On the eve of Europe Day, the founder of Faktabaari (”Fact Bar”), Tuomas Muraja, was a guest of the non-fiction writers in Tampere. Muraja is a former EU correspondent for the Turun Sanomat newspaper, and he is the right person to debunk fake news related to the Union.
The EU’s opponents often accuse it of excessive spending. They claim the EU budget has grow faster than those of the member states, although in the last decade member-state budgets rose 62% while the EU’s budget rose only 37%. The sketchy allegations of a huge EU budget have been dealt with by Fact Bar experts through comparisons: the EU budget is bigger than Finland’s but smaller than Holland’s.
Critics also charge that the Union makes life harder for citizens by pointlessly controlling small things, like its ban on balloons, on doing laundry with hot water, and on home-farming. The Fact Bar went beyond the headlines of these “bans” and showed that the allegations were baseless.
The Fact Bar has done similar work for political discussions and debates in Finland, even while they’re taking place. The aim is to turn yes-or-no arguments into a fact-based discussion. As it happens, you can overcome fake news with facts and replace sensational headlines with realities.