Messenger and defender – Timo Soini’s populist leadership and media strategies in winning the elections of 2011

Abstract

The result of the Finnish parliamentary elections in 2011 was a surprise for many, as the True Finns (TF), a Finnish populist and nationalist political party of 5 parliamentarians, won the elections by boosting its parliamentary power obtaining altogether 39 seats. This article examines the populist leadership and media strategies of the party’s leader, Timo Soini, during the campaigning. Recent studies about the elections of 2011 confirm that the role of Timo Soini was crucial in gaining the votes for his party. However, as a media performer Timo Soini has not received much academic attention. Also the nature and amount of the media publicity of him and TF has remained in short supply. The goal of this article is to start filling that gap. The central assumption is that in the media publicity political leaders try to exploit the situation to their best advantage: create a basis of support for their policies by managing their visibility within the mediated arena. Scrutinizing a populist newcomer party’s leader’sinteraction with the media, two central roles come up. To work successfully via the media, the leader needs to be both a messenger and a defender. As a messenger, the central task is to articulate the party’s program, policies and goals as convincingly and grippingly as possible. To work effectively in the media, a leader must also be able to repel the attacks, like criticism or rumours, which endanger the party’s or its leader’s credibility and reputation.