The Fritt Ord Foundation is a private non-profit foundation that seeks to promote freedom of expression, public debate, art and culture.
Forty libraries have received funding to arrange debates on Norwegian non-fiction. “Artificial intelligence is the most recurring theme in the pile of applications this year,” reports Oskar Kvasnes. The funding, totalling NOK 2 395 000 is the second highest amount since Fritt Ord began calling for proposals for library activities in 2008.
Artificial intelligence creates local journalism in Tromsø, Ukrainian refugees become journalists in Sarpsborg, and white men pushing 80 are also pushing podcasts. These are among the examples of new allocations for journalism awarded by Fritt Ord in August.
Journalist and author Bjørn Olav Jahr (54) is awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for thorough and persistent journalism that uncovered a miscarriage of justice in the Baneheia case, and contributed to a preliminary conviction in the Birgitte Tengs case.
Lene Berg’s film ‘Riders of the Apocalypse’, Håvard Fossum’s film ‘Facts about Tamokdalen’, Marte Heian-Engdal’s book about everyday life against the background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Johanne Nordby Wernø’s book about getting diagnosed with autism as an adult are four of the many projects that received support from Fritt Ord in August.
The Fritt Ord Foundation calls for applications for a 6-month journalism fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University in England, for a programme starting in January 2024. The deadline for applications is 12 noon on 4 September 2023.
This year’s Free Media Awards will be presented to journalists Sevgil Musaieva and Yuriy Nikolov (Ukraine) and to the editorial staffs of OC Media (based in Georgia), Reform.by (Belarus) and Vazhnye Istorii (Russia). Special mention is made of those journalists, photographers and media professionals who lost their lives in the line of duty over the past year.
The Fritt Ord Foundation’s new application portal is now available.
The Fritt Ord Foundation is a private non-profit foundation that aspires to promote freedom of expression, public debate, art and culture. The projects that receive funding should benefit the Norwegian public and be accessible to all. In special cases, the Fritt Ord Foundation can help promote freedom of expression in other countries.
Fritt Ord has taken the initiative for several research projects on freedom of expression that have been conducted by various Norwegian research communities. Among other things, the studies have examined social norms and political tolerance in respect of statements, online harassment and polarisation, artistic freedom of expression and freedom of expression in the workplace.
Over the years, Fritt Ord has worked to strengthen the position of documentary photography through special calls for applications for funding, providing ongoing support for photo books and exhibitions, and establishing projects like The Norwegian Journal of Photography.
Fritt Ord has launched various initiatives related to the communication of knowledge and the promotion of literature, including an annual subsidy scheme earmarked for Norwegian public libraries. In 2005, the Foundation took the initiative to establish Norway’s first house of literature and, in 2010, to ensure the further operation of Store norske leksikon.
Fritt Ord takes part in a number of joint projects outside the borders of Norway, primarily related to freedom of the press, democracy building and the strengthening of organisations of civil society.
Fritt Ord offers grants for students working on master’s theses or on documentary films in fields such as human rights, journalism, freedom of expression and democracy building. It also hosts the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for Upper Secondary Schools and the Norwegian Historical Society’s competition for pupils.
Since its inception, Fritt Ord has had media and journalism as one of its core target areas. In today’s demanding media situation, the Foundation has set up separate grant and subsidy schemes for journalists and critics.
Books and reports published by the Fritt Ord Foundation, alone or with partners.
