Nina Johnsrud (born 16 February 1959) is a Norwegian journalist who works as a crime reporter for the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

newspaper ''

Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

''. She was awarded the

Fritt Ord Honorary Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award () and the Fritt Ord Honorary Award (). ...

for courageous journalism in 2012.

Education and early career

Johnsrud studied Spanish at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

and was then educated at Norsk journalisthøgskole (English: Norwegian Journalist College), now part of

Oslo and Akershus University College Oslo and Akershus University College (, abbr. HiOA) was the largest state university college in Norway from its establishment in 2011 until 2018, when it was transformed into Oslo Metropolitan University, the youngest of Norway's new universities. ...

. She has worked for the Lindesnes, ''

Bergens Arbeiderblad ''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpage. ...

'', '' VG'', ''

Østlandets Blad ''Østlandets Blad'' is a regional newspaper published in Ski, Norway. It was established in 1908 under the name ''Øieren'', named after a local lake. It was based in Kråkstad at that time. The name ''Østlandets Blad'' was taken in 1919. Th ...

'' and ''

Klassekampen (Lit. translation: ''"The Class Struggle"'') is a Norwegian daily newspaper in print and online. Its tagline is "The daily newspaper of the Left". The paper's net circulation was 33,265 in 2022, and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper ...

'' before starting as a journalist in ''Dagsavisen.'' She has also taught at Norsk journalisthøgskole.

Career in ''Dagsavisen''

Johnsrud started working in ''Dagsavisen'' in 1985. One of her interests was immigrants and minorities in Norway. She became involved in reporting on crime when she covered the conflict between the ''Young Guns'' and ''B-gjengen'' (English: The B-gang) gangs after a man was killed at

Tøyen Tøyen is a residential area in the central parts of Oslo, Norway, part of the borough of Gamle Oslo. Location There are two different stations which carry the name Tøyen. Tøyen Railway Station is located on the Gjøvik Line, while Tøyen (st ...

in 2001.Overrekkelsen av Fritt Ords Honnør til Nina Johnsrud 22.11.12
Fritt Ord. Retrieved 13 February 2014 In July 2006, fours shots were fired at her house in

Oppegård Oppegård is an area in Nordre Follo, Akershus, Norway. Oppegård was a municipality in the county Akershus. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kolbotn. The municip ...

outside Oslo during the night. Three shots went through a window and one shot hit the front door. Johnsrud was sleeping in a tent at the time in the garden with her son.Katrine Lia (6 July 2006
Hus til krim-journalist beskutt
VG. Retrieved 10 February 2014. One source thought that the shooting was due to Johnsrud covering election fraud in the Oslo municipal elections by Yogaraja Balasingham. Johnsrud was convinced that the shots related to her work as a crime journalist. In a commentary shortly after the incident, Aftenposten wrote that if Johnsrud had been targeted for her journalistic work, it "represented a grim new era in Norwegian journalism".Trusler. Situasjonsbilde og utfordringer for redaksjonelle miljøer
Skup.no. Retrieved 10 February 2014

Arfan Bhatti Arfan Bhatti (born 9 August 1977) is a Norwegian Islamist activist and a leading figure of the Profetens Ummah. Early life Bhatti was born and raised in Oslo to parents of Pakistani origin from the city of Gujrat. He spent several years in Pa ...

was charged for the shooting, but the charges were dropped in August 2007. The case has never been solved. Bhatti was later found guilty of shooting at a Jewish synagogue in 2006. On 12 October 2012, Johnsrud wrote an article in ''Dagsavisen'' about Islamists associated with the Profetens Ummah group attending a course for prospective hunters. Passing the exam for hunters would make the persons in a position to apply for gun licences. The Islamists were reported to have expressed extreme views during the course. The leader of the course had reported the situation to the

Norwegian Police Security Service The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001. History an ...

Ubaydullah Hussain Arslan Ubaydullah Maroof Hussain (born 1985) is a Norwegian former spokesperson of the Salafi jihadism, Salafi-jihadist group Profetens Ummah. He has been arrested since December 2015, convicted for recruitment of jihadist foreign fighters, and for ...

, who was spokesperson for the Profetens Ummah, was interviewed in the article. Shortly after the article was published, Johnsrud received an email from Hussian which she perceived as threatening. The email stated that several persons were disappointed and it said "you should not be surprised if something or someone turn up in your life as well. With words or action, that I don't know". On 25 October 2012, Hussain was arrested and charged with threats against Johnsrud and another journalist. He was released after 53 days. After the arrest, Johnsrud came forward as one of two journalists who had received threats. She called for increased focus on extremist groups.Kjetil Mæland (26 October 2012
Dette er den største terrorfaren i Norge

Nettavisen ''Nettavisen'' is a Norway, Norwegian online newspaper, launched in 1996 as the first online-only newspaper in Norway. The current editor is Gunnar Stavrum. As of 2015, it was one of Norway's most popular news websites. History The online newspa ...

. Retrieved 10 February 2014 Editor Kaia Storvik in ''Dagsavisen'' decided to remove Johnsrud from covering Profetens Ummah and related subjects. Johnsrud publicly criticised the newspaper for this decision. In November 2012, she was awarded the

for courageous journalism and defending free speech.Freedom of Expression Tribute to Nina Johnsrud
friid-ord.no, Retrieved 10 February 2014 Ubaydullah Hussain was convicted for threats against Johnsrud in February 2014 in

Oslo District Court Oslo District Court () is a district court located in Oslo, Norway. This court is based at the Oslo Courthouse in the city of Oslo. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the Borgarting Court of Appeal. As the ...

. For this and some other criminal offenses, he was sentenced to 120 days in prison, of which 60 days was suspended. Hussain did not immediately indicate whether he would appeal the sentence.Farid Ighoubah and Simon Solheim (7 February 2014
Hussain dømmes for trusler og hatefulle ytringer

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

. Retrieved 10 February 2014 Johnsrud participated in establishing the SKUP foundation for investigating journalism in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnsrud, Nina Norwegian newspaper journalists 1959 births Living people Crime journalists Norwegian women journalists