Small in size, like its population, Iceland’s media market is characterized by a concentration of media outlets dominated by four groups. After the bankruptcy of a major daily, Iceland now has a single daily, two weeklies, several regional newspapers, and online media outlets. The broadcast market is dominated by the public broadcaster RUV.

Thanks to laws and internal rules and regulations, the leading national media are, generally, independent, including the public broadcaster RUV, whose board of directors is appointed by Parliament. However, journalists in the local media are more vulnerable to influence from local authorities and businesses. In recent years, the work of journalists has been the subject of virulent criticism in Parliament, which has been perceived by some reporters as a form of political pressure.

The legal framework guarantees freedom of the press and access to public information. In practice, however, applying these laws may prove to be deficient, as seen in 2023, when insufficiently justified restrictions were placed on journalists’ access to natural disaster areas. Rounding out the picture is an effective self-regulatory system based on a code of ethics. Defamation and insulting foreign countries are still criminalised.

While investigative journalism is benefiting from significant momentum following in-depth coverage of major corruption cases, advertising revenue, limited due to the market’s small size, has fallen. To compensate for this decline, the government has provided unprecedented financial support to the media. Some fear, however, that these public funds will favor large media groups to the detriment of media pluralism.

While the media enjoy considerable public trust, journalistic independence is threatened by business interests, especially from the island’s main economic sector, fishing. Big fishing companies own media outlets, which raises questions of conflict of interest. Furthermore, since 2019, journalists who covered the Fishrot Files – suspected corruption in Namibia by a major fishing company – have been subjected to a smear campaign and a police investigation.

Even though reporters are relatively safe from physical violence, women journalists are occasionally subjected to threats via telephone calls or comments on social media. This problem has been growing in recent years.