Twelve U.S. journalists have been awarded John S. Knight Fellowships to study at Stanford during the 2008-09 academic year.
During their stay at Stanford, the Knight Fellows will pursue independent courses of study and participate in special seminars. The 2008-09 program marks the 43rd year that Stanford has offered fellowships for professional journalists.
The 12 U.S. fellows will join nine from other countries announced a few weeks ago. Financial support for the U.S. fellows comes primarily from an endowment provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Financial support for the international fellows comes from sources that include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Journalism Fund and Yahoo! Inc.
Following are the 2008-09 U.S. fellows and their principal areas of study:
Christopher Allbritton, freelance journalist, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; foreign news and new media: bringing the outside world online
Stephanie Banchero, education reporter, Chicago Tribune; preparing teachers to work in urban classrooms and the implications for closing the student achievement gap
Diane Cardwell, City Hall bureau chief, New York Times; how cities in the United States and abroad can meet the challenges of growth in a rapidly changing world
Babak Dehghanpisheh, Baghdad bureau chief, Newsweek; the war of ideas and information between the United States and Islamic radicals
Jeff Elder, columnist, Charlotte (N.C.) Observer; the impact of mobile Internet devices on news dissemination, reporting and citizen reporting
Andrew Haeg, senior producer and analyst, American Public Media, St. Paul, Minn.; leading change and innovation in journalism
Burt Herman, Korea bureau chief, Associated Press, Seoul, Korea; foreign correspondence in the digital age
Lee Hockstader, editorial board, Washington Post; comparative immigration policy in the United States and Western Europe
Michael Rezendes, investigative reporter, Boston Globe; the threat of secrecy in a democratic society
Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, managing editor, Rumbo newspapers, Houston; new trends in immigration: how Spanish-language publications in the United States are addressing readers’ cultural crossroads
Geri Smith, Mexico bureau chief and chief Latin American correspondent, BusinessWeek, Mexico City; immigration, trade integration and the quest for international competitiveness in the Americas
Janine Zacharia, diplomatic correspondent, Bloomberg News, Washington; changing how rulers rule: what went wrong with the freedom agenda and lessons for the future
The program received 88 applications for the U.S. fellowships and 166 applications for the international fellowships.
The U.S. fellows were chosen by the Knight Fellowships Program Committee: James Bettinger, director, Knight Fellowships; Eavan Boland, Stanford professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program; Theodore Glasser, Stanford professor of communication; Ardith Hilliard, executive editor, The Morning Call (Allentown, Penn.); James Mallory, senior managing editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Abbas Milani, Stanford visiting professor of political science and director of the Iranian Studies Program; Margaret A. Neale, Stanford professor, Graduate School of Business; Cathy Panagoulias, assistant managing editor, Wall Street Journal; and Rita Williams, reporter, KTVU-TV, Oakland.
The 2008-09 International Knight Fellows who were announced earlier follow:
Federica Bianchi, editor and reporter, L’Espresso, Rome, Italy; international relations, focusing on the effect of China’s rise on U.S. ties with developing nations
Dionne Bunsha, senior assistant editor, Frontline Magazine, Mumbai, India; the impact of globalization on India’s environment, and the potential for sustainable growth
Chanda Chisala, president and editor, Zambia Online, Lisaka, Zambia; the impact of the Internet on the future of African journalism, and the philosophy of human rights
Pedro Doria, technology columnist and writer, O Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (Knight Latin American Fellow); democracy and its pressures around the world
Abebe Gellaw, editor-in-chief, Addis Voice/Addisvoice.com (London), Ethiopia (Yahoo! International Fellow); creating a vibrant and sustainable media organization
Joel Gutierrez, news director, Televicentro de Nicaragua/Canal 2, Managua, Nicaragua (Knight Latin American Fellow); lessons of Ireland and similar emerging countries for Latin American developing nations
Natalia Koulinka, news editor, Radio Station Unistar 99.5, Minsk, Belarus (Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow); news journalism and models of broadcasting by nongovernmental radio in a post-Soviet regime
Watson Meng, chief editor and manager, Boxun News (Durham, N.C.), China; the impact of online citizen journalism in China and beyond
Isra’ al Rubei’i, reporter, National Public Radio, Baghdad; freedom of the press in post-conflict societies and the development of media in emerging democracies
The international fellows were chosen by the fellowship program’s administrators: James Bettinger, director, and Dawn E. Garcia, deputy director.