What’s up with the Knight Fellowships?
Here we go: We’re launching this blog at the same time the Knight Fellowships is announcing substantial changes — changes designed to help journalists meet the challenges that we all know too well. I want this blog to explain and elaborate on changes in the program, for starters. But I also want to use it to generate discussion and debate about how journalists can become more innovative and entrepreneurial — in short, how we can lead rather than follow.
We started the process that led to these changes in May 2007. We were spurred by the cataclysmic changes occurring throughout journalism — not just in the U.S., but around the world. We created a task force to help us envision what the Knight Fellowships should become, so that it could be as effective in the future as it has been up until now. The task force worked through the summer and fall of 2007 to propose a series of changes to the Board of Visitors, which approved them in principle earlier this year. The Knight Fellowship staff has labored since then to turn the general outline approved by the Board into specific policies and practices.
If you found your way to this, you’ve probably already read about the changes in more detail. (If not, go here.) I will emphasize that we’re focusing on journalism innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership, that we want to widen the pool of people whom we consider good candidates for a fellowship, that we want to increase our impact on the development of independent journalism in emerging democracies, that we want to enlist the intellectual firepower of Stanford and Silicon Valley even more than we already have, and that we want to engage our alumni in meeting challenges and seizing opportunities.
My journalistic headwaters couldn’t be more old technology. We typed on manual typewriters, using triple sheets of paper inter-leafed with carbon paper, which were then pasted together with rubber cement, edited with thick pencils, sometimes trimmed from the end with a pica pole (also useful for scratching one’s back), sent to a composing room by pneumatic tubes, turned into lead type that was placed in metal forms that were turned into newspaper pages. Something of the romantic in me remembers that fondly. But I much favor what technology allows us — even encourages us — to do now, and that’s what I want to focus on.
These changes are about much more than technology, of course. They’re about changing patterns of accessing news, about potentially innovative new ways to financially support the kind of quality journalism we need, as well as about fostering free and independent journalism in countries and societies that don’t have a long history of this. They’re specifically about enlisting and engaging Knight Fellowship alumni is solving these very real problems and challenges that we face. And more.
That’s enough of an opener. Let me hear from you, even if — especially if — you think we’re headed in the wrong direction.
Comments
Comment from Christianne Gonzalez
Date: Nov 18, 2008
It’s very nice to hear that the fellowship program is going to be more result oriented. We all know how talented are the Knight fellows and how capable we are to lead innovation. I strongly believe that the guidance of the Stanford professors and the alumni, as much as the guidance that you and Dawn use to provide us, can contribute a lot to improve entrepreneurship. Count on me to help with anything you think I can do. Hope to see a link to this blog at the homepage of the Knight Fellowships website soon.
Comment from Maryn McKenna
Date: Nov 18, 2008
I applaud your emphasis on involving your alumni! I am an alum of several fellowship programs; none of them really draw on their alumni and I don’t understand why. Alums usually have senior expertise and usually have enormous goodwill toward the programs; they are an obvious and under-used resource.
Comment from Jeanne Mariani-Belding
Date: Nov 18, 2008
Hi Jim! It’s great to see the Knight program being refined to keep pace with the innovation and changes in the industry. Great job! These changes will go a long way toward better positioning the program, and its participants, to thrive in the changing media landscape.
One last thing: 2003 Knights rock! :-)
Comment from Paul Raeburn
Date: Nov 18, 2008
Jim, Dawn–
Glad to see that the fellowship program is re-inventing itself, especially in these turbulent times for journalism.
I confess that I didn’t take the time to read the roadmap and other supporting documents, but I did get the impression from the bullet points on the web that there is some sort of code here that I don’t understand–and perhaps that will be true of other alums, too.
I’m not entirely sure what’s meant by a “coherent proposal that will lead to a tangible result.” Like what–a story? A website? A company? A new job?
Also, didn’t the fellowship always look for people with a broad range of experience? What is different about that?
Does the focus on entrepreunership mean you’ll favor editors, publishers, and web mavens over writers?
And didn’t the program always rely heavily on Stanford’s resources?
I have great confidence in you and Dawn, and I’m sure you know what you’re doing. But from what you’ve sent out, I don’t.
And I’d like to know, because I’m trying to reinvent myself, as well.
Best,
Paul
Comment from Duane Pohlman
Date: Nov 18, 2008
I have been a working journalist for more than two decades and now find myself in the midst of this turbulent media transition.
Since none of us can yet predict the future, it’s important that programs - like yours - actively engage in the outcome.
You’ve also made a significant step of including the experts - your Alum.
For the first time in my career, a fellowship program - yours - has caught my eye!
I applaud your efforts to pragmatically re-tool the Knight Fellowships.
Comment from Frank G. Real,Jr.
Date: Nov 18, 2008
Nostalgia aint’s what it use to be. I too lived through the good old days, hot lead, plating,worn out typewriters, smoke filled city room, noise everwhere. Just like the movies. So where are we now. I can do everything we did in those days on my laptop at home, except print 100,000 copies for distribution.Sure technology is changing but the basic goal has not changed since Ben Franklin. Get the news to the public as fast as possible in a form they will read. CNN may have immediate delivery but the details come in print. We need not lose sight of the goal. Rules change but not the game. The exposure I received as a PJF from guest lecturers was invaluable. When I started out in the 50’s, we were reporters not journalists. I learned as a U.S. Marine that every Marine, even a general, is a rifleman.Likewise every editor is a reporter. I read or heard something recently, I do not have the source as I write this, that a newpaper somewhere has asked its entire organization to be reporters, ad salesmen, truck drivers, etc. Thats thinking out of the box. Do it.
Comment from Colleen Barry
Date: Nov 21, 2008
Hi Jim and Dawn,
Important changes, and I think very positive, especially the results-oriented fellowship and tapping into Silicon Valley. Wondering in what way alumni will be integrated into the new program: As resources to stay current with changes in the field, or as recipients for whatever emerges from the updated Knight fellowship program? It seems to me, given the enormity of the challenges and the struggle to adapt by the traditional media, that a sort-of directed brainstorming could be useful to everyone, current fellows tapping into the latest and alumni out there making sense of it.
Comment from Em Williams
Date: Dec 1, 2008
I formerly freelanced (for 10-plus years) and since have become a full-time author of journalistic nonfiction books. Might I be eligible to apply to the fellowship?
Also, to be filed under the department of picked nits:
Under eligibility guidelines, you write: “Applicants ideally will have seven years of full-time professional experience…”
Don’t you mean AT LEAST seven years…?
Comment from jimb
Date: Dec 1, 2008
Nice pick on the nit. You’re right, of course, and we’ll fix it.
On the eligibility of full-time book authors: We’re looking for people whose work and whose proposals have some immediacy and frequency. That’s not to say that a full-time book author with a terrific idea couldn’t be awarded a fellowship, but we think the bar would be pretty high.
Pingback from Knight Foundation Blog » How the Stanford Knight Fellowships Will Change in the Coming Year
Date: Dec 2, 2008
[...] more information and how to apply, read this post on Jim’s new Knightline [...]
Comment from Ravi Velloor
Date: Dec 8, 2008
I’ve read this blog and associated literature and must confess that my curiosity is more than tickled. Will be checking in more often. And Jim, you will be hearing from me soon– my office has asked me to apply for the Knight.
Cheers
Ravi
Comment from Vinanti Castellarin
Date: Dec 24, 2008
As a veteran print journalist(published articles from the age of 15), I moved into still photography and then film (16/35mm, VHS),ultimately to digital/HD video journalism. In 2001, I completed my first project: “MISTAKEN IDENTITY: A 9/11 Story” - A Celebration of Cultural Diversity in America - which won 3 first prize awards at American Film Festivals six months after its release. It was distributed across USA, Canada (House of Commons in Ottawa)and invited to the UK by the British Women in TV and screened in towns and cities, and then on to EU.
Throughout my early print journalism career, I instinctively felt that the “written word” in publish articles and short stories did not have the “reach” that film and TV offered. I was always anxious in developing myself into a multimedia journalist, so I started traveling through Europe, the UK and then the United States.
When I arrived in New York, my greatest desire was to study journalism at Columbia University, but I immediately discovered the secret art of interviewing America’s celebrities, i.e. Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Clint Eastwood, the Beatles, The BeeGees, Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, best selling authors, Broadway actors and actresses, etc. Somehow, the IBM electric typewriter did not give me the ultimate creative satisfaction, so I started filming my subjects with a still Nikon camera in dramatic poses for my readers. Somehow I never took “No” as the final answer, from publicity agents, and recall my frustrations of complete rejections. But I never gave up, starting from an article in the New York Times, I developed new techniques in finding the celebrities. For example, my interview with Tennessee Williams was exceptional. I sabortaged him off-stage during the interval, when he acted the role of the doctor in one of his last plays, Off-Off Broadway. He and Lee Strasberg were two American celebrities I had admired during my college days, and the thrill I felt seated opposite them … glowing in their presence … was incredible.
Unfortunately, Columbia School of Journalism refused my admission’s application, because the Dean told me I was “over qualified”, having already published and printed articles in major newspapers and magazines. So I moved into studying the fascinating world of film and TV and started using creative multimedia techniques which started to involve the computer … with instructional technology principles to design TV interviews and programs. I have to admit, instrucitonal technolgy classes were rather dull, so instead of producing academic content, I wrote script in a simple and entertaining fashion, more like today’s “reality TV” style.
After completing two MA degrees in mass media communications and instructional technology using multimedia systems, I entered the work place and was repeated told I was “over-qualified” for research jobs on Madison Avenue. So I returned to Columbia for my doctoral thesis and set up a small film company producing cable TV shows. After completing “Facing the Challenge” on the Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, I developed an amazing TV series called “Women Who Dared…” showing how 13 women become Presidents and Prime Ministers from Margaret Thatcher to Corzon Aquino.
In the 90s, the world was moving towards “going global”, but feeling I was ahead of time, I found everyone who was introduced to the TV project found it fascinating, especially as I worked on the intensive R & D, biographical scripts ready to be published as books with personal photographs of the women. One major TV network and several multinational advertising agenices seriously considered the budget of $5 million, including names like Walter Cronkite, Audrey Hepburn and Meryl Streep who wrote of their interest in becoming involved with the project, esepcially after I wrote and invited them to play the part of the investigative journalist and TV hosts.
Unfortunately, I had to refuse the months of negotiable deals with advertising sponsors i.e. A.T & T, and major advertising agencies, because it meant sacrificing my principles. I had to reject the unrealistic final offers, refusing to be part of the Woody Allen’s phrase “take the money and run.”
Today, I am looking ahead and wonder whether I can apply for the Knight Fellowship with all the innovative research and scripting I completed on “Women Who Dared …” which consists of scripted books, photographs, audio and film interviews, VHS visuals transferred onto DVDs. I could produce digital films and a book with photographs, showing unique leadership role models for women and each coming younger generation. The idea of submitting a proposal for the Knight Fellowship is very challenging …
Comment from Jim Bettinger
Date: Jan 5, 2009
Vinanti Castellarin — we are looking more for projects that focus on journalism entrepreneurship, leadership and/or innovation, rather than projects that are designed to produce a story, a book, etc.
Comment from John Petrucci
Date: Jan 22, 2009
nice blog i really appreciate it.
Coursework
Comment from John Petrucci
Date: Jan 22, 2009
thanks for sharing with us
Health Help
Comment from Martin
Date: Mar 27, 2009
I could produce digital films and a book with photographs, showing unique leadership role models for women and each coming younger generation. The idea of submitting a proposal for the Knight Fellowship is very challenging …
Comment from JT
Date: May 4, 2009
Congratulations on launching your new blog. I looks great!
Comment from Tyler
Date: May 20, 2009
Lovely blog, we will look to John S. Knight Fellowships for our journalism needs.
Cremation Urns - Pet Urns
Comment from Joel McLaughlin
Date: May 28, 2009
Excellent information, I appreciate your contributions to this Stanford blog you run. Take care.
Joel McLaughlin
Dataflurry Search Engine Optimization Services
Comment from Jussa
Date: Jun 11, 2009
Very interesting blog.
Comment from Seth Mippin
Date: Jun 18, 2009
Knightline sounds a bit too close to dateline if you ask me. Should have conjured something a bit more unique and distinct.
Free MMORPGs
Comment from Joey
Date: Jun 24, 2009
I am impressed with the amount of information I have received at your blog. Keep up the excellent work.
-
PHP Scripts
Comment from Jerry Attrick
Date: Jun 24, 2009
Kudos on your fantastic blog about Knights. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
-
alarm companies
Comment from John Mish
Date: Jun 29, 2009
I think very positive, especially the results-oriented fellowship and tapping into Silicon Valley. Wondering in what way alumni will be integrated into the new program: As resources to stay current with changes in the field, or as recipients for whatever emerges from the updated Knight fellowship program? It seems to me, given the enormity of the challenges and the struggle to adapt by the traditional media.
club penguin
Leave a comment