John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships

2011-12 International Knight Fellows selected

Nine journalists from around the world have been named International John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford University for the 2011-12 academic year.

The group is the third group of Knight Fellows whose selection was guided by the program's new focus on journalism innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership.

The projects this year's Fellows will undertake include making data mining tools more accessible to journalists, developing an online platform for the sharing of Freedom of Information documents and using technology to make Arab governments more accessible and U.S. Mideast policy more transparent.

During their stay at Stanford, the Knight Fellows also pursue independent courses of study and participate in special seminars. The 2011-12 program marks the 46th year that Stanford has offered journalism fellowships. Twelve U.S. fellows will be selected later this month and announced on May 2.

These are the 2011-12 International Fellows:

  • Teresa Bouza, senior correspondent, EFE News Services (Washington, DC), Spain. Bouza will research the democratization of data mining, including the development of a manual, an interactive tutorial and a support website for open source tools.
  • Girma Fantaye, deputy editor in chief, Addis Neger (Kampala, Uganda), Ethiopia. Fantaye will work on mechanisms to make exile media sustainable, and to ensure their relevance and significance.
  • Masood Farivar, radio manager, Internews Network, Kabul, Afghanistan. Farivar plans to build a virtual community to link Afghan radio journalists and facilitate content sharing.
  • Hu Ben, journalist, Southern Weekend, Guangzhou, China (Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow). Hu will research ways to report public policy in a society with limited free speech, and how to make it profitable online.
  • Jorge Imbaquingo, managing editor, Diario Hoy, Quito, Ecuador (Knight Foundation Latin American Fellow). Imbaquingo will work to implement a technology platform to access and make available documents on corruption in Ecuador.
  • Emad Mekay, founder, editor and publisher, America in Arabic News Agency, Cairo, Egypt. Mekay will explore using cheap U.S. information technology and freedom of information to make Arab regimes more accountable and U.S. policy in the Middle East more transparent.
  • Djordje Padejski, freelance investigative reporter, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and founder, Center for Investigative Reporting, Belgrade, Serbia. Padejski will compare public records practices in the U.S. and the Balkans in order to develop an online platform where journalists and watchdogs can share FOI documents.
  • Judith Torrea, freelance journalist and blogger, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (Yahoo! International Fellow). Torrea will examine citizen journalism in conflict zones and areas of extreme poverty, and explore models that can contribute to the coverage of drug trafficking in Mexico.
  • Anita Zielina, head of Austrian politics and education department, derStandard.at, Vienna, Austria. Zielina plans to create a guide for media and journalists on dealing with their online communities.

The program received 222 applications for the International fellowships. The Fellows were selected by Director James Bettinger and Deputy Director Dawn Garcia, with assistance from the International Center for Journalists.

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.