Finland’s rank on press freedom index slides

Finland lost its position in the press freedom index this year after holding the top rank for five consecutive years till 2016.

The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), which publishes the index every year, cited Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s reported attempts to influence news coverage of the national broadcaster Yle as one reason for the fall of Finland, reported Yle.

RSF will launch the 2017 World Press Freedom Index on 26 April 2017 Wednesday in partnership with the Washington Post.

Norway has ousted Finland from the pinnacle of the annual World Press Freedom Index and RSF attributed Finland’s loss of status in the 2017 report to Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s reported attempts to influence coverage of potential conflicts of interest involving the taxpayer-funded Terrafame nickel mine, said the Yle report.

The incident was dubbed “Sipilägate” by the Finnish media, said the report, adding that the PM admitted to sending around 20 emails to an Yle journalist reporting on a government decision to award 200 million euros in additional funding to the cash-strapped mine. Just two weeks later, the stricken mine awarded a half-million-euro contract to a company owned by Sipilä’s relatives.

Click YLE to read the original report