Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson, CEO of Samherji, today wrote an open letter to Samherji employees on the company’s website, where he addressed Aftenposten’s apologies for writing about the company and alleged corruption on last month. He fired solid shots in the letter and came to the conclusion that journalism in Iceland was not in high
The reason for the letter is that last Wednesday, Aftenposten’s special newspaper in Norway, Innsikt, published a detailed apology for the cover that appeared last month. The apology appears to stem from Samherji’s comments on the article, and it appears the newspaper’s editorial team on the article was poorly composed.
Condemns Icelandic media narrative
“This is the first time that a reputable media outlet has accepted our view that one-sided and biased narratives have no place in quality media coverage, as we have truly experienced here in Iceland and abroad. ‘foreigner,’ Þorsteinn Már says in his letter. .
In Aftenposten Innsikt’s apology, it is stated that there were various misrepresentations in the article and there was a lack of rebuttal from Samherji. Þorsteinn reviews the shortcomings of the article at length, then he condemns the fact that the Icelandic media picked up the article and covered it uncritically.
“The methodology is familiar to us; the articles are communicated to foreign media and then retransmitted in Iceland. “Many such articles have appeared in foreign media, and all of them have been burned to such an extent that Aftenposten now apologizes,” the CEO writes.
Awaiting media apologies
Þorsteinn Már does not name the interviewees, but there are whistleblowers besides Jóhannes Stefánsson, Sigríður Dögg Auðunsdóttir, president of the Association of Icelandic Journalists, Þórður Snær Júlíusson, editor of Heimildarin, and Atli Þór Fanndal, who heads Transparency International Islands Division.
“Aftenposten, which is one of Norway’s most respected media, made a mistake, but he had the courage and the ability of a sophisticated media to correct the errors without hesitation and in a visible way. In my opinion, This apology from Aftenposten is a big step for all of us. We have come together to solve the problems and now we have an unexpected ally from Norway who agrees with us. Icelandic media used this fake article from Aftenposten and based their information on it. They can also be expected to issue an apology as soon as possible, although such practices are somewhat foreign to them,” writes Þorsteinn Már.
Here you can read Þorstein Más’ letter in its entirety .
