Finland Government and Media
Government
Government Type: Parliamentary System
Leader: Prime Minister Sanna Marin
Political Party: The 5 party coalition government consists of Sanna Marin’s party The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), the Centre Party (liberal-conservative centre party), the Green League (environmentalist liberal party), the Left Alliance (Democratic socialism, Eco-socialism), and the Swedish People’s Party (social liberalism). For more on the political parties of Finland see here.
Political Position: Center-Left
Media
World Press Freedom Rank: Finland 2/180 (2019)
According to Reporters Without Borders Finland is “The Land of The Free Press.”
Government Influence on Media: The Government influences media through providing direct subsidies such as in 2018 when the government provided a 1.5-million-euro subsidy to struggling domestic news agency STT. The Finnish Government also provides indirect subsidies in the form of a reduced value-added tax (VAT) and tax breaks. Further, the state also provides aid to political parties for their publications. This aid is distributed based on the number of seats each party has in the parliament. Further, Yle (Public Broadcaster) is owned by the Finnish state, and is the most trusted national institution and dominates the mass media in Finland.
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources