John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists

International Knight Journalism Fellows Named at Stanford

Eight foreign journalists have been awarded John S. Knight Fellowships for the 2009-10 academic year at Stanford

This will be the first group of Knight Fellows selected based on the program's new focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Under the changes, the program is placing particular emphasis on international journalists who can have a direct impact on the development of a free press and flow of information in their countries.

During their stay at Stanford, the Knight Fellows pursue independent courses of study, participate in special seminars and work on individual journalism projects. In May, the program will announce the selection of 12 Knight Fellows from the United States.

Following are the new international Knight Fellows and their areas of study:

  • Justin Arenstein, publisher and CEO, African Eye News Service and HomeGrown Magazines, Nelspruit, South Africa.
    Arenstein will explore strategies for independent grassroots media in southern Africa to exploit the mobile web, including the potential for joint ventures with mobile networks and other industry stakeholders around aggregation of content, location-based advertising, geospatial-tagging, data visualization / augmented reality, and mobile social networking.
  • Alfonso Cuellar, editor-in-chief, Semana magazine, Bogotá, Colombia.
    Cuellar will study how the journalists in other post-conflict countries make the transition from covering national crises to "everyday" news.
  • Marcus Herbert, executive producer, Factual Programmes, British Broadcasting Corp., Glasgow, United Kingdom.
    Herbert will explore the cultural, intellectual and business aspects involved in developing a better mainstream science journalism approach in the UK.
  • Kim Mikyung, senior reporter, Seoul Shinmun Daily, South Korea (Shinyoung Journalism Fellow).
    Kim will explore if and how the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis can be evolved into a northeast Asia peace and security mechanism.
  • Lydia Lim, senior political correspondent, The Straits Times, Singapore.
    Lim will study the effects of self-censorship for journalists in authoritarian countries and look for ways to help journalists overcome self-imposed constraints in a new media landscape.
  • Martin Pallares, political editor, Diario El Comercio, Quito, Ecuador (Knight Latin American Fellow).
    Pallares will study ways to develop a multi-media site that incorporates radio and mobile devices in order to offer more in-depth analysis and debate on economic and political issues.
  • Paul Radu, freelance reporter and projects coordinator, the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism, Bucharest, Romania (Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow).
    Radu will explore ways to create new, and enhance existing, cross-border networks of Balkan investigative journalists.
  • Nadia Trinidad, senior correspondent, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Company, Manila, Philippines (Yahoo! International Fellow).
    Trinidad plans to study the psychological and sociological aspects of corruption in the media and design a manual to help news organizations mitigate the problem.

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, Shinyoung Journalism Fund, and Yahoo! Inc. The 2009-10 program marks the 44th year that Stanford has offered fellowships for professional journalists. The International Fellows were selected by James Bettinger, director of the program, and Dawn Garcia, deputy director.