Howl - 1969 Broadcast Controversy in Finland

1969 Broadcast Controversy in Finland

Part one of Howl was broadcast in Finland on September 30, 1969, on Yleisradio's (Finland's national public-broadcasting company) "parallel programme" at 10:30 p.m. The poem was read by three actors with jazz music specially composed for this radio broadcast by Henrik Otto Donner. The poem was preceded by an eight-minute introduction. The Finnish translation was made by Anselm Hollo. The translation was published already in 1961 in Parnasso literary magazine, and caused no turmoil then.

A Liberal-Party member of the Finnish Parliament, Arne Berner, happened to hear the broadcast, and started an interpellation, addressed to the Minister of Transport and Public Works. It was signed by him and 82 other members of the 200 members of parliament. It is unclear how many of the other signatories actually had heard the broadcast. The interpellation text only contained a short extract of six lines (considered to be offensive, and representative of the poem) of over seventy from the poem, and the debate was mainly based upon them.

Also, a report of an offence was filed to the criminal investigation department of Helsinki police district because the obscenity of the poem allegedly offended modesty and delicacy. The report was filed by Suomen kotien radio- ja televisioliitto (The radio and television association of Finnish homes), a Christian and patriotic organization, and it was only based on the six-line fragment. In connection with that, Yleisradio was — without grounds — accused of copyright violation as well. No charges ever followed.

At that time, homosexual acts were still illegal in Finland, as was the encouragement of homosexual practices.

Yleisradio is formally the parliament's radio station, and at that time, it was considered a bastion of left-minded editors and "radicalists", especially because of Eino S. Repo, the president of Yleisradio. So the Howl broadcast provided the right-wing politicians a good reason to question the operations of Yleisradio in general, especially in the light of the parliamentary election next year. There was a heated debate in the parliament and in the press in late 1969 concerning the educational role of the public service radio station that Yleisradio is, and the artistic value of Ginsberg's poem, whether it is art or mere pornography. The debate seemed to boil down to the question of which words could be allowed in public-service radio.

Finally, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works considered in December 1969 that the broadcast of Howl contravened the licence of operation of Yleisradio: it was neither educational nor useful. Yleisradio received a reprimand, and was instructed to be more careful when monitoring that no more such programs should be broadcast.