Penn:
As you rightly point out, there is a lot of uncertainty here in Iceland at the moment. Therefore, we don’t feel that anybody’s interests are best served by speculation on this website, or in any other media. However, I hope you might have noticed some of our stories getting a little edgier recently (as and when we have the facts or prominent public figures to back them up)?

As far as the Great Icelandic Depression goes; there simply is very little to report yet. There are lay-offs and companies going under, and loans are horribly expensive; but the vast majority of people do still have their jobs.

The shopping malls are full of shoppers and still full of shops with things to buy, just like they always were. In fact, I was personally surprised at just how busy it was last week and how easily and cheaply I was able to buy Halloween pumpkins, fresh coconut and real English cheddar cheese.

Things are going to get worse – we know that. But a lot of people are quietly confident that things won’t get nearly as bad as you predict.

Thanks, once again, for reading IceNews
Alëx

I appreciate what IceNews is doing, by giving out the Icelandic side of things. However, what I’ve seen on this newspaper is just a string of laudatory articles, laudatory toward the country and the government and the financial situation. There’s nothing wrong with a little optimism and sunshine, but when your country is facing a Great Depression – worse, starvation – I would expect the English-language newspaper to demonstrate a little more moxie in going after the leaders and the bankers. Also, I’d expect it to report the facts. I get the feeling that the facts are being ignored.

The facts as I see them are thus: Iceland’s currency no longer has an exchange rate, which means imports are precarious at best, impossible at worse. Further, the Central Bank is bankrupt and I can scarcely imagine how it will support the thousands of people who lose their jobs, or drown in debt dominated in foreign currencies. Even further, there are no signs of the IMF loan coming thru. In fact, it looks to be receding out of Reykjavik Harbor, out onto the horizon, gone forever. Without that crucial loan, which may or may not be predicated on getting an agreement with the hated British, Iceland is going to… well, we don’t know what’s going to happen. The world is slowing turning its eyeballs away, and there are few reports out of Iceland on the food or financial situation for ordinary people. But I fear ordinary people will be obliterated by this unless the government is changed before winter and the press (what’s left of it) demands answers. How did the government allow this to happen? Where are the bankers? Is there a way to absolve the debt? Is there a back up plan, in case the food supplies run out and the credit cards jam for everyone? Is there a survival plan? How are you going to survive this?

I haven’t seen any answers to this question.

Sincerely,
Penn Bullock, journalist for the Miami and Broward Palm Beach New Times

So, while I appreciate that there is no such thing as unbiased media, I also assure you that IceNews is not censored or restricted by anyone.

Thanks for reading IceNews,

Alëx, IceNews editor

If Icenews is the apotheosis of press freedom, then there is no such thing anywhere.