Kristinn Hrafnsson
Kristinn Hrafnsson speaks in Brisbane, Australia, in June 2011
Born (1962-06-25) 25 June 1962 (age 61)[1]
Occupationinvestigative journalist
Known forSpokesperson for WikiLeaks

Kristinn Hrafnsson (born 25 June 1962) is an Icelandic investigative journalist who has been the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks since 2018.[2][3][4] He was the spokesperson for WikiLeaks between 2010 and 2017.[5]

Career

He has worked at various newspapers in Iceland and hosted the television programme Kompás on the Icelandic channel Stöð 2, where he and his team often exposed criminal activity and corruption in high places. In February 2009, while investigating the connection between Iceland's Kaupthing Bank and Robert Tchenguiz and Vincent Tchenguiz, the programme was taken off air and Kristinn and his crew were sacked.[6]

Shortly thereafter, Kristinn was hired by RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service). In August 2009, he was working on a story about Kaupthing's loan book which had just been published on WikiLeaks, when the bank got a gag order issued by the Reykjavik sheriff's office, banning RÚV from reporting on the loan book.[7] The prohibition order was withdrawn later.[8]

In April 2010, he flew to Baghdad to interview children of the military attack in the Collateral Murder video published by WikiLeaks.[9] He also helped produce the video, winning him the Icelandic journalist of the year award for 2010.[10] Kristinn's contract with RÚV ended in July 2010.[11]

Beginning in 2010, he collaborated with WikiLeaks, serving as the organisation's spokesman after founder Julian Assange began to have legal problems. He has called the December 2010 attacks on WikiLeaks by MasterCard, Visa, and others a "privatisation of censorship".[12] In 2012, in his capacity as WikiLeaks spokesman, he defended the organisation on the website of Swedish Television against what he described as a smear campaign by the Swedish tabloid Expressen.[13]

Kristinn has been named Icelandic journalist of the year three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2010 by Iceland's National Union of Journalists.[14]

In early 2017, Kristinn stated that he was no longer spokesperson for WikiLeaks.[15][16]

It was announced on 26 September 2018 that Kristinn Hrafnsson had been appointed editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks by Julian Assange following an extended period in which Assange lost access to the internet earlier in the year. WikiLeaks said Assange would remain as publisher.[17]

References

  1. ^ Louise Osborne (10 December 2010). "Wikileaks-Sprecher Kristinn Hrafnsson: 'Wir hatten einen Notfallplan'" [Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson: 'We had a contingency plan']. Die Tageszeitung (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Wikieaks takes swipe at the famously secret Vatican". The Washington Post. 18 January 2019.
  3. ^ "WikiLeaks names one-time spokesman as editor-in-chief". AP NEWS. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  4. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "WikiLeaks names new editor-in-chief as Julian Assange sits in Ecuadorian Embassy | DW | 26.09.2018". DW.COM. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  5. ^ Andy Greenberg (7 December 2010). "Meet The New Public Face of WikiLeaks: Kristinn Hrafnsson". Forbes. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  6. ^ Victor-M Amela; Ima Sanchiz; Lluis Amiguet (17 June 2011). "Vivimos asediados por la Administración de EE.UU" [We live under siege by U.S. Government]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  7. ^ Hafsteinn Gunnar Hauksson (1 August 2009). "Kaupþing fékk lögbann á umfjöllun RÚV" [Kaupþing receives an injunction on the RÚV coverage]. Vísir (in Icelandic). Reykjavík. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. ^ Jón Hákon Halldórsson (4 August 2009). "Lögbanni aflétt af fréttaflutningi RÚV" [Injunction lifted on news reporting by RÚV]. Vísir (in Icelandic). Reykjavík. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  9. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "Meet The New Public Face Of WikiLeaks: Kristinn Hrafnsson". Forbes. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  10. ^ "WikiLeaks spokesman wins Journalist of the Year in Iceland". Times of Malta. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Kristinn Hrafnsson rekinn af Ríkisútvarpinu" [Kristinn Hrafnsson fired by the National Broadcasting Service]. Pressan (in Icelandic). Reykjavík. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  12. ^ "WikiLeaks Rep in Iceland Requests Government Support". Iceland Review. 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Wikileaks: Vi tänker inte smutskasta Sverige" [WikiLeaks: We do not intend to denigrate Sweden]. Debatt (in Swedish). 5 March 2012. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  14. ^ "WikiLeaks spokesman wins Journalist of the Year in Iceland". The Times. Valletta, Malta. AFP. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  15. ^ Lang, Jeffrey. "Wikileaks loses spokesman leaving Julian Assange alone facing eviction". 1 Mar 2017. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  16. ^ Former Wikileaks Spokesperson On Manning Sentence Commute: "Victory For Justice"
  17. ^ Bridge, Mark (27 September 2018). "Loss of internet forces Assange to step down from Wikileaks editor role". The Times. Retrieved 11 April 2019.(subscription required)
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