Kristinn Hrafnsson (born 25 June 1962) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic investigative journalist who has been the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

since 2018. He was the

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for WikiLeaks between 2010 and 2017.

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 Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...

and

Robert Tchenguiz Robert Tchenguiz (born 9 September 1960) is a British entrepreneur, property investor, activist shareholder and securities dealer. The younger brother of Vincent Tchenguiz, he undertook a series of corporate deals, focusing particularly on proper ...

and

Vincent Tchenguiz Vincent Tchenguiz (born 9 October 1956) is an Iranian-British entrepreneur born in Tehran. Robert Tchenguiz is his younger brother. Tchenguiz is known as a major donor to the Conservative Party (UK) and an investor in the controversial company ...

, the programme was taken off air and Kristinn and his crew were sacked. Shortly thereafter, Kristinn was hired by

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

(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. The prohibition order was withdrawn later. In April 2010, he flew to Baghdad to interview children of the military attack in the Collateral Murder video published by WikiLeaks. He also helped produce the video, winning him the Icelandic journalist of the year award for 2010. Kristinn's contract with RÚV ended in July 2010. 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 Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

, and others a " privatisation of

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

". 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. Kristinn has been named Icelandic journalist of the year three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2010 by Iceland's National Union of Journalists. In early 2017, Kristinn stated that he was no longer spokesperson for WikiLeaks. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrafnsson, Kristinn 1962 births Living people

Kristinn Hrafnsson Kristinn Hrafnsson (born 25 June 1962) is an Icelandic investigative journalist who has been the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks since 2018. He was the spokesperson for WikiLeaks between 2010 and 2017. Career He has worked at various newspapers i ...

WikiLeaks