Search results : 25

The Reykjavik District Court on 2 February 2018 delivered a judgment in the case of Glitnir Holdco v. Reykjavik Media and Stundin (case nr. E-3434/2017) concerning an injunction issued by the Reykjavik District Commissioner in October 2017. The injunction prohibited media outlets from reporting on the financial dealings of the clients of an Icelandic bank, Glitnir Holdco, including Bjarni Benediktsson, former Prime Minister and current Financial Minister of Iceland. The editor of Stundin magazine was informed of the injunction when their offices received a visit from representatives of the District...

On 25 January 2018, the Commission on the operating environment of independent media presented to the Icelandic Minister of Culture and Education, Ms. Lilja Alfreðsdóttir, its report entitled “The operation environment of the media - Commission proposals on an improved operation environment of independent media.” The Commission proposed various changes to the current media policy instrument: firstly, a time-limited 25% refund of costs directly related to the production of news and current affairs in the media. The refund will apply to all licensed and registered media; television, radio, newspapers,...

On 7 November 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in Einarsson v. Iceland, concerning a public figure’s claim that his right to reputation had been violated following an Icelandic Supreme Court decision that a post on the image-sharing platform Instagram was not defamatory. The applicant in the case was a well-known author and media personality in Iceland. On 22 November 2012, X published an altered picture of the applicant on his Instagram account, drawing an upside-down cross on the applicant’s forehead, writing “loser” across his face, and with the caption...

On 28 June 2017, the Icelandic regulator for the media, Fjölmiðlanefnd (the Media Commission), published an opinion in respect of television programmes featuring three political parties, broadcast on the TV channel Hringbraut, and on the website Hringbraut.is. Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 29 October 2016. Twelve political parties ran in the elections and prior to the elections several election programmes were broadcast on Hringbraut featuring three of the 12 parties. The programmes were also accessible on the Hringbraut.is website. In October 2016, the Media Commission received...

In a case against Iceland, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) stated that a journalist responsible for a TV news item causing prejudice to an identifiable public person must give relevant evidence that he or she has been acting in good faith as pertains to the accuracy of the allegations in the news item. The ECtHR also made clear that a journalist cannot shield behind his right to protect his sources where he cannot produce evidence of serious accusations uttered in a news item, tarnishing a person’s reputation as protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The...