On 2 July 2023, ruling right-wing Finns Party (PS) members of the Finnish Parliament Wille Rydman, Sebastian Tynkkynen and Onni Rostila launched an online smear campaign on Twitter against Iltalehti journalist Ida Erämaa due to her recent critical reporting on the racist, far-right rhetoric and neo-Nazi affiliations of PS MPs and ministers. Also ruling National Coalition Party (KOK) MP Tere Sammallahti participated in the harassment campaign. Social media users targeted Erämaa with discrediting, insulting comments based on the journalist’s age, gender, appearance and alleged political leanings. The comments included sexual harassment, as well as threats of physical and sexual violence. The MPs targeted Erämaa due to her column published on 2 July, in which she, among other things, criticized PS for trying to prevent the media from bringing out the “extreme right-wing connections” of their MPs. Erämaa has also been discussing the recent neo-Nazi scandal of Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila, which lead to him resigning, on her personal TikTok profile. Tynkkynen published the following tweet on his Twitter account, which has over 40 thousand followers: “I was surprised when Iltalehti started to push out manic and completely biased stories about Finns Party and the right-wing government. Behind political journalism was the same new name: Ida Erämaa. I went through her TikTok and it turned out that it’s an intersectional green bastard of the worst kind, who is also a lifestyle makeup influencer. She is now writing Iltalehti’s political articles for the people to internalize. I won’t be giving interviews to that activist. Welcome to politics on the same line to try to get through the elections. Journalism, on the other hand, is transmission of information and it is believable as long as it is not used as a cover to advance one’s own agenda. Yes, and one more thing: the writing of the lady in question should not be criticized or journalism is threatened. Yeah, right.” After public backlash, Tynkkynen published the following tweet on 3 July: “We don’t want Kekkonen’s time, even though such a narrative is desperately trying to be built. None of the ministers have a Nazi background, even if they try to claim that. The journalist behind this is Ida Erämaa, and criticism of her bias has got the media on their toes. You in the media use the power of opinion and sometimes crucify people to the wall for no reason. Yes, we will continue to criticize the media if necessary, and we do not have any new gear on. Instead, the media seems to have a completely new gear on, even though the same worn-out faces committed to parliamentarism are now the subject of news from ministerial roles. Now we paint devils where they really don’t exist and Nazism and racism as concepts plunge into even stronger inflation. Just put on a good cry about media criticism, but it’s such a thing that when journalism is always right, it’s located in Russia. Long live free discussion and criticism – also towards the activities of the media.”
via mapmf: Right-wing MP’s launch online smear campaign against Iltalehti journalist Ida Erämaa