World Press Freedom Day, May 3rd

Ovi: Freedom Day

Readers of the print paper this Thursday morning may have been surprised at the content of Page B2 in the foreign news section, sandwiched between reports of the disturbances in Moscow.

Readers of the print paper this Thursday morning may have been surprised at the content of Page B2 in the foreign news section, sandwiched between reports of the disturbances in Moscow. 

Readers of the print paper this Thursday morning may have been surprised at the content of Page B2 in the foreign news section, sandwiched between reports of the disturbances in Moscow. 

Readers of the print paper this Thursday morning may have been surprised at the content of Page B2 in the foreign news section, sandwiched between reports of the disturbances in Moscow. 

Along with other newspapers in Finland and around the world, Helsingin Sanomat marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd in stark fashion: the newspaper devoted an entire page, pasted up as if it were a normal page of the paper, to stories in which the pictures were more or less blacked out and the headlines, byelines, captions, and texts were replaced by strings of barbed wire.

The page is a sombre reminder of the fragility of press freedom. The advertisement was produced by the Finnish Newspapers Association, and the design took a Silver Award at last year’s Grafia Best of the Year competition.

The image, and another depicting a speech-bubble made of barbed wire, is shown in this link.

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