Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Blaðsíða 16

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2016
16
As I write this, the Independence
Party emerged as the dominant party
from our parliamentary elections.
President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson
granted them the mandate to form the
next coalition government. While that
new coalition has not yet been decided,
the Pirate Party has been all but side-
lined in the coalition talks. It looks as
though, despite numerous breathless
headlines in the international press
to the contrary, the Pirates might not
even be in the ruling coalition, let
alone leading it.
How did so many people get it so
wrong? In the days leading up to the
elections, I was interviewed by a num-
ber of international media outlets, and
I began to notice a pattern forming. A
great many outlets had their narrative
set in stone; they were simply looking
for sources to support their narrative,
at the expense of actual information.
This could have been avoided if report-
ers were more willing to change their
narratives than change the news.
The roots of this go back to 2015.
From March of that year onwards, the
Pirates pulled into the top of the polls.
This made the international press pay
attention to the Pirates again, having
only sporadically touched base with
them since they won three seats in Par-
liament in 2013. However, from March
2016 onwards, Pirate polling began to
tumble. They would occasionally get a
few blips upward in support from time
to time, but the downward trend con-
tinued nonetheless, while the Inde-
pendence Party steadily climbed. We
reported on this fact pretty regularly
in the weeks and days leading up to
the election, and we certainly weren’t
alone in conveying this sobering fact.
But you wouldn’t know that to read
the numerous articles contending
the Pirates were “set to take over” the
Icelandic government, many of these
articles continuing to falsely contend
that the Pirates were leading the polls.
The press had not updated their infor-
mation, opting instead to rely on their
previous reporting as the basis for
their contentions on the level of Pirate
popular support.
Not that many in the international
press even understood who the Pirates
were. Many described them as “radi-
cal,” with some going so far as to call
them “anarchists and libertarians.”
These outlets either have no under-
standing of radicalism, the Pirate
Party platform, or both. Radicalism
and especially anarchism are by defi-
nition anti-establishment forces that
fight against the system; taking part
in the system to change it from within
is reformism. This is Political Theory
101. The Pirates do have a number of
platform points that go farther in their
reformist agenda than any other party,
but this does not change the fact that
they are an established political party
that campaigned for seats in Parlia-
ment. An “anarchist party” is as much
a contradiction now as an “anarchist
mayor” was when Jón Gnarr was leader
of Reykjavík.
But because the narrative of a radi-
cal political party sweeping the elec-
tions was just too lurid, too colorful,
too compelling; and the momentum
spreading across international media
so self-sustaining, any kind of about-
face towards “actually their support is
on a razor’s edge and things could very
well tip in the opposite direction” was
some kind of buzzkill. No one was inter-
ested in hearing this. The press was very
diligent in contacting the Pirates them-
selves for choice quotes, at the expense
of a broader context that painted quite a
different picture of their chances.
Granted, a lot of this is a symptom of
international reporting on Iceland that
Icelanders themselves are very familiar
with: the utopian hyperbole. Iceland
nationalises the banks? Headlines read
“Iceland Lets The Banks Fail.” Iceland
goes through a complex process mixing
democracy and expert opinion to write
a constitutional draft? “Iceland Crowd-
sources New Constitution.” Thousands
of Icelanders put a Like on a Facebook
page calling for the government to ac-
cept more refugees? “10,000 Icelanders
Open Their Homes To Refugees.”
In other words, the hyperbolic and
inaccurate reporting on the Pirate Party
in the run-up to parliamentary elec-
tions is symptomatic of a larger problem
within the international media when
it comes to reporting on Iceland: they
start with a glowing narrative, and then
look for people willing to go on record
supporting that narrative.
I say all this with the caveat that
not every international media outlet
was guilty of this. I had a number of
meaningful interviews with these re-
porters, and I think reporters by and
large are in the business to inform the
public. But that’s what makes it even
more important to be able to swallow
your pride and drop your long-run-
ning narrative if more recent informa-
tion undermines it. The international
press has been decidedly quiet in the
wake of the elections. Meanwhile, the
Grapevine will continue to report on
the forms and permutations Iceland’s
government will ultimately transform
into. The entire fiasco of reporting
that went down in the lead-up to, and
in the wake of, our parliamentary elec-
tions was completely avoidable. Hope-
fully, next time we have parliamentary
elections, the press will make more of
an effort to get it right, even if it means
sacrificing the narrative they have
worked so hard to cultivate.
Iceland’s
Democracy
Hangover
Why The International
Media Got It All Wrong
ANALYSIS
NEWS IN
BRIEF
The biggest story
over the past month
was the Icelandic
parliamentary elec-
tions, which received widespread
international media attention pri-
marily because of the Pirate Party.
Even though polling conducted
over the month leading up to elec-
tion day showed the Pirates and the
Independence Party in practically a
dead heat, you wouldn’t know it to
read the headlines talking about an
“anarchist party” set to “sweep the
elections.” In the end, the Pirates
did enjoy significant success, more
than tripling their numbers from
three seats in Parliament to ten,
but the Independence Party won
the lion’s share of seats, and have
been tasked with forming the next
ruling coalition—from which it is
all but certain that the Pirates will
be locked out. So much for all those
radical changes in Iceland that the
international press promised us.
Speaking of parliamentarians, Ice-
landic social media literally burst
into flames when news broke that
the Wage Committee had awarded
pay rises to MPs, ministers and
the President in amounts greater
than what many Icelanders earn
in a given month. President Guðni
Th. Jóhannesson spoke frankly
about the matter, telling report-
ers he neither asked for nor wants
the raise, and said he’ll be donating
his extra half million a month to
other causes. There is now a grow-
ing social movement to shut down
the Wage Committee, which is
comprised of unelected appointees.
We’ll keep you posted on how that
turns out.
There is perhaps no surer sign
that we have approached Peak Beer
Snobbery than the fact that this
year, there will be nearly 50 brands
of Christmas beer to choose from.
Not every single brand will always
be available in every single govern-
ment-run alcohol store, but most
of the major carriers should have
a wide selection of brands. Besides
which, trying every single type of
Christmas beer is highly inadvis-
able, if for no other reason than the
damage the sheer amount of clove
flavouring will do to your liver.
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Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
ART BICNICK
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