News

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.

Norwegians increasingly more positive to computer games

Norwegians are increasingly more positive to accepting computer games as culture

About 17 per cent have developed a more favourable view of computer games over the past year. Six of ten play computer games, and one of three plays computer games weekly. At the same time, computer games are ranked as having lower status than books and music, for example.
“Computer games deserve more attention and discussion”, contends Joakim Lie of Fritt Ord.

– Computer games are also art

“The problem with far too many media reports about computer games is that they start begin with sentences like: ‘computer games have come a long way since Pac-Man’,” sighs American computer game critic Jacob Geller.

“Let us first simply agree that computer games are indeed an art form and an expression of culture, and then let us examine the works as part of the history of art and culture.

Art and Institutions: “I Demand a Museum to Feel its Own Floors Tremble When Other Museums are Destroyed in War”

Saturday 22 February 2025 at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, from 14.30 to 16.30 h.

Conversation with Adam Budak (Poland/Germany), Stefanie Carp (Germany), Matej Drlička (Slovakia), Andrea Geyer (USA) og Sarah Lookofsky (USA/Norway). Ingerid Salvesen is moderator.

Across the world, cultural institutions are under increasing pressure. Censorship, self-censorship, drastic funding cuts, and political and sponsorship interference are on the rise. Former and present institutional directors – with personal experiences of political pressure, cancellation and censorship from different geographic contexts – will discuss the limitations and capacities of art institutions in the present.

Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute to Sara Gaulin

Sarah Gaulin (30) is being awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for her courageous and principled defence of freedom of expression in the face of extremism, gang crime and negative social control.
As a prominent voice, Gaulin has drawn attention to some of the most demanding and controversial social challenges of our time.

Cultural criticism for a new era

Jacob Geller is a prominent video essayist on YouTube who has broad appeal. Based on computer games, he gets million of viewers to embrace in-depth analyses in which he romps through topics such as fear and art, architecture, politics and social issues.

Meet him in Oslo on 12 February in a panel discussion with Norwegian journalists, as they discuss how cultural journalism can be rejuvenated without being light-weight or trivial.

There will also be a workshop featuring Jacob Geller in Oslo on 14 February.

The film ‘Hopeless Mother’ addresses a taboo – New awards in December 2024

The film ‘Hopeless Mother’ addresses a taboo – “I just wanted to run away from my family”. New awards in December 2024
Director Bente Johanne Moe and Fotspor Film received funding for the documentary film ‘Hopeless mother’ about the shameful taboo topic of postpartum depression.
“The film will contribute to greater openness,” comments Moe.
Here is the list of new awards made by Fritt Ord in December 2024 in response to applications for NOK 100 000 or less.

Nominations for the Fritt Ord Prize 2025

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

No Other Land – special screening at Kunstnernes Hus Kino

Join us for a special screening of the film No Other Land, announced as one of the most important and influential film of 2024.

Location: Kunstnernes Hus Cinema
Date and Time: Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:35 PM

Witnessing War: A Conversation in the BOMBA Exhibition with Khalid Albaih and Tetiana Khodakivska

Welcome to a conversation with Sudanese political cartoonist Khalid Albaih and Ukrainian filmmaker Tetiana Khodakivska in Dag Erik Elgin’s exhibition BOMBA at the Skylight Halls of Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo on Thursday, December 12, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Frie stemmer Deeyah Khan:

Dokumentarfilmskaper Deeyah Khan startet sin karriere med å lage en dokumentar om en kvinne som ble utsatt for æresdrap. Filmen ble vendepunktet i hennes anvendelse av ytringsfriheten, sier hun. Khan er basert i London og jobber internasjonalt.

– Det som skiller Norge fra mange andre land, er evnen til å delta i konstruktiv offentlig dialog rundt vanskelige og ofte polariserende temaer. Samtidig kan vi bli flinkere til å inkludere et større mangfold og flere minoritetsstemmer, sier hun.

Intervjuet er på engelsk.

Seminar on freedom of expression at the Norwegian Parliament: "Stop talking about technology platforms as though we have no way to control them.”

“It is possible to regulate technology platforms”, stated former Minister of Culture Trine Skei Grande on 19 November, when the Presidium of the Storting invited the public to a seminar on freedom of expression.
“We are not without options for exercising control”
To protect freedom of expression in a digital era, it is important that we dare to regulate the international technology platforms and social media, and that we are on the alert for the negative effects of artificial intelligence and deep fakes.

Refuse to be silenced. Free Media Awards handed out in Oslo

We refuse to be silenced.
That was the common message when six media outlets, journalists, and editors from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus received the Free Media Awards 2024 on September 17 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.
– Threatening, attacking, kidnapping, and murdering journalists has become a war tactic, said documentary filmmaker Tonje Hessen Schei in her speech to the prize winners.

The History of History – graphic novels can shed light on history in new ways

Graphic novels that address historical topics was this year’s focus among the 144 public libraries that responded to the Fritt Ord Foundation’s call for applications from libraries for 2024, "The History of History».
According to graphic art creators as well as librarians, graphic novels can recount history in new ways to new groups of readers. Forty-four libraries have been granted MNOK 2.6 to organise meetings on nonfictional prose, fiction and graphic novels. This is the largest amount since the calls for applications from libraries began in 2008.

How to talk about racism?

Debate seminar at the Fritt Ord Foundation premises, Uranienborgveien 2, from 6-7.30 p.m. on Monday, 9 September