THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Randi S. Øgrey, Director General of the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association and Chair of Ukrainian Media Fund Nordic, is among the founding members of the International Advisory Council of the Journalists’ Solidarity Centres of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. This is the first in a series of profiles of the Council’s founders — respected partners of NUJU and friends of Ukrainian journalists.
“It’s very useful for me to have first-hand knowledge, and to be able to tell these stories to those who make the decisions,” Randi Øgrey said at the Council’s founding meeting, held on 24 August, Ukraine’s Independence Day.
Randi Øgrey is one of the most influential figures in the Norwegian media industry. She heads Mediebedriftenes Landsforening (MBL), the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association, which brings together around 400 media companies across the country — from national and regional newspapers and television channels to major media groups, news agencies and radio stations. The media holdings represented within MBL include Schibsted, Amedia and Polaris Media. The association advances the shared interests of the Norwegian media market, takes part in shaping the conditions in which it operates, and defends the principle of editorial independence.
Øgrey also chairs Ukrainian Media Fund Nordic, a Nordic fund supporting Ukrainian media that is an important partner of NUJU. With the fund and its Nordic media partners, the Union has run programmes of assistance for Ukrainian journalists and newsrooms: supplying journalists with protective equipment and technical gear, sustaining the work of regional and local media, and helping newsrooms cover operating costs and maintain continuous work during the war. The fund has also supported the ability of the media to keep working amid shelling, power outages and the other challenges that emerged after the full-scale invasion.
“We started by providing equipment, then moved to quarterly support — above all to secure salaries for journalists. And this spring we were also able to give direct support to one of the Journalists’ Solidarity Centres,” the expert added.
Øgrey linked a large part of her work to politics. She is in constant contact with the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the parliament of Norway, and so first-hand knowledge carries practical weight: it can be drawn on when the national budget is decided and when Ukrainian stories need to be brought to Norwegian officials. Øgrey noted that on Ukraine’s Independence Day, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was taking part in a high-level meeting in Kyiv, and that support for Ukraine — including for civil society — would continue at the national level as well.
Separately, she offered the Council her international experience: Øgrey is Vice-President of News Media Europe and a member of the WAN-IFRA Media Freedom Board, so she understands how decisions are made in Brussels. This, she said, could prove useful if NUJU seeks experts, funding or other support.
What worries Øgrey most is the winter. She belongs to a generation that grew up with the history of the Second World War, and admitted that she finds it hard to imagine how difficult it is right now for Ukrainians, who are about to enter the fifth year of the full-scale invasion. “So, yes, we will be there,” she said.
Øgrey shared her plans to present the Ukrainian cause at a major Nordic meeting that gathers the Scandinavian donors of Ukrainian Media Fund. “Winter is coming, and that’s quite mobilizing,” she added. “All of this is very concrete and scalable.”
Key Nordic donors — standing with Ukraine
The Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association is among the Nordic founders of Ukrainian Media Fund, launched in 2022 as a joint initiative of the European media community to support Ukrainian journalists and publishers during the war. Since 2025 the fund has been run by Ukrainian Media Fund Nordic, which Øgrey chairs.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the fund has supported the operating budgets of dozens of local newsrooms, above all in combat zones, and equipped journalists with protective gear and communication tools. Grant decisions are taken with input from several Ukrainian partners, among them the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. In late 2025 the fund announced 150,000 euros in support for independent Ukrainian media.
Øgrey consistently stresses that free media and independent journalism become more important than ever in wartime, because truth is the first casualty of any war. She maintains a personal connection with NUJU’s leadership: she hosted the Union’s head, Sergiy Tomilenko, in Oslo, and shortly before the Council was established she spoke with NUJU First Secretary Lina Kushch at the forum in Arendal.
The International Advisory Council of the Journalists’ Solidarity Centres was officially presented by NUJU on 24 August 2026. The Council brings together international experts in press freedom, the journalists’ safety, media resilience and development. It works on a voluntary basis, holds no governing powers, and helps NUJU assess new threats, develop the JSC network, and connect the needs of Ukrainian newsrooms with international expertise and support.
The founding members of the Council are Randi S. Øgrey (Norway), Mogens Schmidt (Denmark), Ruth Kronenburg (the Netherlands), Tine Johansen (Denmark), Andrea Roth (Germany), Anna Del Freo (Italy) and Jennifer Moreau (Canada).
The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine created the nationwide network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centres in April 2022 with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists; UNESCO is a key partner of the network. NUJU now coordinates seven Centres — in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sumy, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk. From the start of the network’s work to July 2026, the Centres processed more than 10,000 requests for help: protective equipment for temporary use, emergency payments, legal and psychological consultations, and support for regional media.
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