ARNE FJELDSTAD, 60, director and CEO of The Media Project, an international network of journalists devoted to better coverage of religion in public life, suffered a heart attack and died Sunday in Norway.
Fjeldstad spent three decades in mainstream news media, gaining senior positions at Aftenposten, the leading Norwegian daily newspaper. He also was an ordained Lutheran minister who served local parishes, an Anglican minister in the Middle East, and a part-time professor teaching journalism and communications. Fuller Theological Seminary awarded him a doctorate after he completed a dissertation on Lutheran churches and virtual churches on the internet.
With The Media Project over the past eight years Fjeldstad traveled the world to meet and teach journalists, organize seminars, build friendships, and offer counseling. Under his leadership The Media Project initiated regional conferences and workshops, a Film Project to teach local journalists to write and produce short documentaries, and a partnership with the Poynter Institute to train and mentor journalists.
“Wherever Arne went, he brought a cheerful, encouraging presence and a wide knowledge of journalism and the world and its challenges,” said Roberta Ahmanson, board chair of The Media Project. “Because of his untiring efforts, men and woman across the globe are better equipped to continue the work he began and dedicated his intelligence, energy, and commitment to furthering.”
Fjeldstad made use of social media. His last tweet, sent last Wednesday, concerned what he called, “An extraordinary story from an American (and Jewish) journalist,” Jeffrey Goldberg’s “Before the Beheadings” in The Atlantic. (Goldberg described the month he spent at a Muslim school in Pakistan in 2000.)
The willingness to honor other journalists is not typical in a profession replete with large egos, but it typified Arne Fjeldstad. He is survived by his wife Hilde and adopted daughter Silye-Maria. By Marvin Olasky in the WorldMag
