From Pulp to Fiction?

Abstract

The pulp mill conflict between Argentina and Uruguay is a topical environmental local—global dispute including various time—space levels (local—regional—national—global). It is also a politico-economic battle among business, civil society and governments in the two South American countries. This article highlights the widely analysed Argentine and Uruguayan perspectives, but it also brings to the fore the Finnish case (of mass media, the global Finnish paper industry, Finnish NGOs and the government). The article seeks to come to an understanding of the characteristics of the conflict as portrayed by the media in Finland and, critically, to examine the effects of the stereotypical Finnish image — `iconic model' — on Argentina and Uruguay. The article is a study of the discussions in the Finnish mass media, mainly in Helsingin Sanomat ( HS), the key national newspaper, and in the television coverage of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE. The analysis shows that the Finnish media, too, have created stereotypes that harden attitudes and make conflict resolution more difficult. What is virtually absent in the Finnish media is a democratic multicultural learning culture that fosters and itself is fostered through a more transnational and interdisciplinary perspective. The global and national media have an increasingly important task in such situations of cultural conflict resolution, situations which are also attached to the recent discussions of corporate social responsibility.