On Tuesday, Parliament passed Yle’s new law, which imposes new restrictions on the production of a public service media company.
In the future, Yle’s textual content should be attached to a video or audio recording. The rule does not apply to minority language content or the development of live news situations.
Texts related to culture and education are also exempt.
The law is due to enter into force as soon as possible, and a four-month transition period was previously proposed by the Ministry of Communications.
The change in the law originated from a complaint from commercial media lobbyists to the European Union in 2017. They argued that Yle’s textual content takes part of the audience from their own digital services.
Last spring, one of Finland’s largest media companies, Sanoma, lodged a second complaint with the EU Commission, this time about Yle Arena’s streaming service.
A civic initiative was also launched to oppose changes to the law, with the authors claiming that they wanted Yle to be able to publish stories without a link to the audiovisual element.
MPs rejected the initiative on Tuesday.
Source: The Nordic Page