Indrek Treufeldt
Indrek Treufeldt (born 16 May 1969) is an Estonian journalist, television presenter, civil servant and academic. He has worked in Estonian public broadcasting since the 1980s, including as a presenter and correspondent for Eesti Televisioon, and has taught television journalism at Tallinn University since 2007. From 2021 to 2024 he served as communications adviser to President Alar Karis.
Education and academic work
Treufeldt studied electronics at Tallinn University of Technology, graduating in 1993, and journalism at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1996. In 2012 he received a PhD in media and communication from the University of Tartu with the dissertation Ajakirjanduslik faktiloome erinevates ühiskondlikes tingimustes (Construction of Journalistic Facts in Different Societies).
His dissertation examined the making of journalistic facts in different social systems, comparing authoritarian, totalitarian and democratic settings and drawing in part on Estonian and Finnish broadcast material. Since 2007 he has taught at Tallinn University's Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, where he is listed as associate professor of Television Journalism. His academic work has focused on how journalism constructs facts and on broadcasting history.
Journalism and public service
Treufeldt began working in journalism at Estonian Radio in 1986. From 1994 to 1995 he served as press adviser to President Lennart Meri. He then worked at Estonian Television as an editor-presenter from 1996 to 2002 and as its Brussels correspondent from 2003 to 2007. He later became one of the presenters of the ETV interview programme Kahekõne.
In September 2021 Treufeldt was named public relations adviser to president-elect Alar Karis; he took up the role after leaving Estonian Public Broadcasting. He left the President's Office in June 2024 and returned to Tallinn University.
Documentary and television work
Alongside his news and interview work, Treufeldt has written and presented documentary programming, much of it dealing with Estonian history, public life and media criticism.
His film Mehed unustatud armeest (2006) dealt with Estonians who guarded defendants during the Nuremberg trials, while Ma elasin Eesti Vabariigis (2010), written with Tiina Kaalep, examined Estonia on the eve of the loss of its independence in 1939.
Among the television series associated with him are 11 000 aastat hiljem (11 Thousand Years Later), a 12-part documentary series; Sinine, must, valge (2013); Uhutud mõistus (2016), a six-part series on propaganda and mass communication; and Ehitades Eestit (2018), a 12-part documentary series on the making of the Estonian Republic.
Selected works
- 11 000 aastat hiljem (2007–2008), documentary series.
- Mehed unustatud armeest (2006), documentary film.
- Ma elasin Eesti Vabariigis (2010), documentary film, with Tiina Kaalep.
- Sinine, must, valge (2013), documentary series.
- Uhutud mõistus (2016), documentary series.
- Ehitades Eestit (2018), documentary series.
Honours
Treufeldt received the Valdo Pandi journalism prize in 2016. In 2017 he was awarded the Order of the White Star, 4th Class.