Abstract
This chapter examines the role of experts and expertise in the news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi disaster by the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio (YLE) between March 2011 and December 2016. The chapter analyses both YLE’s news coverage and online comments about the news of Fukushima Daiichi. Reflecting findings from previous studies on perceptions on nuclear energy, expertise and affect, this chapter argues that experts often become nodal points of discussion that become sticky with affect. Moreover, the presence of sticky figures such as the experts appears to influence affective dynamics of online comments by often dividing the commenters into opposing positions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Commenting feature on YLE’s online news was not automatically available to all stories published on the site, but it was switched on only in selected stories, between 7.30 AM and 10 PM on weekdays and 12 PM to 10 PM on weekends (YLE 2010).
- 2.
Fukushiman säteilystä ei suoraa haittaa terveydelle [No direct harm for health from Fukushima radiation] https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5325035 and STUK: Japanin tilanteella ei terveysvaikutuksia Suomeen [STUK: No health effects in Finland from situation in Japan] https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5325745 (Accessed October 24, 2018).
- 3.
STUK: No health effects… https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5325745. (Accessed October 24, 2018).
- 4.
Säteilyturvakeskus: Reaktorin sydämen sulaminen mahdollista, mutta epätodennäköistä [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority: Melting of the reactor core possible but unlikely], https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5323973. (Accessed September 25, 2018); STUK: Suuri päästöriski japanilaisvoimalasta [STUK: High risk of emission from Japanese power plant], https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5324075. (Accessed September 25, 2018); Sähkön puute perussyy ydinvoimalaongelmiin [Lack of electricity main reason behind nuclear power plant trouble], https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5324717. (Accessed September 25, 2018); STUKin pääjohtaja arvostelee kovin sanoin Japanin pelastustoimia. [STUK Director General harshly criticizes Japan’s rescue operations] https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5326479. (Accessed May 17, 2018, comments harvested in September 2014); STUKin Laaksonen: Meillä on ehkä paras kuva Japanin tilanteesta [STUK’s Laaksonen: We probably have the best insight on Japan’s situation], https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5332677. (Accessed September 25, 2018).
- 5.
STUKin pääjohtaja arvostelee kovin sanoin Japanin pelastustoimia. [STUK Director General harshly criticizes Japan’s rescue operations] https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5326479. (Accessed May 17, 2018, comments harvested in September 2014).
References
Abe, Y. (2013). Risk assessment of nuclear power by Japanese newspapers following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. International Journal of Communication, 7, 1968–1989.
Ahmed, S. (2004). The cultural politics of emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Ahmed, S. (2010a). Creating disturbance. Feminism, happiness and affective differences. In M. Liljeström & S. Paasonen (Eds.), Working with affect in feminist readings. Disturbing differences (pp. 31–44). London: Routledge.
Ahmed, S. (2010b). Happy objects. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader (pp. 29–51). Durham: Duke University Press.
Alexander, J. C. (2012). Trauma. A social theory. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Binns, A. (2012). Don’t feed the trolls! Journalism Practice, 6(4), 547–562. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2011.648988.
Energiateollisuus. (2016). Ydinvoiman kannatuksen kehitys 1983–2015. Development of the acceptance of nuclear power 1983–2015. Energiateollisuus ry. https://energia.fi/ajankohtaista_ja_materiaalipankki/materiaalipankki/ydinvoiman_kannatuksen_kehitys_1983_2016.html. Accessed 9 Sept 2018.
Every, D. (2013). ‘Shame on you’: The language, practice and consequences of shame and shaming in asylum seeker advocacy. Discourse & Society, 24(6), 667–686. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486223.
Fennovoima. (2018). The story of Fennovoima. https://fennovoima.fi/en/fennovoima/story-of-fennovoima. Accessed 28 Aug 2018.
Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). The structure of foreign news. The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64–90.
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213.
International Atomic Energy Agency. (2018). Country nuclear power profiles: Finland. https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/Finland/Finland.htm. Accessed 18 Mar 2019.
Jane, E. A. (2014). ‘Back to the kitchen, cunt’: Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny. Continuum, 28(4), 558–570. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2014.924479.
Jasanoff, S., & Kim, S.-H. (2009). Containing the atom: Sociotechnical imaginaries and nuclear power in the United States and South Korea. Minerva, 47, 119–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-009-9124-4.
Jasanoff, S., & Kim, S.-H. (2013). Sociotechnical imaginaries and national energy policies. Science as Culture, 22(2), 189–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2013.786990.
Laihonen, M. (2016). Political foreplay for nuclear new build. Defining good at the intersection of politics, economy and technology. Doctoral dissertation at Aalto University, Helsinki.
Matamoros-Fernández, A. (2017). Platformed racism: The mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Information, Communication & Society, 20(6), 930–946. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1293130.
Mazzarella, W. (2009). Affect: What is it good for? In S. Dube (Ed.), Enchantments of modernity. Empire, nation, globalization (pp. 29–309). London: Routledge.
Oikkonen, V. (2017). Affect, technoscience and textual analysis: Interrogating the affective dynamics of the Zika epidemic through media texts. Social Studies of Science, 47(5), 681–702. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631271772376.
Paasonen, S. (2015). A midsummer’s bonfire: Affective intensities of online debate. In K. Hillis, S. Paasonen, & M. Petit (Eds.), Networked affect (pp. 27–42). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pantti, M. (2016). “Despicable, disgusting, repulsive!!!” Public emotions and moralities in online discussions about violence towards refugees. Javnost – The Public, 23(4), 363–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2016.1248099.
Pantti, M., Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Cottle, S. (2012). Disasters and the media. New York: Peter Lang.
Papacharissi, Z. (2014). Affective publics. Sentiment, technology, and politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Penney, M. (2012). Nuclear nationalism and Fukushima. The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus, 10(11): 2, 1–21.
Probyn, E. (2005). Blush: Faces of shame. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Ruostetsaari, I. (2017). Stealth democracy, elitism, and citizenship in Finnish energy policy. Energy Research & Social Science, 37, 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.022.
Ruostetsaari, I. (2018). Citizens’ support for rival modes of political involvement in energy policy-making. The case of Finland in 2007–2016. International Journal of Energy Sector Management, 12(3), 323–340. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-12-2017-0005.
Sonnevend, J. (2016). Stories without borders. The Berlin Wall and the making of a global iconic event. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Teollisuuden voima. (2018). Olkiluoto 3. https://www.tvo.fi/OL3. Accessed 20 Dec 2018.
Timonen, I., Kallio, R., & Mörä, T. (1987). Tshernobylin voimalaonnettomuus lehdistössä [Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the press]. Tampere: Tampere University Press.
Vehkalahti, P. (2017). Pohjoisen ydinmylly. Julkinen keskustelu Fennovoiman ydinvoimalasta 2007–2013 [Nuclear mill of the north: Public discussion about Fennovoima’s nuclear power plant from 2007 to 2013]. Doctoral dissertation at University of Tampere, Tampere, Tampere University Press. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-0541-3
Weart, S. R. (2012). The rise of nuclear fear. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
White, M. H., II, & Crandall, C. S. (2017). Freedom of racist speech: Ego and expressive threats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 413–429.
Yle Uutiset. (2010). Kommentoidaan! [Let’s comment!] 29.1.2010, AM 10.34. https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-5431326. Accessed 22 May 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Valaskivi, K., Rantasila, A., Tanaka, M., Kunelius, R. (2019). Affective Entanglements of Expertise: The Finnish Case. In: Traces of Fukushima. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6864-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6864-6_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6863-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6864-6
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)