The Genocide in Gaza and Big Tech
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.
News
What's happening in Georgia?
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.
“This documentary is not for the faint of heart” New grants awarded in September 2025.
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.
Free Media Awards for 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
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
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
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
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
– 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, satire assumes a more important role
“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.
Launching Reuters Digital News Report 2025 in Norway
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.
Fritt Ord's grants for master’s degrees
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.
Won the Fritt Ord Competition with a photo project from Utøya Island
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 goes to satirical artists May Linn Clement, Marvin Halleraker and Morten Mørland
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.
Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025
In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalist, editorial teams and media companies in and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary who make a contribution to press freedom through their investigative, independent reporting can be nominated for the Free Media Awards.
Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call
Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.
Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.
This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.