plausible futures

UPDATE: Collateral Murder.

In the early 90′s many thought the internet would enable authentic journalism and redefine freedom of the press. Almost 20 years later very little has happened with traditional news journalism. Most news articles are copies from press releases and intelligence agencies and are embedded in news media. Injunctions and libel law are being used to supress whistleblowers and the exposure of corruption. So what happened to the promise of a truly free press?

During the economic meltdown of Iceland many shady deals were made between Icelandic banks and authorities and international banks. WikiLeaks was the first source of these dealings and made the public aware of the actual strategy behind there backs. A strategy of maxing out loans and later pass the bill over to the public.

The Icelandic public were outraged and decided to rewrite the laws to avoid this happening again. On of these proposals are the Icelandic Modern Media Inititativ. The law is written with the intention of protecting investigative journalism around the world and making Iceland a safehaven for journalists, sources and service providers. Learn more about this law in the video below:

Also see “The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters” from Glenn Greenwald at Salon, “Wikileaks in the crosshairs” from Guardian and “Wikileaks to Screen Classified U.S. Air Strike Video Monday” from Gawker.

Read the latest leak from WikiLeaks “Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission—Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough” (PDF).