Páll Magnússon, RUV's Director and co-news announcer.
A large meeting last night, held by the Left-Green Party, with party members the Culture Minister and RUV’s Chairman of the Board present, demanded the immidiate removal of RUV Director Páll Magnússon from office. Many members of the film community attended the meeting and a number of them took the stage, asking the minister and the chairmen many urgent questions about the state of pubcaster RUV and the recent cuts in film funding.
Many filmmakers and others took the podium and argued that the cuts would devastate the industry. Filmmakers accepted that some cuts were inevitable but argued that the film funding cuts were out of all proportion to other cuts in arts funding, and RUV’s decision to stop buying programming from independent producers would not only be the final nail in the coffin but also go directly against RUV’s duties as stated by law. The Director had neglected his duties and had to go.
A specially interesting comment came from a recently laid-off programme maker at RUV Radio 1,the old flagship. She spoke very critically of the mood inside RUV and said the highly qualified staff suffered from serious co-dependency as they tried to fulfill their duties, constantly wondering about “daddy’s temper” on a particular day, referring to the top brass.
The meeting had a feeling of something special in the air, it was like a ball had started rolling, steadily gathering speed. Although the Culture Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, didn’t commit to a particular action, she said it was evident that disagreement about RUV had intensified throughout society since its incorporation in 2007, and something had to be done about it. She implied that some changes at RUV’s top would be forthcoming.
When asked if she would fire Mr. Magnússon at today’s annual general meeting of RUV, Ms. Svanhildur Kaaber, RUV’s Chairman of the Board, said she heard the meeting’s message loud and clear and would take it away in her “head and heart”. Only the Althingi selected board can fire the Director.
Pingback: Pressure Mounts on RUV's Director, Nordic and European Trade Media Coverage | Iceland Cinema Now