Unbiased news important for Russians in Finland
Finland’s state broadcaster YLE is additional to Barents Observer the only provider of Russian language news in the Nordic countries.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 12.8px Arial; color: #222222; -webkit-text-stroke: #222222; background-color: #ffffff}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 12.8px Arial; color: #222222; -webkit-text-stroke: #222222; background-color: #ffffff; min-height: 15.0px}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
«Our task is to tell about what happens in Finland. We try to give neutral news, and that is what makes us popular,» says Heli Jormanainen with YLE’s news-desk in Uutiskatu (News street) in Helsinki.
On Wednesday, Finland’s 100 years of independence from Russia will be celebrated, but relations with Russia is still an important part of Finnish society.
In the period from just before the breakup of the Soviet Union, thousands of people with Finnish roots, the Ingrians from the region around St. Petersburg, moved to Finland. Not all of them spoke Finnish. Today, there are more than 25,000 Russian Ingrians living in Finland.
Also, many other Russians have moved to Finland over the last two decades.
«There are about 70,000 Russians and Finnish-Russians living in Finland today. Many of then, especially the elderly people, never learned Finnish properly,» Jormanainen tells. «Our news service is needed.»
YLE started to air news in Russian language in 1990. Today, they no longer provide radio news, but YLE Novosti (News) publishes on internet and has news bulletins on TV. «Russians in Finland knows that YLE is quality and unbiased news,» explains Levan Tvaltvadze.
