A drama from Finland explores being a journalist in a post-truth world

Reporter Katja Salonen (Kreeta Salminen) at work in the Finnish newspaper drama “Enemy of the People”

When police raided the newspaper in the small town of Marion, Kansas this month, a myth quickly took hold among some journalists. It was about how, faced with a blatant violation of the First Amendment, everyone rallied ‘round the courageous small-town editor fighting the good fight against entrenched power.

Part of that was true. But as a superb journalist I know was among the first to point out, the rallying ‘round mostly involved people who don’t live in Marion, Kansas. On the contrary. The New York Times found a lot of residents who agreed with the co-owner of the local grocery store who offered this assessment of what a newspaper should do:

“The role should of course be positive about everything that is going on in Marion, and not stir things up and look at the negative side of things.”

You can hear that same sentiment, almost word for word, from the fictional mayor of the real town of Tampere in the most realistic drama about journalism I’ve ever seen. If you’re in the United States and the name Tampere doesn’t ring a bell, that’s probably because Tampere is the second largest urban area in Finland. The drama in question is the Finnish television production Enemy of the People. (Kansan Vihollinen).

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The eight-part series, streaming in the United States and Canada on MHz Choice, follows the investigation of reporter Katja Salonen (Kreeta Salminen). Having lost a job in Helsinki, possibly due to her abrasive personality, she gets a second chance at a smaller newspaper. It’s the same premise as the U.S. newspaper series *Alaska Daily* — but the similarities end there.

Having barely started on the job, Salonen gets wind of a possible scandal involving the town’s soccer star — and biggest celebrity — Samuli Tolonen (Jussi Partanen). Then, just as he is about to tell his side of the story, Tolonen is killed. It all leads to a scandal involving political corruption and financial fraud. To say more would require spoilers — and in any event, some of the plot twists get pretty implausible.

Another good series streaming on MHz Choice, the Portuguese drama *Hidden Theories (Teorias da Conspiração — which is actually “Conspiracy Theories”) *has a similar plot, but isn’t nearly as good at getting the journalism right.

What is wonderfully real about Enemy of the People is its depiction of newsroom culture — and what communities really think of investigative journalism.

In Alaska Daily, producing investigative stories was the easiest job in the world. Almost every episode seemed to include a scene like this:

Reporter at a source’s doorstep: “Can you tell me everything you know about this scandal?”

Source: (looking angry and/or scared) “I can’t say anything about that,” as s/he tries to push door closed.

Reporter (pushing on door): “Please. You would be doing an enormous public service.”

Source: “I’ll get in too much trouble, I’m sorry.” Source then closes door firmly.

Reporter starts to walk away. Then the reporter hears the door open again.

Source: “Did you say ‘enormous public service’”?

Reporter: Yes.

Source promptly spills guts.

Enemy of the People makes clear it’s not that easy.

But that’s not the most important thing that sets the Finnish drama apart.

In dramas like Alaska Daily and the much better *Lou Grant (still beloved by current and former journalists, including myself) the top editors and publishers may be reluctant, but they always end up doing the right thing after the journalists make a passionate appeal to principle or conscience. In Enemy of the People* top editor Juha Leinonen (Mikko Nousiainen) ultimately does the right thing — but for a more realistic reason. In fact, right through his final scene, he may be the most “real” character in the series.

Newsroom dynamics and rivalries are the series’ strong point. With one exception, necessary to advance the plot, they are true to life. The reporters do not always all pull together — sometimes they gloat at each other’s failures. And most interesting, the reporters are not community heroes when they break stories that expose wrongdoing. On the contrary — it’s all remarkably like Marion, Kansas. That was intentional.

Executive Producer Roope Lehtinen, a former journalist, said:

“During the Trump madness, Brexit and with fake news making headlines, we felt it would be great to deal with such issues in a post-truth world, where people don’t want to understand or hear the truth.”

They do it remarkably well.

POSTSCRIPT: I sent a link to this column to Jon Allsop, one of the authors of the excellent Media Today newsletter from Columbia Journalism Review. He pointed me to a column he’d written in February about a real case from Finland that is, in some ways, scarier than anything in Enemy of the People. It would make a good story for a second season.