Iceland may soon become utopia for journalists and publishers

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Free Press Haven
Iceland may soon become utopia for journalists and publishers.

By Samuel Knight


Icelandic members of parliament have plans to transform their crisis-ridden North-Atlantic nation into a sanctuary for publishers, production companies and information technology firms from around the world.

“It would free the press from fear,” says Thor Saari, one of the members of parliament spearheading the proposal, which is known as the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI). Iceland’s Parliament, the Althingi, is expected to support the effort.

To craft their bill, members of parliament (MPs) drew on existing laws in the United States and European countries. “We tried to find the best (laws) in each country and merge it all into one proposal that the government will enact as legislation,” Saari says. A draft of the initiative proposes strengthening protection for whistleblowers, ensuring the anonymity of journalists’ sources, liberalizing the country’s freedom of information regulations, and creating Iceland’s first international award, which would honor freedom of expression.

The energy behind IMMI comes from the three MPs who belong to a protest party called the Movement and from members of the ruling Social Democrat/Left-Green coalition. They have received help from Julian Assange and Daniel Schmitt, the founders of the website Wikileaks. Assange and Schmitt became heroes in Iceland after publishing details of corporate loans issued by Kaupthing, a failed Icelandic bank. State television was forbidden by a court order to reveal the information due to banking secrecy laws. It appeared instead on Wikileaks. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5701/free_press_haven

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Very promising

They could become Server Central for the online media world.

[Generic Brad]

2. Maybe they could write our history books instead of the Texan publishers

:think:

[marmar]

3. I'm all for that.

[The Doctor.]

4. Damn....

What's the immigration policy there?

[HeresyLives]

5. That's a clever idea.

SOMEbody's thinking!