Information on media laws and regulation are easily accessible online, provided by parliament and relevant ministries. All media are required to provide the MC with detailed information regarding ownership, and rules on Editorial Independence and Mission Statements are published annually on the MC’s website (Fjölmiðlanefnd.is). Information on ownership is also found in every edition of printed papers and on web pages of the media companies, along with information on board members, key management, and editors.
Recently, it was revealed that the former owner of the newspaper DV (now owned by Torg) had kept the paper afloat for years with loans from a well-known investor and billionaire, who had been DV’s sole creditor and de facto the influential “owner” (Kjarninn, 2020). This has led to calls for amendments to the Media Act, requiring media companies to not only disclose their owners but also their biggest creditors.
The public broadcaster RÚV is required by law to publish business reports containing information on its financial performance and on its programming annually (RÚV, 2019a). The MC also evaluates RÚV’s fulfilment of its Public Service Remit (latest report 2019) and makes this evaluation available online every year (Media Commission, 2020c).
Public authorities do not monitor the media market to the extent done in many other countries, and the industry itself has not agreed upon the gathering of key indicators (Ohlsson & Facht, 2017). The Media Commission is also, by law, obligated to collect data on the status and development of the media market. However, it has done so to a very limited extent as it has been chronically underfinanced and understaffed (Jóhannsdóttir & Ólafsson, 2018). Statistics Iceland also collects data on the media market, but its resources are also insufficient.
Only publicly traded companies are obligated to publish their business results, and the only media company on the stock market is the telecom and media company Sýn. It publishes its annual report online (the latest from 2019).
Private media companies are not obliged to publish their business results and refrain from doing so. However, all private companies are required to send annual business reports to the Iceland Revenue and Customs, and transcripts have recently been made available online at no cost.
