Dhe last few days it dominated reporting on Finland: Unknown people published a video showing Prime Minister Sanna Marin dancing with friends. Some critics of Marin linked the footage to drug use – but mumbling from the video was apparently misunderstood. Marin felt compelled to take a drug test, which was negative.
Almost all media distributed the video: partly by embedding excerpts as tweets in online reports, as did the FAZ – partly they were included in their own articles. For example, by Deutsche Welle (DW), whose video was often shared – there were more than a million views on Twitter alone. Marin spoke for herself: she distanced herself from drug use and emphasized that she was upset that the video recorded in a private room was made public. But not only critics, but also supported Marins shared the video – apparently to show how cool the 36-year-old Prime Minister is.
She is a person of public interest, and the social discussion “that was triggered worldwide by the video – also with positive connotations for Ms. Marin,” explains a DW spokesman. The broadcaster wanted to show this, “and for a better understanding of the users, in our opinion it was necessary to show an excerpt from the video distributed on social media”. In addition to the material, which is of unknown origin but was not filmed covertly, Marin also had his say. “DW reported factually and balanced and not in a sensationalist manner about the public discussion that the recordings triggered.” To show recordings and not just to describe them, also because Marin regularly gives an insight into her private life on social media and her leisure time has also been discussed before.
No public interest
The MDR also defended its contribution in the ARD magazine “Brisant”: It took up and classified the global debate about the party. The editors wanted to give the audience the opportunity “to form their own independent picture”.
Journalism professor Tanjev Schultz from the University of Mainz is critical of the use of the video. “Even a prime minister has the right to celebrate privately without pictures being published if she doesn’t want to,” he says. “I don’t see any public interest that would prevail here.” Curiosity could not be decisive, the video did not reveal any scandal. Even the fact that it was already circulating on platforms is not a sufficient argument. Such a video naturally provokes reactions and forces Marin to take a stand, which in turn makes it more interesting in the media. But Schultz sees no sufficient reason to spread it. “I don’t think this behavior and this type of argument is ethically clean,” he says.
For Marin, the discussion about her private life is not over yet. On Tuesday, she apologized for a photo taken at her Helsinki office of two half-naked women kissing, holding a sign that read “Finland” over their breasts. Marin explained that she had invited friends and was not present herself – the photo that was first distributed via Tiktok was inappropriate.
It is still unclear how the release came about. “Of course it’s no coincidence,” said Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) on Twitter on Monday about the party video – he is vice-chairman of the parliamentary control committee that controls the secret services and chairman of the Union faction in the Foreign Affairs Committee. “After leading Finland into NATO and pursuing a clearly pro-Western course, it has become a victim of Russian (hybrid) warfare,” he said – but he did not provide any evidence. In any case, Moscow should have been happy about the excitement: The fact that, according to the Finnish Ministry of Defense, Russian fighter jets apparently violated Finnish airspace last week was largely lost compared to the party video.
