Program Nordic Freelance 2023

Friday

12:30 Meet-up at Kongsberg train station. Bus from Kongsberg to Mæl ferry.
The bus will correspond with the train from Oslo Airport/Oslo S.
14:30
On the rail ferry Storegut
Gry Fuglestveit, mayor of Notodden, birthplace of Norsk Hydro.

She will talk about UNESCO’s work with world heritage locally as well as in the Nordic region. The rail ferry Storegut is a part of the 2nd industrial revolution. https://unesco.no/eng-child-page/world-heritage-in-norway/
Fuglestveit will give you good information which you can work on in your country, and that is sellable.

 

Rune Ottosen, professor emeritus in journalism will talk on UNESCO´s work on safety of journalists, and the battle against impunity. Nine out of 10 violent attacks on journalists
are never punished or prosecuted.

Ottosen will address the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity which addresses the fundamental aspects of prevention, protection, and prosecution.

Rune Ottosen works at Oslo Metropolitan University. He has written extensively on
press history and media coverage of war and conflicts.

16:30 Bus from the the ferry to Vemork
17:00
At Vemork
Vemork, The Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum. https://www.nia.no/en/

Arild Molstad will talk about the challenges world heritage places are facing, from neglect and exploitation to ignorance and indifference. Molstad will give examples for possible media coverage.
Molstad is an internationally recognized, widely published author, photojournalist of several books and hundreds of articles on conservation, exploration, and sustainable tourism.
He has been associated for many years with National Geographic Society.

After Molstad, guided tour if wanted, by The Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum.

18:30 Bus from Vemork to the hotel
19:00 Renate Schroder in the bar
Renate Schroeder is the director of European Federation of Journalist, www.europeanjournalists.org
Besides talking about the future of freelance journalists in general and different ways to make a living, she will give us the latest news from Brussels.
20:00 Dinner

Saturday

09:00 Trine Smistrup on working with international projects.
Do you dream of working on international journalistic projects? We have got Europe’s perhaps foremost to tell you how to do it. Namely Trine Smistrup!
Project director Trine Smistrup is a journalist and trainer, co-founder of Arena for Journalism in Europe, director of Data Harvest – the European Investigative Journalism conference and communications officer for Arena and Data Harvest.
Trine has worked with journalism and training for journalists in Denmark, the Nordic countries, and Russia, and was involved in the SCOOP project, a peer-to-peer program for investigative journalism in Eastern Europe and Russia. Her special interest is making difficult subjects interesting and understandable for readers. She also holds a master’s degree in digital communications.
10:00 The new north with Thomas Nilsen

– This is a goldmine for journalist, exclaims editor Thomas Nilsen of the Independent Barents Observer.

Thomas Nilsen will talk about the consequences of Nato welcoming Sweden and Finland.

Located in Kirkenes, northern Norway, Nilsen has a long experience in media cooperation across the borders in the high north of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Nilsen has been editor of Barents Observer since 2009.

Thomas Nilsens knowledge about the security issues in the north is well known for those who have explored the field the recent years. Now we bring Nilsen to a wider audience.

His ability to take in different approaches and communicate across borders is highly recommended.

11:00 Bypassing European secrecy with Tarjei!
Tarjei Leer-Salvesen will join us, teaching hunting the hidden paper trails.
Starting with examining access to information in Norway, he then worked with and later taught before writing a book on the subject, access to public documents. Tarjei has the recent years also worked on the larger field: Accessing Information Across Borders.
Tarjei Leer-Salvesen spent this year six months at Reuters Institute in Oxford to learn more about the differences between 136 RTI laws in the world, and how journalists can use cross-border filing for information in their investigations.Leer-Salvesen will join the seminars on cross border journalism.
12:00 Departure with bus to Gaustabanen
12:30 Great outdoors possibilities!

You may either join us for our trip at Gaustatoppen, or do your own hiking or fishing.

If you join us to Gaustatoppen, we take a bus and the special secret elevator inside the mountain, that goes all the way to the top.
There you have a stunning view of southern Norway.
We then offer Top Secret lunch inside the former Nato quarters inside the mountain.
Remember warm clothes for rain/snow and windy weather.
Weather at top 1804 above sea level:
https://www.yr.no/nb/v%C3%A6rvarsel/daglig-tabell/5-31970/Norge/Vestfold%20og%20Telemark/Tinn/Gaustatoppen

15:30 AI for freelancers by Eirik Solheim.
Solheim will give you a useful insight into the many ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) can reshape journalism as we know it.With an insight into the latest technological advances in AI, this session will both shake up your understanding of what is possible in journalism and empower you to utilize these tools in your own work.
16:30 Dionizas Litvaitis
Research Manager and Principal InvestigatorThe Study Disputes over Access analyses fifteen disputes between journalists and public servants over restrictions to collect information that took place in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during the years 2017-2022. The Study explores how the Baltic Freedom of Information regimes work when populations are facing security and healthcare crises and identifies loopholes and weaknesses in the laws concerning journalists’ access to public information. The authors of the Study also provide recommendations for policy change based on a comparative analysis of empirical data.
17:30 Fake news with Jonas Bendiksen

Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen fooled everyone with the “Book of Veles” https://www.jonasbendiksen.com/books/the-book-of-veles

This session will take you backwards into how easy it is to manipulate the world – and what we as journalists must do to expose it.tional institutions and has been associated for many years with National Geographic Society, Unesco’s World Heritage Center. He is a Fellow of UK Royal Geographical Society and engaged in the development of responsible tourism in Norway, in which World Heritage issues are topical and crucial.

20:00-> Dinner

Sunday

9:30 How the crooks cook their books with Kyrre Kjellevold

Norwegian journalist Kyrre Kjellevold will lecture us on how to follow the money.

He gives tools on how freelancers may work with finance.

Kjellevold has a doctorate in accounting and auditing. He works as an economics journalist in at www.e24.no as well as lecturing at the Business school.

– When you are first bitten and understand that you can bring about a change in society and give people the opportunity to have their own perception, it all becomes very meaningful, he recently told Medier24.

10:30 Anti corruption with  Gro Skaaren-Fystro, special advisor at Transparency International, Norway
Skaaren-Fystrowill hold lecture in spotting corruption internationally.Skaaren-Fystro has worked with a wide range of subjects in the field of international politics, including eight years in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Geneva, New York and Jakarta. She has been associated with TI Norway since May 2004, where she has worked with anti-corruption in Norway and internationally.
11:30 Lunch
12:30 Bus to Kongsberg.
And hopefully are we seeing each other next year – in … ?