Kristinn Hrafnsson (born 25 June 1962) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

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

Kristinn has worked at various newspapers in Iceland and hosted the television programme ''Kompás'' on the Icelandic channel Stöð 2, where he and his team exposed criminal activity and corruption in high places. In February 2009, while investigating the connection between Iceland's

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank (, ) 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-based operations were ...

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

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

(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 The prohibition order was withdrawn later.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 Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

began to have legal problems. He has called the December 2010 attacks on WikiLeaks by MasterCard, Visa, and others a "

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

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 governmen ...

". 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 (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue". The newspaper awards the cultu ...

. 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

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 People associated with WikiLeaks