“Not the state’s role to act as a subscription broker for media”
"Guðmundur Ari Sigurjónsson, parliamentary group chair of the Social Democratic Alliance, considers the situation of privately run media in Iceland regrettable." Composite image/mbl.is / Eyþór / Eggert Jóhannesson
Guðmundur Ari Sigurjónsson, parliamentary group chair of the Social Democratic Alliance and member of the Parliament’s General and Educational Affairs Committee, says it has been difficult to watch the developments in the Icelandic media market in recent years.
The decision by the media company Sýn to stop broadcasting evening news on weekends and public holidays has sparked discussion about the state of privately owned media. The cuts at Sýn’s newsroom are the result of the company adjusting its operations to the increasingly difficult business environment facing private media in Iceland, according to the company’s announcement.
“We want to have strong and vibrant privately run media in Iceland, and for that reason I find this situation regrettable,” Sigurjónsson tells mbl.is.
He says the situation must be taken seriously and that real measures are needed to strengthen the position of private media in Iceland.
Increase predictability and improve operating conditions
Asked what could be done to support private media in Iceland, Sigurjónsson points to the comprehensive review of the Icelandic media landscape announced by Minister of Culture LogiEinarsson, which he understands will be presented to the government next week.
He says that various working groups have been convened on this issue and that many ideas have been discussed.
“I believe there is a lot that can be done regarding media policy in Iceland, and the most important thing is to increase predictability and improve their operating environment,” he says.
Such actions, he notes, include revisiting the government subsidies granted to media outlets in recent years, as well as examining the advertising market — how the state itself behaves in that market and where public-sector advertising money is invested.
He adds that it is also important to thoroughly examine the role of the national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV).
A loud debate across the Nordic countries
Sigurjónsson says that a similar debate is underway in the other Nordic countries and that it was interesting to hear comparable accounts from representatives of Denmark and Norway at a Nordic Council meeting earlier this autumn.
“These countries also view their media markets as very small in a global context, and the development has been similar there — with the rise of social media and the greatly increased access to international media, consumption of domestic media and advertising revenue for domestic outlets are declining.”
Not in favor of reallocating the broadcasting levy
Sigurjónsson says all ideas should be examined in the upcoming comprehensive review, although he is not fully in agreement with the parliamentary resolution proposed by members of the Independence Party and Centre Party to reallocate the broadcasting levy, as many questions remain unanswered.
“It’s important not to begin this review by ruling anything out, but for example I find the discussion lacking in terms of how we would define the criteria for allocating the head tax to more entities if we were to go down that route,” Sigurjónsson says.
As for himself, he does not see it as the state’s role to act as a subscription broker for media.
“In my view, the state should define which functions ought to be supported with public funding — on the one hand the public-interest media function, and on the other the role of RÚV, which has a distinct responsibility toward our language and culture, along with news.”
