Traffic and Communication

Transportation policies have a central role in developing areas and their business life. The guidelines of transportation infrastructure need to be decided on a long term basis for example through the government statement procedure, for example. New road projects can not be carried out by cutting back on basic road and railroad maintenance funds.

The overall goals of transportation solutions are efficiency, economic viability, safety and low emissions both in passanger and cargo transportation. The joint use of different forms of transportation and division of work need to be promoted, and at same time emissions need to be cut in cargo and passanger transportation. Heavy road transportation needs to be cut back by improving the competitiveness of trains. Successful community planning requires a network of bicycle lanes in city centers and extensive public transportation services.

In our opinion:

• A considerable increase in the basic road maintenance financing needs to be realized in order to ensure the safety and quality of bridges and other structures in need of renewal.

• The competitiveness, safety and readiness for preventing environmental hazards of seafaring needs to be improved. The tonnage tax legislation needs to be renewed.

• The problems of Russian border traffic need to be solved in a durable fashion.

The task of mass media is to communicate truthful and balanced information, offer high quality entertainment and culture, and provide a forum for the citizens to express their views. The operation of the YLE public broadcasting company needs to be ensured. Its programming needs to serve different groups and include programs that reflect and support Christian values.

The prerequisites for the freedom of opinion need to be ensured so that the ethical rules of journalism are followed. We propose establishing a national ethics board of mass media to work alongside the Council for Mass Media. Its task would be to address from a principled point of view issues pertaining to media, having adequate resources and mandate.

The society has the duty to protect especially children and youth from the dominance of commercial forces and violent and indecent programming. Limiting the freedom of speech needs to be possible in order to ensure a good childhood for children and respect of human dignity.

Therefore:

• Pre-monitoring of image programming needs to be extended. The rules applied need to also be applied to TV broadcasting. Also interactive prgramming needs to be included in the monitoring.

• The YLE public broadcasting programming needs to serve different groups and include programs that reflect and support Christian values.

• The various subsidies to organizations and media need to be granted according to unified criteria. For example, when granding press subsidies the different idealogical and cultural magazines need to be treated equally, including Christian magazines.