Rein Lang

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In 2004, the Estonian Newspaper Association (Estonian : Eesti Ajalehtede Liit ) labelled Lang the 'Year's Press Enemy'. [5] The explanation provided in the press release cited Lang's snobbish attitude towards the press, exemplified by an email response in which Lang asked a county newspaper's correspondent to "not bother" him with any more requests for information. Lang has disputed this characterisation, and implied that Toomas Leito, leader of the Estonian Newspaper Association, was following a policy of "lynching Negroes". [6]

Controversial "Delfi bill"

In autumn of 2005, Lang initiated a bill that would have allowed penalising web portals for anonymous comments left by their visitors. The bill, nicknamed the "Delfi bill" (Estonian : Delfi eelnõu) after the Estonian web portal Delfi.ee, which is commonly associated with offensive user comments, was widely criticised and ended up rejected by the Riigikogu. [7] Among other concerns, critics commonly pointed out that Delfi belonged to a media concern competing with AS Trio LSL, and questioned the minister's neutrality. The bill became law in June 2006. [8]

The first lawsuit involving the Delfi bill was brought by Leo Pulst in late 2008. [8]

Birthday party controversy

On 4 July 2007 Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia. [9] The party featured a performance of the play Adolf , an award-winning anti-fascist [10] [11] drama by Pip Utton, featuring a Nazi banner as a stage prop. In an additional note on the invitation Lang pointed out that the event was not intended as a fancy dress party; specifically, guests would not be expected to arrive in uniforms or bearing Nazi symbols. [9] [11] The Russian media spun this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with swastikas", [12] [13] citing an Estonian newspaper which recalled a scandal that happened three years ago, when Prince Harry had a swastika on his sleeve during a birthday party. [14]

This distortion was widely covered in the Estonian news media. [12] [13] The Nochnoy Dozor group has, in Russian media, made calls for the Minister of Justice to resign over the event. [15] In an explanatory opinion article, Lang stated "The Republic of Estonia has condemned Nazi crimes and my birthday was attended by people who, without exception, despise fascism." [11] Trivimi Velliste, speaking on TV3, has called Russian media's distorted coverage of this incident a case of psychological warfare. [16]

"Wikigate" incident

On 23 July 2007 Lang's article on English Wikipedia was edited by a user identifying as "Kairioun", removing a large section on Lang's birthday controversy. [17] [18] After these deletions were consistently reverted, another user by the alias of Gerog112 performed a similar deletion many times, resulting in a 24-hour restriction of editing privileges (sometimes mistakenly reported as a three-month restriction), and made a number of bizarre statements in Estonian. News media quickly traced the user Kairioun to Kairi Õun, an advisor of Lang, leading to considerable coverage of the incident, which Henrik Roonemaa, in an analysis session in Tehnokratt, dubbed "Wikigate". [19] Gerog112's real life identity remains unknown.

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References

  1. ↑ Postimees February 22, 2005: Soome ajaleht: Lang on «kõva pähkel» Archived 2005-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Justiitsministeerium Archived 2007-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Äripäev 2 February 2007: Rein Lang — Lapsesuu või PR-guru? Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 Eesti Päevaleht 30 June 2007: Rein Lang (50)
  5. ↑ Estonian Newspaper Association 10 December 2004: Pressisõber on Marko Pomerants, pressivaenlane Rein Lang
  6. ↑ Postimees 8 January 2005: Liberaalne Molekul Archived 2005-03-19 at the Wayback Machine , interview by Priit Pullerits
  7. ↑ delfi.ee November 1, 2005: Sõnavabadus internetis ohus
  8. 1 2 Eesti Ekspress 6 November 2008: Archived 2008-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
  9. 1 2 Eesti Ekspress July 4, 2007: Langi juubelil "Adolf" Archived 2007-07-09 at the Wayback Machine by Alan Proosa
  10. ↑ Pip Utton, describing the play on a promotional website Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine .
  11. 1 2 3 Eesti Päevaleht July 9, 2007: REIN LANG: Mis siis tegelikult toimus?
  12. 1 2 Postimees July 6, 2007: Rein Langi juubelipidu äratas huvi Vene meedias Archived 2007-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  13. 1 2 Eesti Päevaleht July 6, 2007: Vene meedia haaras Rein Langi sünnipäeva mõnuga hambusse, edited by Tuuli Aug
  14. ↑ REGNUM July 5, 2007: Estonian justice minister “decorates” his birthday party with swastika Archived 2007-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ ITAR-TASS July 5, 2007: Estonian minister marks jubilee under aegis of Nazi Swastika Archived 2007-07-12 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Postimees 28 July 2007: TV3: vabadusvõitlejate kokkutulekut jälgis RTRi võttegrupp
  17. ↑ Postimees 25 July 2007: Langi nõunik toimetas ministri kohta käivat artiklit Wikipedias Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ Eesti Päevaleht 26 July 2007: Langi nõunik üritas parandada ministrit käsitlevat Wikipedia artiklit by Jan Jõgis-Laats
  19. ↑ Tehnokratt 28 July 2007: tehnokratt vikipeediast ja reeglitest Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
Rein Lang
Balticfestival 1c563 7264.Rein Lang.jpg
Rein Lang in 2011.
Minister of Culture of Estonia
In office
6 April 2011 –4 December 2013
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
February 2005 – April 2005		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Justice
2005–2011		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Laine Jänes (Randjärv)
 Minister of Culture
2011–2013		Succeeded by
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