Freelance Conference 2019 - launch of the new study on Norwegian media freelancers

September 25 2019

Fritt Ord, the Norwegian Critics’ Association and the Press Photographers’ Club, Norway, invite the public to a conference on working conditions for media freelancers in Norway. Which structural changes in the media industry will affect freelancers’ routine work days in future? Are too many freelancers disappearing to the communications sector and to the production of marketing content? Why is it so difficult for freelancers to get paid better?

Time and venue: Wednesday, 25 September, Fritt Ord, Uranienborgveien 2, Oslo.

Register here: registering@frittord.no.

The proportion of freelancers is on the rise in several countries, but there is little research-based knowledge about working conditions for journalists, photographers and critics who are without regular contracts of employment. A new Norwegian study conducted by media researchers Birgit Røe Mathisen at Nord University and Anders Graver Knudsen at OsloMet has surveyed Norwegian media freelancers’ job contentment and relations with their customers, as well as wage and fee trends. We invite the public to the launch of the report and the discussion about the challenges facing freelancers in Norway in 2019.

Ingerid Salvesen will be moderator for the day.

Programme:
8.30 a.m.: Doors open

9.00 a.m.: Welcoming remarks by Knut Olav Åmås, executive director of the Fritt Ord Foundation

9.05 a.m.: Presentation of the report by Anders Graver Knudsen and Birgit Røe Mathiesen

10.00 a.m.: First panel. The freelance market of the future
What ethical challenges do freelancers face, and how do they deal with them? Which structural changes in the media industry will affect freelancers’ routine work days in future? Are too many journalists disappearing to the communications sector and to the production of marketing content?

Hege Iren Franzen, chair of the Norwegian Union of Journalists
Siri Skaalmo, director of DNX, Dagens Næringsliv’s agency for content production
Pål Nedregotten, deputy chair of the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association

11.00 a.m.: Second panel. Those bothersome rates; terms and conditions for freelancers who work for small editorial boards.
How do the tight financial circumstances of many small editorial boards affect freelancers’ living conditions? It can be difficult to ask for higher rates when the customer is both an employer and a colleague. Why is it so difficult to get paid better, and who is responsible for the level of remuneration?

Jon Rognlien, deputy chair of the Norwegian Critics’ Association
Bente Riise, secretary general of the Norwegian Association of the Periodical Press
Marie Skurdal, editor-in-chief of Klassekampen
Marit Kristine Flåtter, editor-in-chief of ArtScene Trondheim
Brian Cliff OIguin, deputy chair of the Freelance section of the Norwegian Union of Journalists

12.00 p.m.: Lunch

1.00 p.m.: End of the programme

The event is free of charge and open to the public. Link to Facebook event

The report High job contentment – poor conditions. The Freelance Survey 2019 will be published on the Fritt Ord Foundation’s website on 25 September, and a paper version will be available at the conference.

News

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

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“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.

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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

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– 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.