Earmarked funding for Norwegian journalism

April 3 2018

The Fritt Ord Foundation is allocating up to MNOK 25 annually for four years for journalistic projects. The MNOK 100 initiative is entitled Norwegian Journalism.

For quite some time, the Fritt Ord Foundation has had media and journalism as one of its core target areas. In the current demanding situation being experienced by the media, and thereby by the public sphere as a whole, we aspire to do even more to support and promote high-quality journalism in several fields.

The call for applications has seven deadlines for applications during the year. The next deadline is Monday, 19 February 2018, at 3 p.m. Applications should be submitted to the Fritt Ord Foundation’s application centre.

More about the scheme
The projects are to target a general Norwegian audience. Applicants may use any publication platform, and are encouraged to be multi-medial. Any independent, editor-driven publication with Norwegian media users as its target group may apply. The applicants may be editorial boards or individuals, but all support is to go to named individuals. We are open to new forms of cooperation between several editorial boards/groups of journalists, and freelancers with publication agreements are invited to apply.

Our most cogent wish is to support the production of content for publication, rather than providing funding for operating expenses, development projects and technical equipment.

We ask that project outlines be as concrete as possible, covering 3 to 5 pages, accompanied by brief attachments containing a timetable, information about other sources of funding, an overall project budget and a list of project team members with five lines of CV information on each.

News

Free Media Awards for 2025

September 9 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

Greater diversity among journalists results in greater diversity among sources

September 2 2025

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 and Hadia Tajik join the Fritt Ord Board

August 5 2025

Eirin Larsen (36) and Hadia Tajik (42) bring valuable experience from journalism, technology, politics and jurisprudence to the Fritt Ord Board.

Making the film «Farouk» – on the geologist that secured Norway its oil

July 1 2025

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.