OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media concludes visit to Finland

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, visited Finland on 15 and 16 March 2022. She met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Mr. Pekka Haavisto, as well as with the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Matti Vanhanen together with the Secretary General and a member of the Finish Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Ribeiro also met the State Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Johanna Sumuvuori and the Ambassador for Human Rights and Democracy, Mr. Rauno Merisaari. 

In addition, Teresa Ribeiro had meetings with the Chair of the Council for Mass Media, with representatives from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Transport and Communications. She also met with the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) and the Finnish National Agency for Education. The Representative also had an exchange with media representatives, as well as with Sitra and FaktaBaari, two civil society led organizations active in the fields of media literacy and fact checking.

On top of the agenda were Finland’s longstanding practices in media literacy and media education, as well as developments and challenges related to digitalization, topics that the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media has increasingly focussed upon in the past years. Having actively worked on the issues of media literacy and digitalization in the recent past, Finland’s experiences can serve as good practice examples to share among the participating States. Next, the general situation of media freedom and questions of media sustainability as well as the safety of journalists and online harassment were also discussed in-depth, including in the context of the current security crisis in Europe.