The Fellows 2022-2023

Anne Ringgaard is an experienced science journalist who has been writing for the popular science news media Videnskab.dk for the last 10 years. She covers a wide range of scientific fields but has a special interest in life sciences. Besides writing news about science, she occasionally teaches courses about science journalism for researchers, journalists and doctors. She is a co-author of Videnskab.dk’s prize winning guide with 11 pieces of advice on how to make responsible science journalism.

During her fellowship Anne will focus on best practices: What are the best ways to tell fair and balanced stories about medical breakthroughs that appeal to a broad audience and at the same time sharpen critical thinking? How can news journalism strengthen the audience’s trust in medical achievements such as new vaccines?

Brian Holst is the head of the editorial staff at Midtjyllands Avis in Silkeborg and project manager for constructive journalism in Mediehusene Midtjylland.

Brian joins the fellowship program to plan the implemention of the new constructive strategy throughout his employer, the local chain of media houses in Danish Herning, Silkeborg and Skive.

Eline Jul Jørgensen is an experienced visual producer at DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. She has previously been working both as a photographer and within programme editing, television and storytelling. For the last nine years, Eline is working within development projects at DR, as well as being a Visual Producer at DR.

During her fellowship Eline wish to investigate and develop how old media can use constructive journalism to reach, engage and enable young people. The goal will be to find constructive ways to make young people feel less stressed, have less anxiety and enhance their mental health in general, inspired by the words hope and understanding.

Ingrid Tinmannsvik is the project manager for constructive journalism at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). She has been a visual news journalist and video specialist at NRK for the past six years. Tinmannsvik is currently responsible for developing NRK’s strategy for constructive journalism. As a journalist, her main focus has been reaching a younger audience with news across NRK’s platforms. She graduated from Volda University College with a BA in Journalism in 2016.

Ingrid will spent her time as a fellow preparing to implement the new constructive strategy at Norwegian public service broadcasting NRK Nyheter.

Jesper Himmelstrup has been teaching Journalism & Media and Radio/Podcast for the past 9 years at Krogerup Højskole, Humlebæk. Previously he has been working 10 years at the Danish Broadcasting Company in Copenhagen (DR NYHEDER) and Aarhus (DR Østjylland) primarily doing radio- and webjournalism. He has also taught students at the Danish School of Media and Journalism – from where he graduated in 2004. He has a special interest in youth, education and new ways and forms of teaching.

During his fellowship at Constructive Institute Jesper will dive into the question: How do we make young people take part in the public debate again? Over the past decades young people have derived from participating in the public debate. Not that they don’t want to – simply they’ve already had too many bad experiences based on it. The aim of this project funded by the William Demant Foundation is to dive into the deeper maters and restore the trust, so that everyone – and least of not all: the young generation – wants to take part in our democracy again.

Kati Laukkanen is an experienced journalist and documentarist from Finland. Kati is working at Finland’s National Public Broadcasting Company, YLE.

At her time as fellow Kati will investigate how to apply constructive journalism to public service documentaries.

Katrine Grønvald Raun is working as a reporter at the Danish daily Børsen covering sustainability in the Danish business community with a special focus on climate and green transition at the Børsen Bæredygtig desk. She has been part of the editorial desk since the launch in October 2020. Prior to Børsen Katrine has worked as a business journalist at Watch Medier. She is a graduate from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2012.

During her fellowship at Constructive Institute Katrine will examine the role of constructive journalism in the media coverage of the Danish business community and the work with green transition and climate – and how the media is able to push and affect the green transition in the business world.

Mads Nyvold is a journalist at Klimamonitor specializing in energy and circular economy. Previously he has worked as a reporter for Zetland, Ingeniøren and as a correspondent in the Arctic for Sermitsiaq, Foreign Affairs and Agence France-Presse. Mads is co-author of the internationally acclaimed non-fiction book ‘If We Act Now – the surprisingly simple steps we can take to avoid the worst of climate crisis’ and has a BA in Journalism from DMJX.

As a fellow Mads will seek new approaches on how to report on conflicts from citizens in geographically peripheral areas opposing the construction of solar panels or windturbines. These tensions might be linked to, that while none of us want to experience the worst of climate crisis, few of us want to have green energy-sources near our homes. This counter-reaction is called NIMBY, an acronym for not-in-my-backyard, and Mads will try to rethink journalism dealing with nimbyism.

Mette Stentoft is a journalism lecturer and an assistant professor at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, where an important part of her tasks evolves around visual methods and visual productions. Previously, she was an independent filmmaker focusing on health journalism, and she has extensive experience with science and health communication. Mette holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Roskilde University and a master’s degree in journalism (cand.public) from Aarhus University and the Danish School of Media and Journalism.

As a Fellow at Constructive Institute, Mette will focus on the media coverage of research in medicine, biology, and related life sciences and explore how a visual and human-centered approach might benefit these important but often hard-to-grasp topics.

Michael Booth has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for 25 years. He has been a correspondent for Monocle magazine and Monocle 24 radio for over 15 years, and is the author of seven non-fiction books which have been translated into more than 15 languages. He and his work have appeared on BBC Radio 4 and DR television, and he has written for Politiken, the Guardian, the Sunday Times, Condé Nast Traveller, Asahi Shimbun and many other newspapers and magazines in Denmark, Scandinavia, the UK and around the world.

During his fellowship Michael will focus on ways to correct the imbalance in perception regarding the quality of life in Denmark’s cities vs its provinces.

Nanna Holst is an experienced journalist, editor and project manager with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. She is working as an editor for “Involvement and Dialogue” at the Danish tv station, TV2 Lorry. Nanna is a graduate from the Danish National School of Journalism and Aarhus Business School.

During her fellowship, Nanna will investigate the potential for regional media to create more trust, community and relevance through media user involvement in core journalism. She wants to examine how regional media can redefine its role as a bridge builder between people and systems, tendencies and reality in a time when everyone can find their own truth in the digital society.

Rasmus Agger began his journalistic life in the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s news desk, DR Nyheder as reporter at the foreign desk and P3 Nyhederne. He graduated from the Danish School of Media and Journalism and has studied International Relations at University Tec De Monterrey in Mexico City. For the last 5 years Rasmus been working at the award-winning Ultra Nyt which covers news for children and teens. Currently, Rasmus Agger is a lead editor in DR B&U.

During his fellowship Rasmus wishes to investigate and develop how medias can raise the representativeness of young people from vulnerable housing areas. In addition, the project will look at whether a constructive coverage of the areas can lift children and young people’s experience of reflection in the media.

René Ryom is a news reporter with multiple years of experience at the regional tv-station TV2 Nord. Among multiple projects, René recently worked as an editor of the debate program Fokus. In addition, René has been in charge of the coverage at different elections. This includes close cooperation with the other regional Danish news medias.

As a part of TV2 Nord’s new strategy René will investigate how constructive journalism can increase trust among their users. Specifically, René will focus on which exact tools can be used to do so in the context of regional news media. The aim is to bring TV2 Nord even closer and become even more relevant to their tv-audience as well as the users of their digital platforms.

Steffen Slot has been working as a local and regional journalist at Sjællandske Medier/Frederiksborg Amts Avis for almost 20 years, most of the time reporting on everyday life in his “hood”, Fredensborg Kommune. He has a wide experience in investigative journalism, which brought him to a nomination for the Cavling prize in 2010. Throughout his work, Steffen has shown a particular interest in bringing to the public what can be learned from individuals in a local community. Steffen graduated from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2003.

During his fellowship Steffen will examine how local media, across editorial offices widespread in a large geographic area, can design a workflow to strengthen the bonds between journalists and citizens as they work together to solve the problems of tomorrow. The ambition is to find a workflow that makes constructive journalism an offer hard to refuse for readers as well as fellow journalists

Thomas Gam Nielsen is a local reporter at TV2 Østjylland and has covered Djursland both on TV and on the web. He has previously been editor of Vollsmose Avisen and communications officer at ByLivKolding – a housing community secretariat.

As part of his fellowship, Thomas will examine health care and inequality. The places with most inequality in health are the places with the least access to health care services. These areas are dealing with far more severe health issues than the rest of Denmark, but they lack basic access to general practitioners and other health care services. Thomas wishes to focus on giving readers more exact knowledge on the issue in order to spike more focus on solutions and not only portrait the problems with access to healthcare services.