Offshore paradise for investigative journalism
How Iceland is becoming a gold mine for insider information—and why you should donate to WikiLeaks. By Oliver Classen, press spokesperson for the development policy organization Declaration of Bern and former media editor
Iceland could soon become for insider information what Switzerland still is for black money: a real Eldorado. This is because a law initiated by the whistleblower platform Wikileaks grants maximum whistleblower protection and turns the ailing island into a "media free state". If Wikileaks doesn't go bankrupt itself first. An appeal for donations.
The time and place are perfectly chosen. After the bad experiences with the financial crisis and the inglorious role played by its own banks and media in the quasi-state bankruptcy, Iceland is more ripe than any other country for radical political cuts. In Reykjavík, the healthcare system could probably be completely overhauled in a week rather than 30 years. Such reform enthusiasm resulting from desperation would surely make Obama green with envy. This applies in particular to the "Icelandic Modern Media Initiative" (IMMI), which is supported by a broad majority of the population and parliament. If the initiative is adopted, Iceland will overtake the USA overnight as the global protective power for freedom of expression and transparent information in business and politics.
The driving force behind this epoch-making initiative is the Wikileaks Internet service, legally domiciled in Iceland, where anyone can anonymously publish documents about unethical behavior by companies or governments. Launched in 2006 by a number of committed journalists and lawyers, this contemporary central organ for civil courage has already produced more scoops than many world newspapers in their entire history. Last summer, Wikileaks published insider information about who received which uncovered loans from Kaupthing, the largest Icelandic bank at the time, and how around five billion dollars were taken out of the country shortly before the collapse. Kaupthing "naturally" had the explosive link to these internal details blocked immediately by means of a temporary injunction. Thanks to courageous TV editors, however, the story still made it into the main news program.
It is high time to put a stop to such de facto censorship, which is also common in this country, and to create a binding legal basis for dealing with sensitive data and internal whistleblowers that is appropriate for the Internet age. Iceland is taking a bold step forward here and making a virtue of its current need for media policy. Today, the democratic control function of journalism is increasingly being constrained by national legislation. Be it with the argument of public safety or under the pretext of protecting alleged property or personal rights, which in practice often amount to censorship that can be more or less legitimized by law.
According to the bill, which was clearly adopted at first reading, journalistic sources will enjoy far-reaching protection and, particularly important in the global news business, will be placed beyond the reach of any foreign plaintiffs. For global media companies and internet providers, this extremely liberal regulation is an invitation to operate from the "free port of information", just like Wikileaks. For beleaguered Iceland, on the other hand, the new law represents a massive locational advantage. And for us old offshore profiteers, it is an invitation to actively support the originators of this initiative.
Because Wikileaks is also almost bankrupt. Half of the modest annual budget of just over 600,000 francs is still not under the roof, which is why the website is currently dominated by an appeal for donations instead of links to confidential documents. It is a perverse irony of fate that this important internet platform is on the brink of collapse at the height of its influence. I am therefore transferring my - equally modest - column fee to Iceland and asking you, dear reader, to make a solidarity contribution to Wikileaks. And if Roger Blum or any other trustee of the Solothurn Vogt-Schild Foundation reads this: Why not invest one fiftieth of the CHF 20 million that your institution has released from the sale of the Vogt-Schild Group in securing the future of investigative journalism and thus promote what is probably the most effective means against tax havens, namely journalism havens? A Swiss publishing house would certainly make positive headlines with such a gesture of compensation.
The time and place are perfectly chosen. After the bad experiences with the financial crisis and the inglorious role played by its own banks and media in the quasi-state bankruptcy, Iceland is more ripe than any other country for radical political cuts. In Reykjavík, the healthcare system could probably be completely overhauled in a week rather than 30 years. Such reform enthusiasm resulting from desperation would surely make Obama green with envy. This applies in particular to the "Icelandic Modern Media Initiative" (IMMI), which is supported by a broad majority of the population and parliament. If the initiative is adopted, Iceland will overtake the USA overnight as the global protective power for freedom of expression and transparent information in business and politics.
The driving force behind this epoch-making initiative is the Wikileaks Internet service, legally domiciled in Iceland, where anyone can anonymously publish documents about unethical behavior by companies or governments. Launched in 2006 by a number of committed journalists and lawyers, this contemporary central organ for civil courage has already produced more scoops than many world newspapers in their entire history. Last summer, Wikileaks published insider information about who received which uncovered loans from Kaupthing, the largest Icelandic bank at the time, and how around five billion dollars were taken out of the country shortly before the collapse. Kaupthing "naturally" had the explosive link to these internal details blocked immediately by means of a temporary injunction. Thanks to courageous TV editors, however, the story still made it into the main news program.
It is high time to put a stop to such de facto censorship, which is also common in this country, and to create a binding legal basis for dealing with sensitive data and internal whistleblowers that is appropriate for the Internet age. Iceland is taking a bold step forward here and making a virtue of its current need for media policy. Today, the democratic control function of journalism is increasingly being constrained by national legislation. Be it with the argument of public safety or under the pretext of protecting alleged property or personal rights, which in practice often amount to censorship that can be more or less legitimized by law.
According to the bill, which was clearly adopted at first reading, journalistic sources will enjoy far-reaching protection and, particularly important in the global news business, will be placed beyond the reach of any foreign plaintiffs. For global media companies and internet providers, this extremely liberal regulation is an invitation to operate from the "free port of information", just like Wikileaks. For beleaguered Iceland, on the other hand, the new law represents a massive locational advantage. And for us old offshore profiteers, it is an invitation to actively support the originators of this initiative.
Because Wikileaks is also almost bankrupt. Half of the modest annual budget of just over 600,000 francs is still not under the roof, which is why the website is currently dominated by an appeal for donations instead of links to confidential documents. It is a perverse irony of fate that this important internet platform is on the brink of collapse at the height of its influence. I am therefore transferring my - equally modest - column fee to Iceland and asking you, dear reader, to make a solidarity contribution to Wikileaks. And if Roger Blum or any other trustee of the Solothurn Vogt-Schild Foundation reads this: Why not invest one fiftieth of the CHF 20 million that your institution has released from the sale of the Vogt-Schild Group in securing the future of investigative journalism and thus promote what is probably the most effective means against tax havens, namely journalism havens? A Swiss publishing house would certainly make positive headlines with such a gesture of compensation.
