Bergþór says media oversight threatens freedom of expression

Centre Party MP Bergþór Ólason says Iceland’s threshold for classifying an activity as a media outlet is far too low, raising concerns about freedom of expression. He made the comments in an interview on Morgunblaðið’s Dagmál programme, reported by mbl.is.

Ólason criticised the Media Commission, the body that oversees media, for scrutinising podcasts and for treating opinion-forming content as a reason for state oversight. The debate is linked to his bill proposing that the commission be abolished.

The interview discussed podcasts whose hosts have objected to being placed under the commission’s oversight, including programmes by Þórarinn Hjartarson and Komið gott, hosted by Ólöf Skaftadóttir and Kristín Gunnarsdóttir. Ólason also mentioned his own podcast with Centre Party leader Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Sjónvarpslausir fimmtudagar, or TV-Free Thursdays. He joked that they were annoyed not to have been included in the oversight “carousel”.

He said their podcast is explicitly intended to shape opinions and make fun of political opponents, and questioned whether it was backwards for those opinions to attract particular interest from the authorities.

While preparing his bill, Ólason said, he was unsettled by how little concern there seemed to be about intervening in people’s rights. He argued that the definition of a media outlet was set far too broadly and said the commission should have questioned whether it was going down the wrong path.

Ólason said he feared similar attitudes existed in other public institutions, where officials might use their positions to advance political goals. Those who want to work that way, he said, should enter politics and run for office. He also cited the Competition Authority as an example of an institution through which he believes political objectives are being pursued.