Racial hypersensitivity or an act of common sense - you decide. On January 11th, during a live broadcast talkshow Aamu-tv - Jälkiviisaat, a retired prosecutor Ritva Santavuori commented on press photos of Barack Obama’s step-grandmother Sarah Obama that had been circulated around the world, saying that the elderly Kenyan woman was ugly, referring to her "residual Negroid features". In the programme, Santavuori pressed her own nose down with her finger to illustrate what she saw as Sarah Obama's resemblance to a gorilla. [HS]
Talkshow Jälkiviisaat runs from monday to friday at nine o'clock, it typically has 350 000 viewers. In Finland, with just 5 million residents, this is a large number. Santavuori made her first appearance to the show on 1999 and has been a regular guest ever since.
Until now.
Council for Mass Media in Finland passed their verdict on February 2nd, displaying exceptional haste. the verdict was unfavourable for Santavuori. It states: "..Aamu-tv has violated against established journalistic traditions. Council has filed a complaint .."
Executioner may enter.
Santavuori - a public figure known by virtually everyone in Finland - is bluntly kicked out of the tv-show. Aamu-tv's editor in chief Leena Pakkanen doesn't admit firing her. Instead, she refers to their discussions where they "mutually agreed that after so many years, perhaps it was time to let go".
Sure it was. Perhaps it really high time we let go of the all the elders who speak of what they see.
4 kommenttia:
Amazing. Really! People who actually believe that Ritva Santavuori was justified in saying and doing what she did. An 'elder', no less. Respected, even venerated. Just like her friend, Hitler. Another elder, perhaps? I guess, you beat up the dog on Saturday nights, eh, mate?
I am always delighted to receive constructive criticism. For giving me such, I must thank you. However, my dog beating activities must have stupidified me, because I fail to understand how Santavuori compares to Hitler. Perhaps you would like to enlighten me about this issue?
I think it´s good that Ritva leaves the program. She has been constantly on the edge of what you can say on TV. In a way it´s been quite enertaining but then again her views are often almost facistic, and it has been hard to understand that she has been alowed to be on tv. She is maybe not Hitler but definetly a closet facist who tries to tidy up her speech on tv, but does not allways manage. I think you could hear quite scary opinions from her mouth if you sat down with her and a bottle of wine, out of reach from the cameras.
I think you could hear quite scary opinions from her mouth if you sat down with her and a bottle of wine, out of reach from the cameras.
I, for myself, would probably enjoy it quite a bit. Ritva seems to have real opinions, which she isn't afraid of saying out aloud, even though it wasn't too politically correct. I'm not saying I always agree with her, I just like people with some guts.
A concept of what one can and cannot say in tv frightens me a lot more than the thoughts of a silly outspoken old conservative. One might even think, that the said concept resembles political censorship, which in turn resembles fascism (a word you seem to grown some kind of liking) quite a bit more than the opinions of the aforementioned silly old conservative.
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