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Eino Repo

Eino Sakari Repo
Born September 6, 1919, Isokyrö. Died December 16, 2002, Helsinki.

Master of Arts (Literature), 1948, University of Helsinki

Head of Radio, 1970-74, Finnish Broadcasting Company
Director General, 1965-69, Finnish Broadcasting Company
Head of Production, 1964-65, Commercial Television
Literary journalist, 1958-64, Apu magazine
Freelance journalist 1948-56, Parnasso journal, Suomalainen Suomi, Finnish Broadcasting Company

Chairman, Eino Leino Society, 1957-64

Photo: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura
Written by Tomas Sjöblom
Translated by John Calton

“It is not the job of public broadcasters to dictate beliefs”

 

 

At the Board of Directors' meeting in 1966, Eino S. Repo gave a speech about his plans to reform Yleisradio, the Finnish Broadcasting Company. The overall theme was ‘informative programme policy’. In Repo's opinion, Yleisradio was supposed to both provide multifaceted information about society from different viewpoints, and act as an active social influence. A recording of the speech is available on Yle's Elävä arkisto ('Living Archive') website.

Repo presented his beliefs, which aroused opposition to his ideas of what public broadcasting should be. He declared that:

“[r]adio and television should not strive to persuade their audience to adapt a certain world view, but to provide the building blocks needed for creating personal stories. Different and opposing world views can, and should, be presented in the programming, but the process of forming such beliefs is not the job of public broadcasters.”

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