Finland to end automatic emergency alerts to media in September, editors warn of information gaps

YLE reports the Interior Ministry will end automatic initial emergency alerts to media in September and stop publishing precise incident locations. It will shut down the rescue service's media system, Peto-media, leaving initial notices to individual rescue departments.

Antti Kokkonen, chair of the Editors' Association, told YLE the change will narrow citizens' access to information and create space for misinformation. He expects newsrooms to start calling rescue departments for updates this autumn, a practice he calls inefficient for both media and emergency services.

The ministry says the move is meant to increase privacy protection, and a replacement system due around October will still withhold exact locations. Jari Nieminen, duty chief at the Pirkanmaa rescue department, defended the policy as necessary to protect individuals' privacy and to avoid revealing sensitive performance-capability details, such as how many units were dispatched.

Authorities stress that the statutory duty to inform remains. Rescue departments will still notify the public when an incident poses harm or a threat to nearby areas, for example from spreading smoke or traffic hazards.