Iceland intends to become a bastion for global press freedom under a package of laws proposed by opposition MPs to defend freedom of speech, and protect sources and fight libel tourism.
With the help of Wikileaks, the online whistleblowing site, the MPs have launched the Icelandic Modern Media Intiative, with the goal of turning the country into a global haven for investigative journalism.
The proposal, which has widespread backing among Iceland's 51 MPs, is scheduled to come before the Althingi, Iceland's parliament, next Tuesday, in the first step towards turning the idea into law.
"It is a good project for political change," said Róbert Marshall, a member of the ruling Social Democratic Alliance party. "We have been through a difficult period and this is an initiative that can unite the whole political scene."
As a former journalist Marshall is keen on the creation of the Icelandic Prize for Freedom of Expression. A haven for free expression would, he said, help counter the growing practice of libel tourism. British courts in particular, have become a favoured destination for complainants seeking to take advantage of the UK's plaintiff-friendly libel laws. The House of Lords recently established a government panel to look into the possibility of amending its laws to make it tougher for foreigners to bring defamation suits in Britain, amid fears that current British law was having a "chilling effect" on freedom of expression.
With a population of just 320,000, Iceland's ambition to transform itself from a country heavily dependent upon fishing into a financial powerhouse, went up in smoke after the 2008 credit crunch. The failure of Landsbanki and the bailout of its online savings bank, Icesave, left Icelanders picking up the tab after the government had to find funds to repay creditors in Britain and the Netherlands.
The new legislation has won support from Julian Assange and Daniel Schmitt, the co-founders of the Wikileaks website.
Assange wrote in an email from Iceland last week: "I have been [here] the past few weeks advising parliamentarians here on a cross-party proposal to turn Iceland into an international 'journalism haven' – a jursidiction designed to attract organisations into publishing online from Iceland, by adopting the strongest press and source protection laws from around the world."
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