Journalism|About five percent of the reviewed stories had journalistic ethical problems.
Supplier Matti Kuuselan forgery and various ethical problems have been identified in the cases, such as missing initialization, says Aamulehti.
Aamulehti commissioned a media researcher to report on the stories of its former editor Kuusela. Investigator Maria Lassila-Merisalo read a total of 607 magazine stories written by Kuusela and look for signs of fabrication in them.
Based on the results of the investigation, some of Kuusela’s stories contain other ethical problems, for example missing initialization. There were probably ethical problems in about five percent of the cases included in the investigation.
You can read the summary of the report On the pages of Aamulehti.
Aamulehti says that it will return all of Kuusela’s previously deleted stories to its website during Midsummer week with special markings. Earlier this year, Aamulehti removed 551 articles written by Kuusela from its website.
Kuusela said in his biography that appeared in March that he had at least invented a forgery to three articles he wrote.
Kuusela worked as a regular editor of Aamulehti from 1983 to 2020 and after that worked as an occasional assistant to the magazine. Aamulehti’s editor-in-chief Sanna Keskinen tells STT that the cooperation with Kuusela ended in March.
Keskinen says that in addition to Lassila-Merisalo’s report, Aamulehti has also done its own report on editorial culture, management and Kuusela’s special position within editorial.
According to Keskinen, Kuusela station has a long history as a “hero journalist” in the editorial department.
“Matti has been a really good writer. He has gained the public’s popularity quite quickly and with that has gradually grown into such a special role here in the editorial department.”
In practice, according to Keskinen, Kuusela’s work process has differed from the rest of the delivery. For example, he has been in direct contact with editorial management and chief editors more often than other journalists, which, according to Keskinen, has made it difficult to question the contents of his stories.
“Yes, there are things out there that, with hindsight, you can say that alarm bells should have rung, for example, in the case of these incomplete source references, but for one reason or another, this has not happened.”
Central according to the editorial, the management at the time was not aware of the ambiguities in Kuusela’s stories.
In Keskinen’s words, the responsibility for Kuusela’s content has ultimately rested with the respective editors-in-chief who have been in the editorial department at any given time.
“It must be stated that Matti Kuusela has acted as a journalist incorrectly and against the rules. But I see that the biggest responsibility lies with the editorial staff of Aamulehti and certainly in the editorial processes, partly in the management and precisely in this special position of Kuusela.”
Maria Lassila-Merisalo, the researcher who conducted the investigation, states that she found no signs that Kuusela had intentionally lied in her stories. Instead, Kuusela has experienced the fictional contents of the stories as a game with the reader.
Helsingin Sanomat and Aamulehti belong to the Sanoma Group, which is STT’s largest owner.