Controversies
In radio, Yle was a legal monopoly until 1985, when local radio stations were permitted, and maintained a national monopoly until 1995, when national radio networks were allowed.
In the past, Yle has been seen in Finland as a "red" or leftist medium. This was true especially in 1965–1969, during the term of Director-General Eino S. Repo, who got the position with the backing of the Agrarian League and President Kekkonen (who was a member of the Agrarian Party), as he was Kekkonen's personal friend. He was accused of favouring student radicalism and young reporters with socially critical programs that demanded reforms, and Yle was given the nickname "Reporadio". After his resigning, he was demoted to the position of director of radio broadcasting, on the communist-leading People's Democratic League mandate.
Repo resigned in 1969, but according to Yle, the "political mandate" remained, as Erkki Raatikainen was named director directly from the Social Democratic Party office. Subsequently, all directors after him until 2010 were Social Democrats.
The appointment of Lauri Kivinen in February 2010 excited much adverse comment as he was previously head of the Nokia Siemens group which had sold monitoring equipment to the Iranian Secret Service, allowing them to arrest political dissidents throughout the unrest in the fall of 2009.
English-language newscaster Kimmo Wilska was fired on August 13, 2010 - after pretending to be caught drinking on-camera following an alcohol related news story on Yle News. Wilska's stunt was not well received by Yle management who fired him that same day. Wilska received a lot of support after his termination.
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