U.S. JSK Journalism Fellows named for 2016-17

Twelve U.S. journalists and journalism innovators have won John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University for the 2016-17 academic year.

This will mark the 51st year that Stanford has offered journalism fellowships. The JSK Journalism Fellowships program champions innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership in journalism, by helping fellows pursue their ideas, formulated as “journalism challenges,” to improve the quality of news and information reaching the public. Fellows collaborate with each other, with Stanford faculty and students, with Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs and others to advance their ideas.

“We’re pleased to be working with talented fellows who will be forging new solutions to important challenges facing journalism,” said JSK Managing Director Dawn Garcia. “This year’s JSK Fellows represent journalism’s best risk takers — innovators in established newspapers and broadcast organizations like The Los Angeles Times, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune and Seattle’s KPLU Radio, as well as those practicing journalism at newer journalism ventures such as BuzzFeed News, Radio Ambulante and Project Facet.”

Garcia was recently named director of the program to succeed James Bettinger, who is retiring after 27 years leading the fellowship program as director and deputy director. She will become director on Sept. 1.

The U.S. fellows join six international fellows who were announced earlier this month. Fellows spend a significant part of their time pursuing their journalism challenges, while also participating fully in the intellectual life of Stanford and the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley.

The 2016-17 U.S. John S. Knight Journalism Fellows

Dustin Bleizeffer, reporter, WyoFile, Casper, Wyoming, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can nonprofit online news creatively use technology to reinvigorate journalism and democracy in the rural West?

Heather Bryant, director, Project Facet, San Francisco, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can we help small or rural newsrooms develop collaborative relationships to enhance the quality and coverage of local journalism?

Veronica Chambers, journalist and author, Hoboken, New Jersey, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can new media companies afford and effectively support intergenerational newsrooms?

Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host/producer, UpFront, KPFA Radio, Berkeley, California, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can new platforms for audio distribution and geography-based networking fill the need for local journalism?

Adriana Garcia, managing editor, print, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can we bring the news to low-income citizens with newspaper print schedules diminishing or disappearing?

Clara Gonzalez Sueyro, director of user experience, Radio Ambulante, Oakland, California, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can we improve the user experience of podcast journalism on mobile smartphones with visual and interactive media?

Stacy-Marie Ishmael, managing editor for mobile, BuzzFeed News, New York, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How much investment does attaining a minimum viable mobile infrastructure for newsrooms require?

Julie Makinen, Beijing bureau chief, Los Angeles Times, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can newsrooms collaborate with overseas media partners to cut costs, bolster their foreign reporting and develop new revenue streams?

Ryan Nakashima, business writer, The Associated Press, Los Angeles, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How might news organizations improve the user experience while helping fund journalism?

Katherine Ann Rowlands, deputy business editor, Bay Area News Group, San Jose, California, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can we overcome gender disparities in journalism, especially in leadership positions, so that newsrooms accurately reflect and report on society?

Gabriel Spitzer, assistant news director, KPLU, Seattle, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can public radio journalists transform locally produced broadcast content into sustainable podcasts or other digital audio with impact?

Elodie Mailliet Storm, senior director, partnerships and business development, Getty Images, New York, JSK Journalism Fellow

Question: How can photojournalism thrive financially in an age of social media?

Financial support for the U.S. fellows comes from an endowment provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The U.S. fellows were chosen by the JSK Fellowships Program Committee: James Bettinger, director, JSK Journalism Fellowships; Sarah Stein Greenberg, executive director, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford; George Haj, regional editor-in-chief, ALM Media; James Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication and director of the Journalism Program at Stanford; Abbas Milani, director of Iranian Studies at Stanford and research fellow, Hoover Institution; Marcia Parker, executive director, content, Penton Technology Group; and Frances Robles, correspondent, The New York Times.