In Iceland, threats and harassment of journalists were rare, but there were some occasional mild and non-violent cases in the form of phone calls, emails, or posts and comments on social media. According to the journalists, none of them had experienced any serious threats, but several had received unfriendly comments offline and online, particularly the female journalists. On some occasions, these had been discussed with their bosses, who had offered support. The editors interviewed mentioned that their outlet would offer support to the journalists in case of harassment, and most discussed this in relation to contacting the police. The interviews illustrated that the public service broadcaster RÚV and the private media house Sýn appeared to have the clearest structure in case journalists needed protection.
Recently – and after interviews were conducted for this research – Iceland’s largest fisheries company, Samherji, has employed various methods against media and journalists that have reported on the company’s alleged illegal activities in Namibia, Africa, currently under investigation (Júlíusson, 2021). The company has, for example, published several videos on YouTube, as well as articles in newspapers and on the company’s website, to refute the reporting and accusing individual journalists of dishonesty and malpractice. An employee of Samherji also stalked one of RÚV’s investigative reporters for months, and bombarded him with threatening text messages. Massive charges were filed to RÚV’s internal Ethics Committee, charging ten RÚV journalists for violating a clause that forbids them from expressing views on contested matters on social media (a highly criticised clause) – one of the reporters was found to be in violation. These counter-measures from someone subject to critical, investigative reporting are unprecedented, and are of concern to Icelandic journalists, but it remains to be seen whether other actors will take up similar tactics.
