---
title: "Sanna Marin's Apology | Katleena Kortesuo and Ivan Puopolo | Negotiator 112"
titleOriginal: "Sanna Marinin anteeksipyyntö | Katleena Kortesuo Ivan Puopolo | Neuvottelija 112"
episodeNumber: "112"
guest: "Katleena Kortesuo, Ivan Puopolo"
datePublished: 2021-12-15
duration: "25:11"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-SUxELrbc"
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["leadership_governance","free_speech_society"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from YouTube metadata and the neuvottelija.fi episode record. The publisher published no chapter marks for this episode, so none are listed here. No transcript is published either — the channel has no English caption track for this episode and the Finnish one is YouTube's automatic track. The episode analyses the conduct of a serving prime minister and of named former ministers; both guests are commentators on the same side of Finnish politics and none of the people discussed is present. Recorded 15 December 2021."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/137-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-katleena-kortesuo-ivan-puopolo"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep112-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-kortesuo-puopolo/
---
# Sanna Marin's Apology | Katleena Kortesuo and Ivan Puopolo | Negotiator 112

English subtitles are not available on this page. This is an episode summary, not a curated transcript.

## Summary

The communications trainer Katleena Kortesuo and Ivan Puopolo work out when an apology is called for and when it is a mistake. Kortesuo's rule is precise and runs through the whole episode: you apologise when you have offended your own audience, not when the offended party was never your customer. The Africa Star row is her example of the wrong situation and Telia's response to social media pressure an example of the right one. Applied to Sanna Marin's case the distinction produces two different conclusions. The episode also covers why a prime minister is under a magnifying glass of a different order, the Jäätteenmäki case as a question of procedural form, and Kulmuni and responsibility.

## Whose audience was offended

Kortesuo's rule does the whole job. An apology is owed to people whose opinion of you you depend on. Offering one to people who were never going to be persuaded concedes that the complaint was legitimate without gaining anything, and it invites the next one.

## Why the rule splits on a prime minister

A company has a customer base. A head of government has an electorate, a parliamentary group and a coalition partner, and they are not the same audience. That is why the same test yields two answers in Marin's case, which the episode treats as the interesting result rather than as a failure of the rule.

## Form, not substance

The Jäätteenmäki comparison is included precisely because it turned on procedure rather than on the underlying conduct. Keeping that distinction visible is what separates a communications analysis from a political one.


## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Sanna Marinin anteeksipyyntö | Katleena Kortesuo Ivan Puopolo | Neuvottelija 112](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-SUxELrbc).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/137-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-katleena-kortesuo-ivan-puopolo).

## In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode:
[English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep112-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-kortesuo-puopolo/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/yhteiskunta/ep112-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-kortesuo-puopolo/).

---

Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — Sanna Marin's Apology | Katleena Kortesuo and Ivan Puopolo | Negotiator 112, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep112-sanna-marinin-anteeksipyynto-kortesuo-puopolo/, 2021-12-15. For quotes include episode 112 and timestamp.