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The corona pandemic became Hanna’s way into journalism

Hanna Torsdotter Husabø in front of Bergen Media City Foto: Mats Vederhus

When the virus came to Norway, she lost her job in branding and sustainability. Now she’s a journalist.

Journalisten meets Hanna Torsdotter Husabø (33) in Media City Bergen’s canteen, where Bergens Tidende (BT) is located. She’s one of the newspaper’s summer temps this year.

She talks about the time after she lost her job as CSR and fire manager at the GC Rieber group.

– The labor market wasn’t exactly great, there weren’t very many positions out there. And there were many people competing for those positions, says Husabø.

She applied for different positions, but began to think that this might be the time to think a little outside of the box.

– I’m over thirty years old, so I was kind of not quite ready to throw myself into a new master’s degree. It wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily want to study, but I didn’t like the idea of ​​spending several years of my life on a degree that might not give me a job, says Husabø, who has a master’s degree in art history.

Coincidentally, Nynorsk Avissenter appeared on Finn.no when she was looking for work. It is a six-month practical journalism education.

– It looked fun. I have nothing to lose, I thought. “I’m probably not going to get a spot because I’m old, I’ve done everything else and it’s probably too late.”

Lots of practical work

She applied and didn’t tell anyone about it. But eventually she got a spot and started in January of this year.

– I then moved to Førde, where the center is located. I was there for four months, and got an internship here at BT and further work as a summer temp. I started interning in May, but we worked in Firda the first months, so it was really interning almost from day one. It was a lot of practical work, but mixed with a good deal of classes and teaching, she says about the training.

Followed Erna Solberg

A few weeks ago, she traveled to Sotra to follow along when prime minister Erna Solberg was there to visit the fire site and those who’d worked with a fire there.

– Then I was out and about, and had to write an article in the car on the road, had to interview people, and there was a lot that happened at once. It was an exciting thing to experience, a different way of working than the classic “call, arrange an interview, write the interview, edit photos”.

Lately, she’s also worked a lot with «Bergen’s best», a section where BT’s readers vote for their favorites among the city’s restaurants, bars and shops.

– It’s a fairly large project that BT has going through the summer. It’s also been a lot of fun and a different thing to work with.

Thrives

The period in BT has been very nice, says Husabø.

– I’ve learned a lot in a short time. What I think has been very nice is how you just get thrown into it: you get quite a lot of responsibility from day one. They trust you to fix the job, but of course they’re always ready to help. My closest leader has been very nice to spar with, but it’s not the case that I’ve shadowed another journalist to be trained.

She’s been thrown into the various tasks, and has been asked to write her own articles and do her own interviews.

– You are, in a way, an ordinary journalist from day one.