize or mislead.

Matti Rönkää has been called the most reliable man in Finland in the media. It's a matter of opinion, but we know that Yle is the most trusted media in Finland. 1.4 million Finns watched the election night of the first round of the presidential elections. So it doesn't matter how a well-known news face presents things to the public on Yl
e's broadcast and how long the topic gets discussed.

The question sounded awkward, and it could have been asked with less effort: “When we think about voting in the second round, does it matter that Pekka Haavisto's spouse is a man?”

Language create reality. However, it is also a reality that live broadcasting is a merciless place even for an experienced journalist. Words can come out of the mouth that were not planned there, and the words can create images that the speaker did not anticipate.

That's why I asked Matti Rönga about the situation: “The topic had been thought about, but I would ask in a different way now. The thing is – it matters among older voters, believers and general conservatives, even strongly. And asking this has nothing to do with the questioner, for example my own values.”

There are still people living in Finland who think that being gay defines a person even more – to the extent that it prevents them from voting for president. It may shock someone in a bubble, but it's still true.

The importance of the issue should not be inflated in the media, but under no circumstances should it be kept quiet. Our imaginations of correctness, the reality of our hopes, or our ideas of civilization must never narrow journalism.

The author works as a leading advisor at the consulting house Miltton.