Extra funds for journalism in 2016

January 6 2016
The Fritt Ord Foundation invites applications for the programme ‘Quality Journalism in a New Era’. Up to 10 MNOK will be awarded annually in 2016 and 2017.

A list of the projects that have already received funding can be found here.

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 general public as a whole, we want to do even more to pave the way for and support critical, meaningful high-quality journalism in several fields. Applications will be processed continuously throughout the year.

Deadlines can be found here.

The six areas covered by the programme are are:

  • Journalism on Norway’s relationship to the EU
  • Journalism on climate issues
  • Critical journalism and facilitation of debates in local communities in Norway
  • Journalism for young media users
  • Investigative journalism in fields that are not sufficiently covered
  • Project support for independent columnists with publication agreements

The projects are to target the general public. Applicants may use any publication platform, and are encouraged to be multi-medial. Any independent, editor-driven publications and publicists with Norwegian media users as their target group may apply. The applicants may be editorial boards or individuals, but all support shall 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.

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. Label the application “New journalism” in the title field. Applicants should use the Fritt Ord Foundation’s digital application form, see www.frittord.no and select “Application centre”.

For help with the application process, contact the Fritt Ord Foundation at post@fritt-ord.no.

News

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.

Bård Vegar Solhjell new chair of the Fritt Ord Board

July 1 2025

Bård Vegar Solhjell (53) has taken over as the new chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board.

Cultural newspaper TBATBA.no and new journalism grants – June 2025

June 19 2025

– 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.