News

“In an age of fake news, AI, propaganda and manipulation, we must place trust in the photographer himself.” Speeches on the occasion of the awarding of the 2024 Fritt Ord Prize to Harald Henden

May 8 2024

“Each day, more than 3 billion images are uploaded to social media, including photos from conflicts and disasters. However, in an age of fake news, propaganda, manipulation and artificial intelligence, the question is often ‘what can we trust?’" observed Harald Henden upon being awarded the Fritt Ord Prize.
His response is that we must trust the individual photographer. Grete Brochmann, chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board, drove home the same point, calling war and documentary photography an integral part of the infrastructure of freedom of expression.

War photographer and prize laureate Harald Henden: “Credibility is journalism's most important capital asset”

May 7 2024

“Credibility is the media’s most important capital asset. That is precisely why the importance of having the media’s own photographers on site has not diminished. In point of fact, it is more important than ever before.
“This is because credibility is also an individual photographer’s most important asset. “When I put my name under a photo, readers should be able to trust that the content is correct, so that no further verification is needed. This brand of credibility takes many years to build up, and it can be descimated by a single mistake,” commented Harald Henden (63) upon being awarded the Fritt Ord Prize on Tuesday evening.

Ingeborg studies constructive journalism in Oxford

April 25 2024

This story is only published in Norwegian.

Book launch of Fritt Ord’s 50th anniversary book 1974-2024

April 15 2024

Writer and historian Hilde Gunn Slottemo presents “Freedom of expression. Foundation and Society 1974-2024”

Fritt Ord Prize for 2024 to war and press photographer Harald Henden

April 12 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation’s Prize for 2024 is awarded to war and press photographer Harald Henden for his courageous and uncompromising documentation of wars, conflicts and natural disasters for more than three decades.

Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2024

March 11 2024

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. Journalists and media in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine Ukraine and Hungary that promote freedom of the press through their investigative and independent reporting are eligible to be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

The Fritt Ord Foundation's grants for critics: Good Criticism 2024 - 2025

March 4 2024

The grants can be awarded to freelance critics who work in any field related to literature, art or culture. The grants are intended to result in the production of concrete, ongoing reviews throughout the year; the goal is to help improve the quality and professionalism of a number of Norwegian critics each year. The Fritt Ord Foundation would like to give more freelance critics better opportunities to pursue their profession and to spend more time cultivating it.

No Other Land

February 23 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation is collaborating with the Human International Documentary Film Festival and Antipode Films to screen ‘No Other Land’ at Vega Scene in Oslo on Monday, 4 March 2024 at 6 p.m. and 6:45 p.m., and at Cinemateket in Oslo on Tuesday, 5 March at 4 p.m. Directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, who are also the film’s protagonists, will appear live on a video link from Masafar Yatta on the West Bank both days.

Queendom - film and talk with Agniia Galdanova and Igor Myakotin

February 23 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation and the HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival invite the public to a screening of ‘Queendom’ and a talk with director Agniia Galdanova and producer Igor Myakotin following the screening at Vega Scene 1 in Oslo on Saturday, 9 March 2024 at 5:45 p.m. The director will introduce the film.

Norway banned Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’. Now a book about film censorship is in the pipeline

February 23 2024

Critic and writer Johanne Elster Hanson is making her debut as an author with a book about the time when Norwegian film censorship took the world by surprise, not least the Monty Python group of comedians, by banning the ‘Life of Brian’ satire film. The author would like to track down any Norwegians who went on a film safari to Sweden in 1980 to circumvent Norwegian censorship.

Breathing new life into investigative journalism, even in small newsrooms

February 14 2024

In recent years, Norwegian journalists have gained access to powerful tools and new methods for investigative journalism, even in small newsrooms. New types of collaboration are producing results. How has all this happened? Fritt Ord asked this question in a debate seminar on 14 February.

A new era for investigative journalism in Norway

January 25 2024

Local and regional newspapers are now conducting the type of investigations and making discoveries that used to be expected only from major national media. How did that happen? Fritt Ord invites the public to a debate seminar at 10 a.m. on 14 February.

Broke with the Brunstad Christian Church. Now she is writing a play on closed religious communities

January 22 2024

Karin Kilden broke with the Brunstad Christian Church. Now she is writing a play for the theater Oslo Nye about it. Chemist and writer Unni Eikeseth writes about science and weapons production and folk dance star Brigitte Blomlie will use folk dance to break the silence on abuse. See new allocations from Fritt Ord.

Norwegian TV series have allowed other voices to be heard

January 20 2024

“The huge success of Norwegian TV series has enabled them to address difficult issues and to unleash the voices of minorities and women more often in TV series than in films,” says media expert Gry Cecilie Rustad. She is planning to write a book about the history of Norwegian TV series. In Myanmar, the TV station the ‘Democratic Voice of Burma’ continues its fight against the propaganda of the military junta in the country. See the list of new grants awarded in December.

Scrolling and gaming: Prejudices against screen culture

January 19 2024

Tvibit and Fritt Ord invite the public to a debate and talk at Tvibit in Tromsø (address: Parkgata 27) at 4.30 p.m. on Friday, 19 January, prior to the documentary film ‘Ibelin’ about the gamer Mats Steen, which will be screened that evening at 7.15 p.m. at the Tromsø Film Festival. The event is open to all.

Nominations for the Fritt Ord Prize 2024

January 5 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation invites nominations for potential candidates for the Fritt Ord Prize 2024.