Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.10.2017, Page 12

Ban Placed On
Reporting on
Prime Minıster
District Commissioner Issues Injunction –The
Prime Minister denies any involvement, but his
contentions don’t hold water

Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Hörður Sveinsson

Earlier this week, the District
Commissioner of Reykjavík issued
an injunction against media out-
lets Stundin and Reykjavík Media,
prohibiting them from doing any
future reporting on the financial
dealings of Prime Minister Bjarni
Benediktsson and his family with
Glitnir bank just before the eco-
nomic collapse of Iceland in Octo-
ber 2008.
The case has drawn sharp criti-
cism from the Journalists’ Union
of Iceland, amongst others, and
Stundin’s coeditor told Grapevine
that the injunction goes against
freedom of expression in Iceland.
While he is hopeful the injunc-
tion will be overturned in court,
the matter itself might not even be
examined by a court until elections
have already passed on October 28.
The legal question
Jón Trausti Reynisson, the coedi-
tor of Stundin, told Grapevine he
learned of the injunction when
their offices received a visit from
representatives of
the District Com-
missioner and Glit-
nir. The Commis-
sioner argues that
the Glitnir docu-
ments detailing the
financial dealings
of Bjarni and his
family with Glitnir
were obtained il-
legally. This, both
Jón Trausti and journalist union
director Hjálmar Jónsson argue,
is immaterial to reporting on the
information contained in those
documents.
“The fact that we have the docu-
ments obliges us to cover them,
within the level of the public in-
terest,” Jón Trausti told us. “An-
other claim that they have made,
which would be their core argu-
ment against us on being allowed
to report this, is that there would
be many more names in the docu-
ments; that thousands of people
would be involved in this. But I
think it’s self-evident, and we have
demonstrated, that we only cover
things that we believe are relevant
to the public. We don’t cover ran-
dom members of the public.”
“This is nonsense,” Hjálmar
told us, referring to the legal argu-
ment. “There is nothing conclusive
about the documents being stolen,
firstly. Secondly, Iceland has been
buying documents that have re-
portedly been stolen to find people
cheating on their taxes. If it’s in-
formation that the people of Ice-
land should know about, that that’s
the trademark you should look for.
It’s as simple as that.”
Similar cases
Lawyer Sigríður Rut Júlíusdóttir,
who has worked with Stundin be-
fore, told Vísir that “it is simply
prohibited to ban information that
is relevant to the public”.
The District Commissioner’s
close ties with
the Indepen-
dence Party,
from which
Bjarni hails, are
a matter of pub-
lic record. As DV
outlines, Þóról-
fur Halldórsson
has been both
a candidate for
and worked
within an official capacity for the
party.
Jón Trausti believes this injunc-
tion is a reflection of a discrepancy
between public expectations and
systemic problems.
“The most benevolent inter-
pretation of events is that the
system has yet to be upgraded to
the standards of modern soci-
ety,” Jón Trausti told Grapevine.
“I think that society – with regard
to open discussions, transpar-
ency and democratic values – has
evolved further than the system.
This might not be a coincidence. It
might be in the general interests of
elected officials or those in power
to maintain a weak media, to in-
hibit the spread of information. A
situation like this creates justifi-
able distrust.”
The chilling effect
Hjálmar took a similar position,
and has vowed to fight the matter.
“We will do everything that
needs to be done,” Hjálmar told
us. “We are going to defend the
freedom of expression of Icelan-
dic journalists. People are going
to try and silence things, but we
as journalists are not going to let
that happen. Information must be
accessible to the Icelandic public.
I believe that the understanding
of freedom of expression is grow-
ing in Iceland, which is good, but
of course we still need to be on
our guard, and fight it every time
someone tries to shut information
down.”
PM evokes “the Shaggy
defense”
Bjarni has publicly denied any in-
volvement in the injunction, but
some of his contentions on the
subject do not hold up to scrutiny.
“I have been the chairman of
the Independence Party since
2009, and from autumn 2009 cer-
tain details have been reported
that concern the years when I was
in business,” Bjarni said. “Often
with documents that someone has
leaked from somewhere. During
these years, hundreds of articles
of varying types have been written.
And now recently, with this newest
reporting, dozens of articles, I have
never – neither from cases con-
nected to my time as director of
N1, nor regarding my personal fi-
nances, and not even when things
were reported on personal matters
that had no business in the public
discussion – never have I attempt-
ed to stop this discussion. I have
never demanded that people stop
discussing these things.”
Some of these contentions do
not hold water. Jón Trausti told
Grapevine that Bjarni has never
responded to any of their ques-
tions about this and other matters.
Stundin also points out that Bjarni
has, in fact, made attempts at halt-
ing or altering news reporting
on him, with one example being
in 2009, when newspaper DV re-
ported on his financial dealings. At
that time, Hreinn Loftsson, one of
DV’s owners, said that Bjarni had
called their offices with the intent
of “stopping this reporting”.
Bjarni added that elected of-
ficials must accept that all other
rules apply when it comes to what
things may be reported on. “For
this reason, I want people to un-
derstand that I did not request this
injunction,” he said. “It makes me
look bad, that an injunction has
been placed on reporting about
me.”
Bjarni is not alone in thinking
the injunction makes him look bad.
Independence Party MP Guðlaugur
Þór Þórðarson told Vísir that he is
completely against injunctions be-
ing placed against the media about
public leaders. Another Indepen-
dence Party MP, Bryndís Haralds-
dóttir, took much the same tone,
saying that the matter made the
party as a whole look bad.
As it stands now, Stundin is
legally barred from doing any fur-
ther reporting based on leaked
Glitnir documents they received.
12 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 19 — 2017
“If it’s information
that the people of
Iceland should know
about, that that’s
the trademark you
should look for. It’s
as simple as that.”
Shielded: Bjarni Benediktsson, Prime Minister