The ethics of hospitality in changing journalism: A response to the rise of the anti-immigrant movement in Finnish media publicity

Abstract

This article examines the role of the media in the rise of nationalist populism in Finland. The interplay between social media and mainstream media has facilitated the emergence of anti-immigrant agendas into the public debate, which has strengthened nationalist populist politics, despite mainstream journalism following professional ethics of balanced reporting. The article concludes that the traditional journalistic framework of agenda setting is not morally adequate for the new fragmented media environment. It proposes the ethics of hospitality (Derrida, Silverstone) with an emphasis on transnationalism as a moral goal for a multi-ethnic public sphere where everyone has the right to voice concerns and to be heard. Therefore, journalism ethics should address how public debate can be organized in such a way that the principle of hospitality can be achieved. The framework of agenda setting can allow inhospitable discourses to flourish, as the Finnish example shows. Theorisation of hospitality is connected with the need for transnational and cosmopolitan agendas.