Erkki Raatikainen

Erkki Raatikainen (1930–2011) was a Finnish journalist and politician. He served as the secretary of Social Democratic Party (SDP) between 1966 and 1969.

Erkki Raatikainen
Head of Yle
In office
1970–1979
Preceded byEino S. Repo
Succeeded bySakari Kiuru
Secretary of Social Democratic Party
In office
1966–1969
Succeeded byKalevi Sorsa
Personal details
Born24 May 1930
Jyväskylä
Died30 January 2011(2011-01-30) (aged 80)
Helsinki
Political partySocial Democratic Party
SpouseKaisa Raatikainen
Children4
OccupationJournalist

Early life and education

Raatikainen was born in Jyväskylä on 24 May 1930.[1] His father was Jussi Raatikainen, a SDP member.[1]

Career

Raatikainen was a journalist for Sosialidemokraati and then worked at the Finnish-language department of BBC in London.[2] He joined Yle in 1958.[2] He served as editor-in-chief of Suomen Sosialidemokraatin for a short period in the 1960s, and he returned to his job at Yle.[2] He was a member of the SDP and part of the leftist faction.[3] He published several editorials in the SDP publication Sosialistinen aikakauslehti.[3] In November 1966 he was elected as the secretary of SDP and held post for three years.[1][4] He was replaced by Kalevi Sorsa in the post.[3]

Raatikainen was appointed head of the Finnish public broadcaster Yle in 1970 replacing Eino S. Repo in the post.[2] He attempted to improve the status of Yle which had been in crisis.[5] During his term at Yle the company began to cover the American productions, and its daily broadcasts were extended.[6] Yle was subject to censorship particularly about the reports on the Soviet Union. In one of such cases Raatikainen had to apologise for the Yle reporters’ work due to a letter from the Finnish President in 1971.[7] He remained in office until 1979 when Sakari Kiuru was named as the head of Yle.[2] Then Raatikainen began to work as a freelance journalist and published books.[5][8] One of the publications Raatikainen contributed to was Apu magazine.[9]

Views

During his term as secretary of the SDP Raatikainen adopted the idea of societal rationalization borrowed from the Swedish social democrats which was about extensive economic planning going beyond the individual industrial sectors.[3] He argued that this approach was needed to improve the state-owned business and the control of capital flows.[3]

Personal life and death

Raatikainen was married to Kaisa Raatikainen (1928–2007) who served as minister of interior and a parliament member for SDP.[1][5] They had four children.[1][5]

Raatikainen died in Helsinki on 30 January 2011.[1][2][5]

References
  1. "Ylen entinen pääjohtaja Erkki Raatikainen kuollut". Savon Sanomat (in Finnish). 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  2. "Ylen entinen pääjohtaja Erkki Raatikainen on kuollut". Yle (in Finnish). 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  3. Ilkka Kärrylä (2021). Democracy and the Economy in Finland and Sweden since 1960. A Nordic Perspective on Neoliberalism. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 43, 45. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-80631-6. ISBN 978-3-030-80631-6. S2CID 244312470.
  4. Werner Wiskari (2 January 1967). "Party in Finland Wary of Finland. Desire to Avoid Blacklisting Underscored in Statement". The New York Times. p. 7. ProQuest 117809546. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  5. "Ylen entinen pääjohtaja on kuollut". Ilta Sanomat (in Finnish). 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  6. Marek Fields (2019). Defending Democracy in Cold War Finland. British and American Propaganda and Cultural Diplomacy in Finland, 1944–1970. Leiden: Brill. p. 360. doi:10.1163/9789004416420. ISBN 978-90-04-41642-0. S2CID 203195163.
  7. Saskia Geisler (2021). "Sex, Drugs, and the Hotel Viru? Finnish Construction Projects in the Estonian SSR as an East-West Encounter during the Cold War". In Mati Laur; Karsten Brüggemann (eds.). Forschungen zur baltischen Geschichte. Leiden: Brill. p. 114. doi:10.30965/9783657793365_006. ISBN 978-3-657-79336-5. S2CID 240026089.
  8. "Vankempi poika: "sina ja Sorsan Kale, kaverukset maailmalla". Erkki Raatikainen". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  9. Matti Luostarinen (9 February 2017). "Perussuomalaiset median keskipisteessä". Perussuomalaiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 July 2023.
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