The share of freelancers in the media has been increasing for years in many countries, but until recently, there has been little research-based knowledge about the scope of freelance work and the working conditions of journalists, photographers, and critics without permanent employment in the media.
Sunday, 19 October 2025 at 3.30 PM at Cinemateket, Oslo
Fritt Ord, Masahat and Oslo Dokumentarkino invite you to a lecture and conversation with Nadim Nashif about Big Tech’s complisity in the genocide in Gaza.
VG journalist Håkon F. Høydal has been awarded Fritt Ord’s journalism fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford in the spring of 2026.
His project explores what journalists can learn from new trauma research when interviewing both “monsters and victims” in crime and abuse cases.
Monday 29 September 2025 at 6.30–8 pm at Vega Scene, Oslo
“While art is often relegated to the bottom of financial priorities, it paradoxically becomes the first target of dictators.”
Fritt Ord invites you to a presentation of a hyper-relevant, upcoming documentary film “Untitled” from Georgia and a conversation with two film directors about the political developments in the country in collaboration with Oslo Dokumentarkino, Stray Dogs Norway, Viken Filmsenter and the Norwegian Film Federation. Journalist Ingerid Salvesen is the moderator. For the safety of the filmmakers, we will not mention their names in advance.
Integral Film has been given grant for the production of the documentary “Rehearsal for Justice” by Palestinian filmmaker Dalia AlKury. “The film is not for the faint of heart,” says the director. See all the projects that received funding in September 2025.
The Fritt Ord Foundation and the ZEIT Stiftung Bucerius hereby announce that the Free Media Awards for 2025 will be presented to media outlets and journalists from Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan
A recently published report reveals biases in who is allowed to participate in the public debate. According to a new report from Retriever commissioned by the Fritt Ord Foundation, men who have Nordic names dominate both as sources and journalists in Norwegian media. Women, younger people and people with foreign names are less likely to be included. This is true both as interviewees and as authors of articles. That being said, greater diversity among journalists results in greater diversity among sources.
Eirin Larsen (36) and Hadia Tajik (42) bring valuable experience from journalism, technology, politics and jurisprudence to the Fritt Ord Board.
Geologist Farouk Al-Kasim joined the the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in 1968, shaping Norwegian petroleum resource management for decades afterwards. Now, documentary film director Halkawt Mustafa and producer Janne Hjeltnes are making a film about Al-Kasim’s life and reflections.
“Farouk tells me something in this film that he has not talked about before, because he has always told the version he feels Norway wanted to hear,” recounts Mustafa, who has Iraqi roots himself.
Read the interview with the director and see the list of grants awarded by Fritt Ord in June 2025.
Bård Vegar Solhjell (53) has taken over as the new chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board.
– Cultural journalism is under pressure. Part of the problem is media outlets failing to cover culture in formats and ways that appeal to people under 30, says Ida Madsen Hestman, editor, freelance critic, and founder of TBATBA.no. Last year, she started the kind of publication she herself would want to read.
The magazine TBA is among those awarded funding in June 2025. See the full list of grants in Norsk Journalistikk.
“In times of darkness, when more is at stake, satire has a more important role to play,” said Marvin Halleraker as he accepted the Fritt Ord Prize for 2025, together with May Linn Clemet and Morten Mørland.
Breakfast seminar: Danby Choi, editor of Subjekt, and Karoline Fossland, head of podcasts at Aftenposten, comment on the Norwegian sub-report Reuters Digital News Report 2025, together with media researcher Hallvard Moe and Craig Robertson
Tuesday, 17 June 2025 from 8.30-09.45 a.m.
Uranienborgveien 2, Oslo
The Reuters Digital News Report 2025 will be launched internationally on the night of 17 June.
Organisers: Fritt Ord Foundation, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in Oxford and the University of Bergen.
Is your master’s project about freedom of expression, social debate or journalism? If so, you can apply for a student grant from the Fritt Ord Foundation.
First prize in the Fritt Ord Competition for Upper Secondary Schools 2024-2025 went to the photo project entitled ‘A day that never ends’ by Theodor Slaaen Borge from Fyrstikkalleen Upper Secondary School in Oslo. Vy An Doan from Edvard Munch Upper Secondary School won second prize with an essay on the Vietnam War, and Alexander Røed Tjøsvoll, Helleik Gram Kleivan and Gunnar Máni Thorgeirsson from Bergeland Upper Secondary School won third prize for a film about deep fakes.
The prizes were awarded in Oslo on 7 May.
The Fritt Ord Foundation Prize for 2025 is awarded to three representatives of Norwegian satirical art for challenging public opinion by standing up to power and for their biting humour: May Linn Clement, Marvin Halleraker and Morten Mørland.