JSK and Stanford’s Institute for Advancing Just Societies launch partnership
The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships and the Institute for Advancing Just Societies are partnering to bolster journalism that centers the information needs of disenfranchised communities.
The two programs have named two journalism leaders, Bettina Chang and Nalan Sipar, joint JSK-IAJS fellows for the 2024-25 academic year.
“We are excited about this partnership with an important new venture at Stanford,” said Dawn Garcia, JSK Fellowships director. “The Institute for Advancing Just Societies’ mission aligns with JSK’s efforts to support journalists who work with communities to close news and information gaps that have perpetuated their disenfranchisement.”
In addition to participating in all activities of the JSK Fellowships cohort, Chang and Sipar will also join the newly launched Advancing Just Societies Institute’s community of scholars, researchers and practitioners who are focused on racial and ethnic justice. The leaders of JSK and the institute consider the joint fellowships a first step in developing ongoing collaborations that bring their respective communities together for multi-disciplinary exploration of practical solutions.
“Both Bettina and Nalan have been immersing themselves in the communities they serve and lending their expertise to co-create new journalistic approaches to helping people thrive,” said Brian S. Lowery, Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business and co-director of the institute. “This aligns well with the institute’s solutions-focused approach to advance racial and ethnic justice.”
Chang is co-founder and former co-executive director of City Bureau, a civic journalism lab focused on community engagement, participatory journalism and racial equity. City Bureau, based in Chicago, in 2022 won a $10 million Stronger Democracy Award for its Documenters Network, which trains and pays people to cover public meetings and build community around democratic participation.
Sipar, of Berlin, is founder and CEO of MedyaN, a non-profit that produces news in Turkish for the largest minority group in Germany. It was recognized as the best media start-up idea by the German Journalists’ Association. Sipar began this work to counter vast disinformation about the coronavirus among the Turkish community in Germany. She also received a Media Startup Fellowship from Media Lab Bayern.
“We believe our JSK fellows will bring valuable perspective from their grassroots journalism work to the institute’s community of researchers, scholars and other practitioners, while gaining insights and knowledge that may shape their work going forward,” Garcia said.
Connecting programs with a focus on problem solving
The Institute for Advancing Just Societies at Stanford University brings together researchers, thought leaders, community partners and policy makers to develop practical solutions to pressing societal problems involving race and ethnicity. Backed by Stanford’s research capacity and external partnerships, the institute works on a local, national and global scale to ensure that race and ethnicity no longer adversely impact people’s security, health, freedom, opportunity, political self-determination or life experience. The institute was founded in 2022 with the goal of developing a cross-disciplinary infrastructure at Stanford for the study of race and its effects on society.
“We are excited to introduce Bettina and Nalan to the institute’s growing community of scholars, researchers, non-profit leaders and policy makers focusing on real-world solutions to racial and ethnic injustice,” said Tomás R. Jiménez, professor of sociology in the School of Humanities and Sciences and co-director of the institute. “We hope this time away from their day-to-day professional obligations will help them take the next step in their work benefitting underserved communities.”
The JSK Fellowships is a nine-month residential program at Stanford that began in 1966. The program provides JSK Fellows individual coaching, access to Stanford experts and resources, tailored workshops and peer-to-peer learning opportunities. Chang and Sipar are among 13 JSK Fellows from around the world who will be at Stanford through May 2025.
