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In a TV News segment within Die Hard, the author of "Hostage Terrorist: Terrorist Hostage" describes the hostages as undergoing the early stages of "Helsinki Syndrome". Why bother using a fake version of Stockholm Syndrome? It's not like the name of a condition is trademarked or a brand name. And setting up the joke about the wrong country also works exactly as well. You just pick a different country to be wrong about.

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    Even Stockholm syndrome isn't its real name, it was made up later, outside Sweden, after Patty Hearst. The original name, coined before Heart's kidnapping, was Norrmalmstorg syndrome.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Sep 28, 2022 at 17:02
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    @Tetsujin - Maybe so, but by 1989 when Die Hard was made, the term Stockholm Syndrome was in wide use, so the question stands.
    – WakeDemons3
    Commented Sep 28, 2022 at 17:37

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Taken directly from the Wiki:

Helsinki syndrome is a term sometimes used incorrectly instead of Stockholm syndrome. The confusion is often deliberate and used for ironic effect. It originates in the substitution of one Nordic capital (Stockholm, Sweden) for another (Helsinki, Finland). It entered popular culture when used in the Bruce Willis film Die Hard, by a doctor appearing on a television show and describing the phenomenon. The bumbling host says this refers to "Helsinki, Sweden", and the doctor corrects him, saying "Finland".

They're both Nordic countries, so interchanging their capitols is most likely meant to be a poke at Americans' lack of knowledge about global geography.

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    urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Helsinki%20Syndrome - "A mental condition where the afflicted person is unable to distinguish between the countries of Sweden and Finland, despite the two being distinct from each other. This condition is usually a symptom of a lack of general geographic awareness."
    – blobbymcblobby
    Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 13:38
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    This isn't an actual answer. The American anchor could just as easily have been wrong about where Stockholm is. A wiki entry mentioning that Die Hard used a fake name also isn't an answer to why.
    – WakeDemons3
    Commented Oct 1, 2022 at 2:06
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    @WakeDemons3 - "The confusion is often deliberate and used for ironic effect." I don't know how to say it more clearly than that.
    – Johnny Bones
    Commented Oct 1, 2022 at 19:52
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    Dude, that entry exists BECAUSE die hard first did this. It's not answer to WHY die hard first did this.
    – WakeDemons3
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 16:56
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    "Given the undertones of distain for media coverage of any crisis, and the fact that it makes the insipid newscaster look even more insipid, it made its point" - so it's to mock / satirise brainless media coverage of crises: making the doctor look ignorant and the TV host look clueless? That sounds like the answer to the question asked. Adding that with some sample dialogue that backs it up would make this a solid answer (e.g. other examples of the doctor and host missing the point or getting basic facts wrong; the absurd book title "Hostage Terrorist: Terrorist Hostage" might be one).
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Commented Oct 7, 2022 at 14:34

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