A highly circulated news story about the progress Chinese investor Huang Nubo is making in purchasing land in Iceland contains a false attribution to the Reykjavík Grapevine.
As many readers know, Huang Nubo is currently awaiting approval to purchase land in northeast Iceland, upon which he intends to build a luxury hotel. At the moment, the Ministry of the Interior is reviewing his case.
A new article on the subject, published by China Daily, contends among other things, “A recent opinion poll in The Reykjavik Grapevine saw 60 percent of the respondents in favor of the sale, Huang said”.
The Grapevine would like to confirm for its readers that it has never run an opinion poll on the Huang Nubo question, so at least this part of the article is factually incorrect.
Nubo is still waiting for a firm answer from Icelandic authorities. Despite his confidence, Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson – who holds the ultimate power over the decision – has not given any public indication for or against the sale.
UPDATE: Alert reader Lára Hanna Einarsdóttir pointed out that either Huang Nubo or the author of the China Daily article were referring to this article, which cites a poll conducted by Fréttablaðið and Stöð 2 early last September. Again, this poll was not conducted by Grapevine.
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