Fritt Ord is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

private

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

, whose aim is to support

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

and a free press. It was established on 7 June 1974 by Narvesen Kioskkompani's leaders Jens Henrik Nordlie and Finn Skedsmo as well as the lawyer

Jens Christian Hauge Jens Christian Hauge (15 May 1915 – 30 October 2006) was a Norwegian who was leader within the World War II resistance—and one of the two incumbent Milorg Council members in May 1945. Njølstad p.125 He served as Minister of Defence from 1 ...

. Fritt Ord has significant funds and is playing a part in supporting various projects in Norway, as investing in the newspaper

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

, supporting an encyclopedia (

Store Norske Leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vi ...

) and holding a 10.1% ownership in the media group

A-Pressen Amedia AS is the second largest media company in Norway (the largest is Schibsted and the third largest is Polaris Media). The company is whole or partial owner of 50 local and regional newspaper with online newspapers and printing presses, a ...

. In addition it awards

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

s to students within

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...

, awards the Fritt Ord Prize, and supports writing competitions. It has also provided funding for

controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

projects, e.g. an upcoming book written by the blogger

Fjordman Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a prominent Norwegian counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman and who has been characterized as far-right and Islamophobic. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting i ...

,Geir Ramnefjell
Fritt fram i Fritt Ord?
Dagbladet who calls for the deportation of all

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

from Europe. The organization awards three annual prizes to support freedom of speech; the Fritt Ord Award (Norwegian: ''Fritt Ords pris''), the Fritt Ord Honorary Award (Norwegian: ''Fritt Ords honnør'') and the Press Prizes for Russia and Eastern Europe (Norwegian: ''Pressepriser for Russland og Øst-Europa''). Those prizes not to be confused with ''"Ytringsfrihetsprisen"'', the annual Freedom of Expression Prize awarded mostly to international writers by the Norwegian Authors' Union.

History

The owners of the kiosk chain

Narvesen Narvesen is a Norwegian chain of newsagents / convenience stores which, with its 370 outlets nationwide, is one of Norway's largest retailers. The company has since 2000 been part of the Reitan Group (''Reitangruppen''). Narvesens Kioskkompagni ...

wanted to transform his chain of

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

and

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

s to an institution, and on 1 January 1975 the company was taken over by the newly created foundation Fritt Ord at the same time it merged with the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach ...

(NSB) company Norsk Spisevognselskap, who offered services within catering to the railway. Fritt Ord got 59% ownership in the newly formed company while NSB got 41% ownership. The dividends from the company made it possible for Fritt Ord to perform a number of tasks related to freedom of expression, including support for the Institute of Journalism and the Freedom of Expression Prize as well as a number of grants to numerous persons and institutions, domestically and internationally. In 1995 NSB sold its shares in Narvesen and the company was listed on

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, der ...

. As a result of this Fritt Ord reduced its ownership in Narvesen to 34% in 1999 and in 2000 Narvesen was merged with Reitangruppen to form ReitanNarvesen. In 2001 Fritt Ord sold its ownership in the company to the Reitan Family. As a result of the capital freed from the sale of Narvesen, Fritt Ord has acquired holdings in ''

'' (30,5%) and A-Pressen (10,1%).

Controversies

David Irving controversy in 2008

The organization was criticized by some for obstructing rather than furthering

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

when it threatened the

Norwegian Festival of Literature The Norwegian Festival of Literature (in Norwegian Sigrid Undset-dagene) is the biggest non commercial literary festival in the Nordic countries taking place in May/June in Lillehammer every year since 1995. The festival includes all the Nordic cou ...

with withdrawing financial support if the British

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

was allowed to speak at the festival. In October 2008 Fritt Ord's director,

Erik Rudeng Erik Rudeng (born 7 February 1946) is a Norwegian historian, administrator, essayist and biographer. He was born in Oslo. He worked for the publishing house Universitetsforlaget from 1981 to 1985. He was director of the Norwegian Museum of Cultural ...

, demanded that its logo be removed from the webpages of the

because Irving had been invited to give a lecture on his concept of ''

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belief ...

'' at the festival. Irving's invitation was withdrawn only a few days later. Rudeng on his side defended the decision by stating that Fritt Ord only sponsored the literature festival in 2008 and thus it was high time their logo was removed when the program for 2009 was presented. This prompted some commentators to address the paradox of a self-proclaimed "free speech" organization which involves itself in a campaign to stop a controversial voice like that of David Irving from being heard in Norway.

Fjordman controversy

It caused controversy when it became known in 2013 that the organization provided funding to the controversial blogger

(Peder Jensen), who has been characterised as

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...

, for a book Jensen is writing about

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

and the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

. The Labour youth party leader

Eskil Pedersen Eskil Pedersen (born 6 March 1984 in Skien) is a Norwegian politician and former leader from 2010 to 2014 of the Workers' Youth League (AUF), the youth organisation associated with Norway's leading Labour Party. Pedersen survived the massacre ...

said that Fritt Ord is an organization that provides a platform for "gay-haters and racists," referring to both the support for Fjordman and previous support for other controversial causes and individuals. Member of Parliament

Snorre Valen Snorre Serigstad Valen (born 16 September 1984 in Oslo) is a Norwegian journalist, musician and former politician from the Socialist Left Party. He served as an MP in the Storting from Sør-Trøndelag from 2009 to 2017, and deputy leader of the ...

accused Fritt Ord of "mockery of all those killed and injured" in the

, stating that Fritt Ord provides funding to a writer "so that he can publish a book about the terrorist he inspired," concluding that Fritt Ord supports "

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

." Leader of the support group for Breivik's victims, Trond Henry Blattmann, told ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'' that Fritt Ord's financial support for Fjordman was "unacceptable." Fritt Ord's leader

Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn (born 13 August 1945) is a Norwegian judge. He was born in Lillehammer, and graduated as cand.jur. from the University of Oslo in 1969. He worked as a secretary from 1969, and as a prison administrator from 1971. In 1974 ...

said the decision to provide grants to Fjordman was very difficult. The decision was supported by ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

'' journalist Erik Tornes who argued the grant was a cheap price to pay to get "the extremists out of the echochambers" and by Norway's Minister of Culture

Hadia Tajik Hadia Tajik (born 18 July 1983) is a Pakistani-Norwegian jurist, journalist and politician from the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as Minister of Culture from 2012 ...

.Hadia Tajik (25 June 2013)
Kommentar: Vår demokratiske beredskap
'' VG'', retrieved November 30, 2019

References

External links

The foundation's websiteTwitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritt Ord (Organization) 1974 establishments in Norway Foundations based in Norway Mass media companies of Norway Organizations established in 1974