Iceland's Involvement in Bribes and Corruption in Namibia's Fishing
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Iceland’s involvement in bribes and corruption in Namibia’s fishing industry - Discourse analysis of the media Master's Thesis Culture, Communication and Globalisation September 15th 2020 Sól Margrét Bjarnadóttir Study no: 20180664 Keystrokes: 117.061 Supervisor: Oscar Garcia Augustin Abstract This thesis aims to examine the discourse in the Icelandic media coverage on the so-called Samherja case from the period on November 12, 2019, until July 12, 2020. The case concerns a significant document leak including over 30.000 documents on one of the biggest fishing companies of Iceland, Samherji, and their considered corrupt involvement in the fishing industry in Namibia. The theoretical framework consisted of perspectives in both international relations and media with a focus on poststructuralism, trust theories, theories on small state and then media theory of agenda-setting. The researcher used of mixed-method, including content analysis of media coverage and discourse analysis of those. Three media were analyses Stundin, Fréttablaðið and Morgunblaðið, which should give a holistic picture of the discourse in the media in general. The purpose was not to form a new theory from the data; rather, the focus is on the complex relations between social structure and discourse situation at any moment. From the perspective of constructivism and poststructuralism, we identify objects or themes that spin through the discourse and form a regime of truth. The analysis of data revealed four ideological standpoints that shaped the discourse: Corruption within, Exploitation of Namibian resources, Reputation of Iceland internationally, Mistrust and disputes in government. It could, therefore, be concluded from the analysis that corruption is considered a problem in the country. The problem is not always limited to corruption as such, but also to its consequences, as corruption tends to undermine democracy, hurts reputation and creates mistrust. Such mistrust creates political instability and causes disconnections between the public and those in power. Consequently, it cannot be ruled out that the media has played a part in maintaining the discourse which supports to the theory of agenda-setting that the media is in fact in the role of the chair by putting issues on the agenda and thus shaping the public debate. Keywords: Discourse analysis, Poststructuralism, Trust theories, Media, Iceland, Namibia, Samherji, i Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Problem formulation .........................................................................................................................2 2. Theoretical perspectives ...................................................................................................... 4 2.1. Approaches within International relations ........................................................................................4 2.1.1. Constructivism and Poststructuralism ......................................................................................5 2.1.2. Trust within International Relations .........................................................................................7 2.1.3. Small State Studies ....................................................................................................................9 2.2. Media studies ..................................................................................................................................12 2.2.1. Agenda setting and framing ....................................................................................................13 2.2.2. Media in Iceland ......................................................................................................................14 2.3. Summary and application of the theoretical framework .................................................................15 3. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.1. Research design and strategy ..........................................................................................................16 3.2. Discourse analysis ..........................................................................................................................18 3.3. Data collection and processing .......................................................................................................20 3.4. Validity and reliability ....................................................................................................................21 3.5. Limitations ......................................................................................................................................22 4. Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 23 4.1. Background to the case - Iceland in Namibia .................................................................................23 4.2. Introduction to analysis ...................................................................................................................26 4.3. Discourse analysis in the media in Iceland .....................................................................................27 4.3.1. Corruption within ....................................................................................................................28 4.3.2. Exploitation of Namibian resources ........................................................................................32 4.3.3. Reputation of Iceland internationally......................................................................................34 4.3.4. Mistrust and disputes in government.......................................................................................36 4.4. Overall result of analysis ................................................................................................................37 4.4.1. Analysis of the discourse from a international relations point of view ...................................39 4.4.2. Analysis of the discourse from media studies of agenda setting and framing ........................41 5. Discussion............................................................................................................................ 42 6. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 43 7. References ........................................................................................................................... 45 ii Introduction On November 12th, 2019, a significant document leak came on the surface including over 30.000 documents on one of the biggest fishing companies of Iceland, Samherji, and their corrupt involvement in the fishing industry in Namibia. The documents, referred to as Samherja files or case in the media were made available on WikiLeaks and introduced to the Icelandic people in a special news commentator episode, Kveikur (Stundin, 12.11.2019). In the aftermath, Namibia’s justice and fisheries ministers resigned over bribery claims, and the CEO of Samherji briefly stepped aside. The scandal is still under investigation both domestically within Iceland and Namibia. Several individuals remand in custody in Namibia, but further information is yet to be made public (Fréttablaðið, 03.06.2020). The discourse on the case has been extensive within Icelandic society and the media and though the government of Iceland has not proved direct involvement in the case the state was involved in formal bilateral agreement in providing development assistance to the country from Namibia’s independence in 1990 until 2010 (Bogason, 2014). Although Iceland is generally successful in the international comparison of corruption, there is still constant news of unethical actions in Icelandic business and political life, and there seems to be a certain lack of provision to eradicate it. It can best be attributed to lack of supervision and legislation, but it has been shown over the years to be deficient in the country (Stundin, 22.12.2019). Due to the secretive nature of corruption itself, this paper will not make any attempt to judge how much of it is occurring in Iceland. Instead, this paper will analyse the discourse of the case in the media and discuss how it has developed. According to a survey conducted soon after the news of Samherji’s involvement in Namibia Icelanders considers corruption high in the business sphere and government, measuring up to 73% on both parts (Maskína, 2019). As the information on the case could not have been accessible without the media doing their investigating work, the researcher thought it would be highly appropriate to focus on discourse in the media for this thesis. In line with the discourse on corruption, trust has been another concept that has influenced the discussion. Trust in the government showed decreasing following the news on Samherji’s case. Government responses to the situation where strategies that should increase trust to the government, among some that they stated were; Increase transparency in the operations of larger unlisted companies and large fisheries companies. Promote international assessment and 1 improvement of fisheries and protection against conflicts of interest and bribery (Stjórnarráðið, 2019). 1.1. Problem formulation The paper aims to compile the