Iceland to become a media haven

Iceland, the small European nation with a population of just 320,000 may well become the world’s first ‘media haven’.

The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) has been discussed and was unanimously supported in the Icelandic Parliament on June 16. The new laws will be written and introduced sometime next year.

The IMMI addresses key issues for free expression in the digital age.

It aims to make Iceland a world leader in freedoms of expression and information by pulling together good legal practices from around the world and incorporating them into a single body of law.

It includes principles such as legal protection for whistle blowers and their sources, a guarantee of freedom of speech, an end to libel tourism and Iceland’s first international prize – the Icelandic Freedom of Expression Award.

If the IMMI becomes a reality, it would essentially mean that Iceland would become a journalist-friendly country.

Supporters of the initiative believe it is comparable in concept to offshore tax havens like the Canary Islands and Switzerland (although slightly more admirable).

Eva Joly, a Member of the European Parliament, regards the proposal as “a strong way of encouraging integrity and responsive government in Iceland and throughout the world.”

The idea is that the IMMI will encourage many media businesses, publishers, data-centres and human rights organisations to move to Iceland, making it a global hub for investigative journalism.

It is hoped that this in turn will kick-start badly needed economic growth in a country that suffered enormously during and after the global financial crisis of 2008.

Journalists themselves believe that reform of Iceland’s media laws would make it a very attractive destination for investigative journalists.

They have been inspired by Wikileaks, an online whistle blowing site that leaks sensitive documents from governments and other organisations and advised the Icelandic parliament during the preparation of the IMMI.

Giving journalists legal protection enables them to report on sensitive news, free from the fear of court proceedings banning certain articles from being published.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir MP, one of the leading supporters of the initiative, mentions that “after the banking crisis of 2008, the people of Iceland started to understand that the media was weak....and that in order to live in a healthy society changes within the media laws would be needed.”

In its current form the IMMI will protect journalists by making it illegal for them to reveal their sources, even if they are asked to by a government.

It will also enable freedom of expression to those under Iceland’s laws without having to worry about so-called libel tourism (the practice of suing internet journalists in the most favourable legal locations irrespective of where the parties are based.)

British courts especially have become a favoured destination, creating fears that British law was having a ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of expression.

Now the House of Lords has established a government group to investigate making it tougher for foreigners to bring defamation cases in Britain.

As far as Iceland’s initiative is concerned, it will only protect journalists if they reside in Iceland, and use an Icelandic domain name (.is).

Additionally they’ll only be protected while physically in Iceland. They could be arrested once they set foot in Britain for an outstanding defamation charge, for example.

Nevertheless, if this proposal becomes a reality, it could improve democracy and transparency both in Iceland and around the world.

At the very least it has opened the eyes of publishers, journalists and politicians to the possibility of a set of legally protected media values that are important to society and its all-round improvement.

By James Kayel