The week in print media begins with coverage of the unfortunate effects of last week's racist demonstrations against asylum-seekers in Lahti. Tabloid Iltalehti runs a headline saying that Finland's reputation has been "smeared" in the eyes of the world by the actions of a few.
Dozens of international news outlets have covered the violent agitation, the paper says, and the photograph of a demonstrator wearing Ku Klux Klan attire while sporting a Finnish flag has gone viral globally. Iltalehti notes that it isn't just western countries that are voicing concerns over Finland's political atmosphere, and that Asian and African medias are also worried about phenomena such as racist strikes and cutting development aid.
In reporting on the sorry state of Finland's international PR Iltalehti mentions that the last time a similar smudge appeared was in the 1950s when satirist Kari Suomalainen drew a comic caricature depicting Nikita Khrushchev as being towed in a boat by eleven men representing USSR satellite nations.
UN questions atmosphere, veterans urge peace
Top daily Helsingin Sanomat's look at the international repercussions of the Lahti debacle focus on a UN summit where world leaders took a worried stance towards Finland's psychological atmosphere. HS also headlines its report with Finland "taking a hit" and features a photo of president Sauli Niinistö explaining to German chancellor Angela Merkel that the individual who donned the KKK robes is on "a strange path". Finnish diplomats are incensed over the negative image surrounding the country at present.
"When I googled Finland the first result was the Ku Klux Klan," Sámi politician and Social Democrat Youth League vice president Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi says in the HS piece.
The paper does mention, though, that Finland is gearing up to officially announce that it considers migrants an asset to the country's economic development.
In more positive news Finnish war veterans are up in arms urging Finns to keep the peace and act peacefully and respectfully, with Ilta-Sanomat printing a spread featuring some twenty veterans, male and female, holding signs saying "NO TO VIOLENCE". The campaign comes partly in response to slogans used by anti-immigration protesters claiming that veterans "worked for nothing". Vets such as Olavi Wall, a corporal aged 91, are saying that people who demonstrate against asylum-seekers "don't do much thinking" and that peace "is the only option".
Critical play favourably reviewed
Meanwhile Tampere-based paper Aamulehti in its culture section praises a new play, Eduskunta III (Parliament III). The satirical play riffs on the current coalition government and PM Juha Sipilä in particular, creating caricatures of their failures and personas.
Aamulehti says that the play also introduces actual fact into its humorous spin, disproving many claims by politicians; Sipilä's assertation that Finland is the most indebted country in Europe, for instance, is shown to be false on stage.
The paper ends its four-star review by saying that ministers themselves would do well to sit in the audience and learn a thing or two from Eduskunta III.