Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.01.2017, Blaðsíða 10

Even though there are plenty of people
happy to see this year come to an end,
not all the news of the past year was
necessarily bad. Political upheaval was
a dominant theme in Iceland, but what
attracted readers from outside Iceland
spanned a wide range. So join us on
a magical journey through last year’s
headlines.
Our most read stories
Our single most-read story of 2016 was
“Prime Minister Resigns,” reporting
on when Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugs-
son stepped down as Prime Minister
last spring in the wake of the Pana-
ma Papers scandal and a disastrous,
cringe-inducing interview he took
with Swedish television. Similarly, the
lead-up story, “PM Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson Wavers On Resigna-
tion,” was our third most-read story.
But in terms of sheer staying power,
staying at the top of the list for months
on end, nothing beat “No, The Gov-
ernment Will Not Pay You To Mar-
ry An Icelander,” a brief news story
meant solely to debunk a number of
hoax articles circulating which con-
tended that the Icelandic government
was handing out cash to foreign men
to marry Icelandic women due to a do-
mestic male shortage. Following close
behind that was “Iceland’s President
Drops Not-So-Subtle Message For
Trump,” in which President Guðni
Th. Jóhannesson wished President-
elect Donald Trump congratulations
on his election by emphasising the
importance of tolerance and human
rights. After this was “Women In Ice-
land Leaving Work Today At 14:38,”
which covered a grassroots movement
by women in this country to leave work
early in protest against the gender
wage gap—always a hot-button topic.
On a related note, when it comes to
what people are Googling that brings
them to our site, no subject seems to
be more popular than Icelandic wom-
en. Half of our top ten search terms
were some variation or other of these
two words. Grapevine isn’t a dating
service. Spread the word.
News editor’s choice
There are some stories that, whether
ranking high in terms of visits or not,
were personal favourites of the edito-
rial news department here. Amongst
them was any story regarding asylum
seekers. These stories have been met
with mostly positive responses from
our readers, especially those who live
here, and most of our breaking news
stories were about these people. “Why
Does This Keep Happening?”, a
lengthy, investigative story about the
problems within the Directorate of
Immigration, was also well received.
We were also quite fond of any story
involving protests and activism, of
which there were many this year; in
fact, the protests held at Parliament in
the wake of the Panama Papers scan-
dal were the largest in Icelandic his-
tory, with about 10% of the population
showing up.
The top animal news
stories of 2016
In between stories of asylum seekers,
protests, and elections, there’s one
subject matter we really enjoy visiting
again and again: animals in the news.
These stories not only provide valu-
able comic relief; they also remind us
that we share this country with plenty
of non-human residents. So who were
these four-legged and finned heroes?
“Icelanders build cottages for
Reykjavík stray cats” was one of the
more heartwarming animal news sto-
ries last year. Winter is hard on all of
us, and that’s especially the case when
you depend on the great outdoors for
food, so it was nice to see people help-
ing these distinctly helpful animals
(a harbour town, Reykjavík would
likely be overrun with rats without
them). Whale conservation group Orca
Guardians Iceland held a contest to
name a baby killer whale that proved
extraordinarily popular, although we
weren’t exactly thrilled that “Tide”
won in the end. Apart from being a
type of laundry detergent, Tide is also
not nearly as cool as another nomina-
tion, Echo. Plus, if the baby killer whale
had been named Echo, you could sim-
ply name the rest of the pod The Bun-
nymen. Nothing is quite as adorable
as firefighters rescuing a cat from a
tree. Not exactly hard-hitting Pulitzer
material, but who doesn’t like seeing
a photo essay of a grateful owner hap-
pily reunited with his beloved feline?
Some people seem to love animals so
much they’re willing to break the law.
Never was this more true when it came
to light that rogue horseback riders
were plaguing the town of Reyk-
janesbær, mostly by riding in areas
where horses are forbidden, leaving
numerous piles of post-digestion hay
around town. Climate change may be
rapidly destroying humanity’s future,
but seals at least seem to be doing
just fine, at least around Iceland. The
native population of these animals has
actually been on the rise, for the first
time in many years. A blessed sign,
in that it means even after we’re long
gone, at least the seals will have some-
where to play.
The top tourism stories
of 2016
Now that tourism has become the
backbone of our economy, both tour-
ism and tourists alike have been prom-
inent in the news. This year, there
were virtually no stories about tour-
ists pooping outdoors (even if, as far
as we know, the dearth of public toilets
at tourist spots has not been rectified),
but there were signs that the tourism
bubble is straining against its seams.
The beautiful black-sand beach of
Reynisfjara became synonymous with
folly, a lack of vision or preparation
regarding tourism, and death. This
beach, known for its sinister “sneak-
er waves” that come out of nowhere,
and its powerful undertow, claimed
a couple lives and put others in great
danger. Icelanders were quick to point
out that there were no clear warning
signs at the beach advising people to
avoid going near the water. This has
since been addressed, and we haven’t
heard about any other drownings
since. The sheer number of tourists
has also been a preoccupation, and
with good reason: about five times the
total population of the country visited
Iceland this year, and American tour-
ists alone outnumbered Icelanders.
Not that more tourists necessarily
means more revenue, either—as a re-
cent economic forecast from Lands-
banki pointed out, while tourist num-
bers will increase, revenue generated
from tourism will sharply fall over
the next three years. As such, it may
be that our chance to cash in on the
tourism bubble, and use that money
to improve our infrastructure so we
can actually accommodate them, may
have come and gone. As adorable as
the Icelandic horse is, at least one Ice-
landic horse farmer has become fed
up with tour buses disembarking at
his property, and letting tourists pet
and feed his horses. As this can give
horses considerable health problems,
the best policy to operate under when
it comes to Icelandic horses is “look,
don’t touch.” In less ominous news,
it has come to light that the traffic
roundabout is the bane of tourists in
Iceland. This is largely due to the fact
that in Iceland, the inside ring has the
right of way, which is counterintuitive
to many around the world. Although
Icelanders abide this in order to pre-
vent people from getting trapped in
the middle of a roundabout, ‘National
Lampoon’s European Vacation’ style,
it’s not even a part of our traffic laws,
so the confusion is certainly under-
standable. Ask your rental service
about local traffic laws and customs—
it could save your life!
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
JÓI KJARTANS
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2016: The Year
In News
We all had a nice year, right?
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2017
10
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