Finland's Press Council reprimands STT for inadequate verification of allegations against Tytti Tuppurainen

At its September session, Finland’s Public Speech Council (JSN) reached a unanimous decision to reprimand news agency STT for insufficient verification of a January report concerning Tytti Tuppurainen, chair of the Social Democratic Party’s parliamentary group. The original story alleged that Tuppurainen had demeaned MPs and assistants, embarrassed individuals publicly, and shouted at subordinates, citing an unnamed source who claimed the leader’s staff were constantly on sick leave.

Both Tuppurainen and the SDP group rejected the statements. STT amended the article ten days after it first appeared, after Tuppurainen filed a correction request, but the council argued that the later amendment could not compensate for the lack of pre-publication fact-checking. JSN cited a breach of journalist guidelines requiring the highest possible verification, even for previously published material, and issued a notice to the agency. While acknowledging the story’s public relevance, the council noted that source protection was appropriately handled, but the agency should have better substantiated the claims.