According to Halliki Harro-Loit, professor of journalism at the University of Tartu, Estonia belongs to the right group in comparison, but the mentality towards freedom of the press and freedom of expression has gradually changed in the country.
Estonia rose to fourth place in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom comparison. The increase from the previous year is 11 places. Finland is ranked fiveth behind Estonia, compared to two last year.
However, the comparison with the previous year is relatively pointless, as the RSF changed the criteria for its press freedom ranking for this year.
More importantly, both Estonia and Finland are in the best category, which is decreasing year by year in the RSF comparison. In the comparison of 2022, there are only eight countries in the best category. In these, freedom of the press is assessed as generally good.
Read more: Finland dropped several places fifth in the international comparison of press freedom
Finland points in the comparison were weakened by media economic and legislative indicators.
“Media ownership is very concentrated in Finland and the concentration has only strengthened. It appears on radio, television and in newspapers. Above all, the very strong role of Sanoma and Central Finland is a key factor in the press, ”says Professor of Communications at the University of Helsinki. Esa Väliverronen says.
On the legislative side, the points were certainly affected by the allegations made by three HS suppliers about the disclosure of a security secret and an attempt to disclose a security secret in the Viestikoekeskus case.
“Besides, Nya Åland’s long lawsuit, which was pretty weird, and Johanna Vehkoon the prosecution has not given a very good picture of the judiciary and its attitude towards the media. ”
This year, the Supreme Court dismissed the charges against both Vehko and Nya Åland’s editor-in-chief and journalist.
Read more: Nya Åland’s journalists were subjected to six years of legal proceedings in a case that was supposed to be a “basic case” – KKO now acquitted, expert finds the whole case very strange
According to Väliverrosen, Finland’s fall in the comparison is “a good reminder that freedom of speech is not a matter of course and a matter of speech” but something that must be constantly taken care of.
“It could be better,” says Väliverronen.
Tarton professor of university journalism Halliki Harro-Loitin According to him, Estonia belongs to the right group in comparison, but the mentality towards freedom of the press and freedom of expression has gradually changed in the country.
He gives an example: the Estonian Minister of Education Mailis Reps (Estonian Central Party) resigned from the end of 2020, when the newspaper Evening paper revealed that the minister’s official car had regularly taken Reps’ children to school and hobbies and that the Reps had used the ministry’s minivan on their holiday trip.
“When the story was published, ministers began blaming journalists. In their opinion, illegal and unethical means were used in the case, when children were photographed using a car, ”says Harro-Loit.
For example, the Minister of Justice Raivo Aeg (Patriotic Party) asked the prosecutor’s office to evaluate, whether Õhtulehti ‘s editor had violated the law by his means of obtaining information. Prime minister Jüri Ratas (Estonian Center Party) remained silent, says Harro-Loit.
It was worrying that the Estonian Broadcasting Ombudsman took the line of politicians and called for a broader debate on media ethics.
“While it was obvious to see that this was a case of corruption, people whose job it is to guard journalistic freedom also began to talk about the ethics of journalism.”
According to Harro-Loit, ethics can always be discussed, but the children of Reps, for example, had already appeared in public.
“For the first time, journalists were threatened and attacked in public.”
Ten years ago, a similar attack on journalists would not have taken place, Harro-Loit says, although the extremely conservative Ekre party has been barking at journalists for a long time.
“Step by step, the work of journalists is becoming more difficult. In the past, the owner of Postimees magazine tried to interfere in the magazine’s journalistic choices and undermine its independence. ”
According to Harro-Loit, the situation in Postimees has now improved.
Another recent case raised by Harro-Loit is the case of the Communications Manager of the Estonian Health Simmo Saarin dismissal after he anonymously criticized the country’s coronavirus vaccination program for lack of strategy.
PR has become more important than analytical information and reasoned criticism of one’s own organization. In a small country like Estonia, this is quickly a big problem, as freedom of expression weakens, so does freedom of the press, Harro-Loit says.
“We inherited a very strong freedom of the press from the 1990s, when the courts made important decisions on the matter. Both freedom of expression and freedom of the press were well protected. From the 2010s onwards, however, privacy issues have risen to prominence, and later the GDPR [EU:n yleinen tietosuoja-asetus] has been very influential in various organizations and influenced access to public documents. In general, the transparency of society is declining. ”
According to Harro-Loit, there has been little analysis in Estonia of what recent legislation has done for freedom of expression and the press. However, he and his Mediadelcom research team are in the process of completing a related project.
“Our problem is that we are used to thinking that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are guaranteed. We believe this is the case, but when freedoms are attacked, we don’t even realize it, ”says Harro-Loit.
In his opinion, the state of transparency in society in Estonia should be constantly monitored. It should be the number one priority for social scientists. However, there is no research.
“Freedom of the press is still well protected in Estonia, but it seems that there is no freedom of expression.”
Second a potential problem is the independence of journalists, or lack thereof. In this regard, Harro-Loit is about to begin research. What is the journalists ’own view of professional independence? What should I do as a journalist when the world is bursting with information over all the crabs? Do I focus on the click news required by superiors about Pärnu’s beach attire, or should this training do something more important?
“Self-reflection is becoming more and more important in the information age,” says Harro-Loit.
In his opinion, the journalist of the Finnish Association of Journalists is doing quite a good job in Finland.
“Internal disputes in the media are handled and it is transparent. In Estonia, the Association of Journalists is weak, and if anything is discussed, it is not public. Journalists themselves are rarely in the voice, media bosses dominate. I think Finland should further increase this debate when it already exists. ”
In Estonia, Harro-Loit praises the courts’ focus on media issues. The argument is strong, and issues of freedom of the press are taken seriously when balancing matters with privacy and publicity.
If In Estonia, it has been believed that freedom of the press is guaranteed, and attacks against it are not even understood as attacks; according to Esa Väliverronen, the situation is also somewhat similar in Finland.
“Freedom of speech and its good state have been taken for granted in Finland for even longer. On the other hand, while Finland’s position in this comparison has fluctuated in recent years, the reasons for it have often been presented. So maybe we can react if there are problems. ”
Yet the main message of the comparison is international: the situation is dire.
“Five-sixths of the world’s people live in countries where the situation of free speech has deteriorated recently. That is a very bad situation, ”says Väliverronen.
There is a rise or entrenchment of authoritarianism.
“And not only the traditional‘ Chinese ’model but also authoritarian populism, which has gained more and more foothold in many countries and is also influencing the polarization of the media, reinforces its development. Public confidence in the media is weakened in part by the fact that different political groups have their own media that they follow and trust. ”
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