Welcome to Korea, My Home

 

On our second day in South Korea we toured Camp Humphreys, the newly constructed U.S. Army Garrison, 40 miles south of Seoul. The massive military encampment covers more than 3,000 acres and is very American, dotted with Subway sandwich shops and suburban looking homes.

Seungjin Choi (front row, third from left) was proud to be a tour guide for
his fellow Fellows. The class is pictured at BulguksaTemple in Gyeungju,
South Korea, an ancient relic of the Silla Dynasty and a Unesco World
Heritage site.

To balance out the day, I arranged for a very Korean dinner at a restaurant specializing in tofu. The restaurant had more tofu dishes than most Americans could imagine. The experience, simple for the average Korean, was exciting and a little overwhelming for our group. From the moment the first dish came out, I fielded many questions: “SJ, can you explain how you eat this food?” “What sauce should I use?” “Can I ask for a fork?” With a little explanation, everyone enjoyed the tofu delicacies, and I had a chance to enjoy my fellow Fellows discovering something new.

For three weeks before the trip, I was communicating with former Korean Fellows seeking advice on planning the itinerary. I was worried about making the right plans and choosing the right places to visit. There were disagreements, as I explained, “I don’t want to show my Fellows the negative aspects of Korea.” But one of the former Fellows corrected me. “They are all journalists. They can see everything, even the things we may want to hide.” He was right. It was not just a trip; it was a journalism trip. I needed to present Korean society as it is, not as I wished it to be.

Our trip coincided with a historical moment as President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un were meeting in Vietnam. The outcome would have significant political, economic and social implications for South Korea. In addition, the final day of our visit marked the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement, a national holiday commemorating Korea’s fight for independence from Japan. It was important to help my fellow journalists understand the political tension still playing out in Northeast Asia.

Certainly we should explore Korea’s economic rise, but we should also discuss corporate corruption and the negative impact of the Chaebol, the Korean term for powerful family-run conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai and LG. While it would be fun to explore K-Pop and the growing influence of the Korean entertainment industry, it was important to discuss issues like gender discrimination, Korea’s #MeToo Movement, and teen depression and suicide.

How could we accomplish it all in five days? In the end, we struck a balance. We saw the film “Mal-Mo-E” about efforts to save the Korean language during the Japanese occupation. We learned the complex, centuries old geopolitics of East Asia from Dr. Hahm Chaibong, president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. We examined the conflict between North and South Korea during a visit to the Joint Forces Naval Command complex.  And we were reminded of the familiar struggle to support independent journalism from two start-up media outlets, one of which has since announced its closure.

We also had fun. We peered down at the city from a dizzying observation deck near the top of the 123rd floor of the Lotte World Tower and stood with a crowd of screaming teenagers to watch
a live taping of a popular K-Pop TV show. We ate live octopus at Noryangjin Fish Market and relaxed at a Korean spa. We learned how to brew Makgeolli, traditional Korean rice wine, which will be ready to drink just in time for a visit from the class of 2020.

As the Fellows learned new things, I discovered new things while looking at my country through their experiences. I never paid attention to how tofu dishes are cooked because it is so familiar to me. Looking at Korean society while traveling with the Fellows, I realized stark generational differences between Koreans that I had never considered deeply before. I learned to look at Korea more objectively and this will certainly impact my work.

Traveling my country with the Knight-Wallace Fellows was an unforgettable experience. I still have many things that I am eager to show, and I hope that the program will return for years to come.

See you in Korea!

Seungjin Choi is a 2019 Knight-Wallace Fellow and Reporter, Maeil Business Newspaper (Seoul, South Korea).

 

2019 Livingston Winners Announced

2019 Livingston Award winners (counter-clockwise from top right): Kate Wells, Lindsey Smith, Chris Outcalt, Davey Alba and Rob Hiaasen, recipient of the Richard M. Clurman Award

 

Stories about the women who brought down U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, the murder of a gang leader at the highest security prison in the U.S., and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s Facebook-fueled rise to power won the Livingston Awards today. The $10,000 prizes honor outstanding achievement in local, national and international reporting and recognize the best journalism by professionals under age 35 across of all platforms, including text, visual and audio storytelling.

 

The Livingston Awards also honored the late Rob Hiaasen of the Capital Gazette with the Richard M. Clurman Award for mentoring. The $5,000 prize is given each year to an experienced journalist who has played an active role in guiding and nurturing the careers of young reporters. The prize is named for the late Richard M. Clurman, former chief of correspondents for Time-Life News Service and architect of the Livingston Awards.

 

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University of Michigan to support the vital role of a free and independent press, the awards bolster the work of young reporters, create the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and advance civic engagement around powerful storytelling. Other sponsors include the Indian Trial Charitable Foundation, the Mollie Parnis Livingston Foundation, Christiane Amanpour, and Dr. Gil Omenn and Martha Darling.

 

Livingston Awards national judges Anna Quindlen, author, Ken Auletta of The New Yorker and Bret Stephens of The New York Times, and Livingston Awards regional judge, Stephen Henderson of WDET (Detroit) introduced the winners today at a luncheon in New York City.

 

“This year’s winners represent exceptional reporting and storytelling, illuminating both personal journeys and systemic failings,” says Livingston Awards Director Lynette Clemetson. “Whether through ubiquitous social platforms, elite athletics or prison gangs, these stories expand public understanding of how powerful networks are manipulated and exploited.”

 

The 2019 winners for work published in 2018 are:

 

Local Reporting

Lindsey Smith and Kate Wells of Michigan Radio and NPR for the podcast series “Believed,” a haunting and multifaceted account of U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s belated arrest and an intimate look at how an army of women – a detective, a prosecutor and survivors – brought down the serial sex offender.

 

“Big stories wind up told in broad strokes. Instead of amplifying their power, that sometimes makes them less accessible as human drama. Lindsey Smith and Kate Wells of Michigan Radio decided to go the other way, which is why their pieces on Larry Nassar grabbed me by the throat,” says Anna Quindlen. “They illuminate, not the judicial process, but the people: the uber-mom who won’t back down from a fight, the father who never suspected and whose torment suffuses his voice, the investigators and, of course, the survivors. These reporters use the small details of a big story to give it a human scale.”

 

National Reporting

Chris Outcalt of The Atavist Magazine for “Murder at the Alcatraz of the Rockies,” a riveting narrative of a prison murder committed under the gaze of security cameras, a rookie FBI agent and the inner workings of the Mexican Mafia, a criminal prison organization spawned in California juvenile facilities in the 1950s.

 

“The best journalism doesn’t always cover the best-known stories. Chris Outcalt’s extraordinary reporting introduces readers to sides of American life few people will ever see: life within the country’s most secure prison, an infamous gang’s rules of violence and honor, and the decade-long investigation and trial of a killing that is nothing like the open-and-shut case it first appears to be,” says Bret Stephens. “Outcalt’s writing grips the reader’s attention from the first sentence to the last and doesn’t waste a word. It reminds us at every turn of the humanity of our most dangerous felons, the complexity of their motives, and the difficulty of ascertaining truth and doing justice.”

 

International Reporting

Davey Alba of Buzzfeed News for “How Duterte Used Facebook to Fuel the Philippine Drug War,” a sweeping investigation of Facebook’s breakneck proliferation in the Philippines and how President Rodrigo Duterte’s regime weaponized the social media platform to spread fake news, imprison dissenters and murder innocent Filipinos.

 

“Davey Alba’s reporting brings home the immense power of digital platforms. We see how Facebook created the ultimate walled garden in the Philippines by subsidizing the Internet, thus making Facebook synonymous not just with getting online but as the primary source of news,” says Ken Auletta. “By relying on algorithms rather than humans to police news and content, Facebook ignored how fake news went viral and was used by a corrupt government to punish opponents, sometimes with death. Rather than hire editors to police false news, Facebook engineers hubristically believed their algorithms would do the job, thus saving money. This is what they’ve done around the world, with sometimes bloody consequences.”

 

Mentoring Award

The late Rob Hiaasen was honored with the Richard M. Clurman Award for his newsroom commitment to counseling, nurturing and inspiring young journalists. Hiaasen was the assistant editor and columnist at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland and a lecturer at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. In June 2018, he was killed in a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette offices, along with Gerald Fischman, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters, in the deadliest attack on journalists in the United States on record. In a video tribute at the luncheon, former colleagues spoke about Hiaasen’s influence on their writing, approach to storytelling and his encouragement of young journalists.

 

In addition to Quindlen, Stephens and Auletta, the Livingston national judging panel includes Christiane Amanpour of CNNi and PBS; Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune; Dean Baquet of The New York Times; John Harris of Politico; María Elena Salinas, independent journalist and producer; and Kara Swisher of Recode.

 

About the Livingston Awards:

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists are the most prestigious honor for professional journalists under the age of 35 and are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in American journalism. Entries from print, online, visual and audio storytelling are judged against one another, as technology blurs distinctions between traditional platforms. The $10,000 prizes are awarded annually for local, national and international reporting. The Livingston Awards are a program of Wallace House at the University of Michigan, home to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Wallace House Presents event series. Learn more at wallacehouse.umich.edu/Livingston-awards.

 

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit:  knightfoundation.org.

University of Michigan Names 2019-2020 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows

Knight-Wallace Fellows 2019-2020

The University of Michigan has named 17 journalists as Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows for the 2019-20 academic year. The accomplished group includes journalists from countries facing extreme political upheaval, cities facing transformational change and organizations confronting shifting public attitudes toward news consumption and the value of the press.

“At a time when the safety and freedom of the press are under threat and newsroom resources are continuing to shrink, it is especially important to provide journalists the space and support to pursue solutions, ” said Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson. “Whether sharing techniques and tools across borders, experimenting with new storytelling forms or deepening important coverage areas and building public trust, these journalists all share a commitment to forging the path forward. It is a privilege to provide them with this unique opportunity.”

Knight-Wallace Fellows spend an academic year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue individual study plans and to engage in collaborative learning through fellowship seminars, training workshops and travel. Through twice-weekly seminars, Fellows engage with visiting journalists, eminent scholars and creative thinkers from a range of fields. Weeklong international news tours provide broader context to political, economic and social forces shaping their fields of study, and to trends and challenges facing journalism in other countries. In recent years, Fellowship classes visited South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Turkey, Argentina and Russia.

This is the 46th class of journalism fellows at the University of Michigan. The program is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $75,000 for the eight-month academic year. The program is funded through endowment gifts by foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to journalism’s role in fostering an informed and engaged public.

Fellows and their study projects are:

Tommy Andres, Senior Special Projects Producer, Marketplace, American Public Media. Utilizing transmedia production models to craft a single narrative storytelling experience across platforms

Ana Avila, Deputy Director, Newsweek en Español (Mexico City, Mexico). Measuring, tracking and documenting threats and dangers to Mexican journalists for safer newsroom practices

Niala Boodhoo, Host, “The 21st,” Illinois Public Media. Developing a sustainable, replicable business plan for local news podcasts

Maria Byrne, Senior Producer, BBC News (Brussels, Belgium). Expanding coverage of China’s growing ambitions in the world

Jacob Carah, Investigative Reporter and Producer, “Frontline,”  PBS, Flint Beat, Flintside (Flint, Michigan), and The Detroit News. Developing new visual design through data analysis, coding and documentary film

Janet Cho, Business Reporter, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) and others. How words and images influence public perception about immigrants and U.S. immigration policy

Chantel Jennings, Senior Writer, The Athletic. Forging editorial partnerships between local news organizations and college newsrooms

Tracie Mauriello, Washington Bureau Chief, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Experimentation with points of view and narration techniques in literary journalism

Maurício Meireles, Reporter and Columnist, Folha de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil). Digital approaches to covering arts and culture

Marielba Núñez, Writer, Editor and Regional Coordinator, Crónica Uno (Caracas, Venezuela). New narrative strategies to report on the changing identities of migrants

Karen Rouse, Reporter, WNYC News, New York Public Radio. Improving strategies for newsrooms to recruit and develop journalists from underrepresented groups for long term success and leadership

Jet Schouten, Reporter, ICIJ and AVROTROS Public Broadcasting TV (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Deepening the understanding of truth and news in constructive journalism

Kwang Young Shin, Head of Criminal Justice Team, Dong-A Ilbo (Seoul, South Korea). Using digital storytelling to maximize the reach of Korea’s legacy media

Patrick Symmes, Contributing Editor, Harper’s Magazine,  Outside and others. A comparative study of authoritarianism and its influence on the press

Eileen Truax, Author and Reporter, The New York Times Edición Español and others. Developing global connections, shared networks and resources for journalists covering migration

Elodie Vialle, Head of  Journalism and Technology Desk, Reporters Without Borders (Paris, France). Building tools and training to counter online harassment and threats against female journalists

Elliott Woods, Writer and Photographer, Texas Monthly, The Guardian and others. Covering ongoing wars in an age of media contraction and declining military service rates

Read more on the Class of 2020 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows

The selection committee included Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson and Associate Director Birgit Rieck; former fellows Teresa Frontado (Digital Director, WLRN, Miami), Kate Linebaugh (Deputy National Editor, The Wall Street Journal), Mosi Secret (Investigative and Literary Journalist) and Yvonne Simons (News Director, KATU-TV, Portland, Oregon); and University of Michigan Professors Bobbi Low (Environment and Sustainability) and Carl Simon (Mathematics, Complex Systems and Public Policy).

About Wallace House
Committed to fostering excellence in journalism, Wallace House at the University of Michigan is home to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships, the Livingston Awards and the Wallace House Presents event series, programs that recognize exceptional journalists for their work, leadership and potential.
Wallacehouse.umich.edu

Announcing the 2019 Livingston Award Finalists

2019 Livingston Finalists

 

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the University of Michigan announced today the 2019 finalists in local, national and international reporting. The awards honor the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under the age of 35 across all forms of journalism. The 55 finalist selections were chosen from more than 400 entries.

The national judges will introduce the winners on June 4, 2019, at the annual Livingston Awards luncheon in New York City.

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University of Michigan to support the vital role of a free and independent press, the awards bolster the work of young reporters, create the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and advance civic engagement around powerful storytelling. Other sponsors include the Indian Trail Charitable Foundation, the Mollie Parnis Livingston Foundation, Christiane Amanpour and Dr. Gil Omenn and Martha Darling.

“Each year the Livingston Awards finalists remind us of the essential role journalism plays not simply in documenting facts, but in helping us all to understand, question and experience the complex issues of our times,” said Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson. “Through excellence in reporting and creativity in storytelling these finalists moved the narrative on stories dominating the headlines and those that were largely unknown.”

The Livingston Awards regional judges read all qualifying entries to select the finalists in local, national and international reporting. The regional judging panel includes: Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, “Frontline,” PBS; Molly Ball, national political correspondent, Time; Stella Chávez, education reporter, KERA Public Radio (Dallas); Chris Davis, Vice-President of Investigative Journalism, Gannett; David Greene, host, “Morning Edition,” NPR; Stephen Henderson, host, “Detroit Today,” WDET; and Shirley Leung, interim editorial page editor, The Boston Globe.

The Livingston Awards national judges review all finalist entries and select the winners. The national judges are Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent, CNNi and host, “Amanpour on PBS”; Ken Auletta, author and media and communications writer, The New Yorker; Dean Baquet, executive editor, The New York Times; John Harris, co-founder, Politico; Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune; Anna Quindlen, author; María Elena Salinas, independent journalist and producer; Bret Stephens, op-ed columnist, The New York Times; and Kara Swisher, executive editor, Recode

Following are the 2019 finalists, for work produced in 2018. Links to their work here.

Local Reporting

  • Carla Astudillo, Craig McCarthy, Sean Sullivan, Blake Nelson, Yan Wu, Disha Raychaudhuri and Erin Petenko, NJ Advance Media (NJ.com and The Star-Ledger)
  • Bethany Barnes, The Oregonian/OregonLive
  • Nate Berg, Curbed
  • Dave Boucher and Allen Arthur, The Marshall Project and USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee
  • Alison Bowen, Chicago Tribune
  • Zoë Carpenter, The Nation
  • Jessica Contrera, The Washington Post
  • Hannah Dreier, ProPublica in partnership with New York magazine, “This American Life,” and The New York Times Magazine
  • Liam Elder-Connors and Emily Corwin, Vermont Public Radio
  • Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press
  • Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting
  • Lizzie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
  • J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez, The Dallas Morning News
  • Julian Noisecat, High Country News
  • Nick Pachelli, San Francisco Magazine
  • Connor Sheets, Alabama Media Group (The Birmingham News)
  • Aliyya Swaby and Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune
  • Kendall Taggart and Mike Hayes, BuzzFeed News
  • Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith, Michigan Radio

 National Reporting

  • Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker
  • Elizabeth Bruenig, The Washington Post
  • Brian Burnsed, Sports Illustrated
  • Andrea Patiño Contreras and Almudena Toral, Univision News Digital in collaboration with the Knight Foundation and The Intercept
  • Caitlin Dickerson, The New York Times
  • Emily Gogolak, Politico Magazine
  • Vanessa Gonzalez-Block and Emma Seslowsky, CNN
  • Jihan Hafiz, “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien,” Hearst Media
  • Derek Kravitz, Al Shaw, Claire Perlman, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica
  • Julia Lurie, Mother Jones
  • Daniel Medina, The Intercept
  • Tricia L. Nadolny, The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Sophie Nieto-Muñoz and Alex Napoliello, NJ Advance Media (NJ.com and The Star-Ledger)
  • Chris Outcalt, The Atavist Magazine
  • Lizzie Presser, The California Sunday Magazine in partnership with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute
  • Naveena Sadasivam and Zoë Schlanger, Quartz and Texas Observer
  • Sarah Smith, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
  • Margaret Cheatham Williams, Ella Dobson, Angela Stempel and Jocie Juritz, The New York Times
  • Will Wright, Caity Coyne and Molly Born, The GroundTruth Project / Report for America in partnership with Lexington Herald-Leader, Charleston Gazette-Mail and West Virginia Public Broadcasting

 International Reporting

  • Atossa Abrahamian, The New York Times
  • Davey Alba, BuzzFeed News
  • Anna-Catherine Brigida, World Politics Review
  • Mstyslav Chernov and Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press
  • Mansi Choksi and Kim Wall, Longreads
  • Luisa Conlon, Hanna Miller and Lacy Jane Roberts, The New York Times Op-Docs in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
  • Jane Ferguson, PBS NewsHour
  • Ryan Gallagher, The Intercept
  • Louisa Loveluck and Zakaria Zakaria, The Washington Post
  • Niharika Mandhana, The Wall Street Journal
  • Timothy McLaughlin, Wired in partnership with the Pulitzer Center
  • Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
  • Sonia Smith, Texas Monthly
  • Kejal Vyas, The Wall Street Journal
  • Spencer Woodman, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
  • Finlay Young, ProPublica in partnership with Time

More on the finalists and links to their work »

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Dug Song Joins Wallace House Executive Board

Dug Song, vice president and general
manager of Duo Security, joins our
Executive Board.

Wallace House is pleased to announce the addition of Dug Song, vice president and general manager of Duo Security, to our Executive Board.

An innovator and leading voice in cybersecurity, Song founded the Ann Arbor based company, Duo Security, in 2010. Duo now protects the data and information of more than 14,000 organizations. Last year, Cisco bought the company for $2.35 billion, the largest acquisition ever for a Michigan-based software company.

“Digital security is a daily concern of reporters and news organizations seeking to protect their sources, stories, production and distribution.” said Wallace House Director, Lynette Clemetson. “Dug believes deeply in the essential role of journalism in a democratic society. And he is a visionary in the field of securing democracy by securing information. He will add valuable expertise to our Executive Board as we work to provide forward-thinking support to the journalists in our programs.”

Song has a history of building successful products and companies to solve pressing security problems. Prior to launching Duo, Song spent seven years as founding Chief Security Architect at Arbor Networks, protecting 80 percent of the world’s Internet service providers.

Song is the newest member of the Executive Board, which was formed in Fall 2018 to provide strategic support and guidance in developing new initiatives for the Knight-Wallace Fellowships, the Livingston Awards and the Wallace House Presents event series. Comprised of acclaimed journalists, innovators and accomplished University of Michigan faculty, the board will play an active role in leading Wallace House through a period of growth and expanded vision to support the careers of journalists and uphold the role of a free press in a functional democracy.

Song speaking to Knight-Wallace Fellows about
protecting journalists’ data, sources and news
content from digital manipulation.

In addition to Song, Wallace House Executive Board members are:

  • Daniel Alarcón, co-founder and executive producer, Radio Ambulante and author
  • Kainaz Amaria, visuals editor, Vox
  • Michael S. Barr, dean, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
  • Liz Barry, special counsel to the president, University of Michigan
  • Alex Blumberg, CEO and co-founder, Gimlet Media
  • Ferhat Boratav, lecturer, Bilgi University, Istanbul
  • Jim Burnstein, screenwriter and director of screenwriting, University of Michigan
  • Tabbye Chavous, director, National Center for Institutional Diversity and professor of education and psychology, University of Michigan
  • Anne Curzan, professor of English and Associate Dean for Humanities, University of Michigan
  • Louise Kiernan, editor-in-chief, ProPublica Illinois
  • Margaret Low, president, AtlanticLIVE and vice-president, The Atlantic
  • Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief, The Undefeated and senior vice-president, ESPN
  • Paul Resnick, professor and associate dean, School of Information, University of Michigan
  • Ann Silvio, correspondent, “60 Minutes Overtime” and managing editor, 60 Minutes online

Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House, chairs the board.

Read more on the Executive Board members and their bios.

Hop Off the Hamster Wheel, Apply for a Knight-Wallace Fellowship

 

2017 Knight-Wallace Fellows Laurent Richard and Delece Smith-Barrow
2017 Knight-Wallace Fellows, Laurent Richard and Delece Smith-Barrow, at a multimedia workshop.

 

After producing 280 stories within three years, a busy reporter takes a Knight-Wallace Fellowship and an eight-month dive into research on under-reported education stories.

 

Education reporter and editor Delece Smith-Barrow goes to Medium to share how a Knight-Wallace Fellowship gave her the time and resources to pursue ambitious, thoughtful stories.  Taking a deep dive into how top-tier universities recruit faculty of color, Smith-Barrow writes about auditing education courses at Michigan, doing comparative research into other universities and having time to acquire new skills and enjoy life.

Read Smith-Barrow’s reflection of her fellowship year and return to the work world on Medium.

The Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists at the University of Michigan are accepting applications from U.S. applicants for the 2019-20 academic year. We’re looking for accomplished journalists eager for growth and deeply committed to the future of journalism. The deadline to apply is February 1, 2019.

Delece Smith-Barrow is a senior editor at The Hechinger Report. As a 2017 Knight-Wallace Fellow, she studied how top-tier universities recruit faculty of color.

Room for Something New: Apply for a Knight-Wallace Fellowship

 

Anna Clark and her cohort of Fellows visit a Korean open-air museum during a Knight-Wallace news tour to South Korea.

 

How an independent journalist breaking stories on the Flint water-crisis found inspiration and turned her reporting into a book.

Need time away from daily deadlines to dig deeper and become an expert on an issue or topic? Anna Clark goes to Medium and shares how a Knight-Wallace Fellowship brought something new to her life: intellectual space.  From taking classes at the University of Michigan Law School to workshops and collaborative learning with her fellow Fellows, Clark writes “The Knight-Wallace year replenished my spirit at the time I needed it most.”

Clark wrote many of  the early stories about the lead discovered in Flint’s drinking water before coming to the program. Following the fellowship, she spent 14 months writing the first full account of the Flint water crisis. Her book, “The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy,” was published this July.

Read Clark’s reflection of her fellowship journey on Medium.

The Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists at the University of Michigan are accepting applications from U.S. applicants for the 2019-20 academic year. We’re looking for accomplished journalists eager for growth and deeply committed to the future of journalism. The deadline to apply is February 1, 2019.

Anna Clark is an independent journalist based in Detroit and author of “The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy.” As a 2017 Knight-Wallace Fellow, she studied how chronic underfunding of American cities imperils its residents.

Wallace House Associate Director Embarks on a Fellowship of Her Own

Birgit Rieck has been cultivating the
Knight-Wallace Fellowships for journalists
from both Ann Arbor and abroad for many
years. Now it’s her turn.

After more than 18 years of helping to create life-changing fellowship experiences for other people, it is high time that our Wallace House Associate Director, Birgit Rieck, gets to experience a fellowship of her own. Birgit has been accepted into the inaugural class of the Media Transformation Challenge, a one-year executive leadership program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, designed to help news leaders find creative, sustainable solutions to challenges facing the industry.

For the next year, Birgit will spend one week each quarter in Cambridge with a cohort of news executives working on a focused initiative to help Wallace House move in new directions. The timing for this unique development opportunity is ideal. Wallace House is in an exciting period of growth. Allowing Birgit the space to step away from the busy day-to-day of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships to develop new ideas that will benefit us for years to come.

Birgit’s focus during her fellowship year will be examining ways for Wallace House to provide targeted support to journalism initiatives in the Midwest.

“Over 63 million people live in the twelve Midwest states between North Dakota and Ohio but stories from the region seldom make headlines and most midwestern newsrooms continue to shrink or disappear completely. I’d like to find ways Wallace House can specifically support regional journalists and their work. At the same time, I want to explore ideas that would make national audiences more interested in reporting from the Midwest. I am grateful that Lynette supported my application and is giving me the time away to experience a fellowship myself!”

The Media Transformation Challenge, which starts in January 2019, is a new program of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy within the Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program. It is directed by Doug Smith, founder and former director of the Punch Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia University School of Journalism, and Nicco Mele, director of the Shorenstein Center.

In the quarterly training sessions, Birgit will join her fellowship cohort for coaching and group problem solving, designed to help news leaders drive long-lasting change within their organizations. In the weeks between the group sessions she will spend time researching her study plan, working with her executive coach, and developing her project with the leadership team back at Wallace House.

Please join us in congratulating Birgit and cheering her on as she works to bring the same kind of energy and new ideas back to Wallace House that we send our own Fellows away with each year.

And don’t worry… we’ll make sure she wears plenty of Wallace House and Michigan gear while she’s walking around the campus of that other university. #GoBlue!

Knight-Wallace Reunion 2020

 

 

For Fellowship Alumni:

We’ve decided to space out the frequency of our beloved fellowship reunions to every five years. The date for our next big get-together will be September 4-6, 2020. We expect that Labor Day weekend, with plenty of notice for advance planning, will entice you and your families back to Ann Arbor for a beautiful September visit.

We hope to see Fellows from what will by then be all 47 fellowship classes for a weekend of engaging events, dinner and dance, and, of course, barbeque at Wallace House.

As our plans develop, we’ll be in touch with information on hotel bookings, RSVP’s and more.

For now, save the date!

Wallace House

Wallace House Announces Executive Board

Wallace House Executive Board

 

 

Wallace House announces a newly formed Executive Board to provide strategic support for its existing programs and guidance in developing new initiatives. The group will advise the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists, the Livingston Awards and the Wallace House Presents event series. The 14-member board, comprised of acclaimed journalists and accomplished University of Michigan faculty, will play an active role in leading the organization through a period of growth and expanded vision to support the careers of journalists and uphold the role of a free press in a functional democracy.

“Among the many things that make Wallace House truly special is the caliber of experts who help us steer our programs,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House. “This group of distinguished leaders brings expertise in both transforming long-standing institutions and creating vibrant, new organizations. I look forward to them pushing us toward new possibilities.”

Wallace House will continue to build on the success of its renowned flagship programs, the Knight-Wallace Fellowships and the Livingston Awards, with ambitious new directives, like Wallace House Presents, aimed at increasing public engagement with journalism. The cross-section of board members – all change-agents in their own work – will also help Wallace House think creatively about addressing industry challenges in the midst of continuing technological and social change, and cultivating financial support from individual and institutional donors to help the organization fulfill its mission.

The Executive Board is comprised of ten members newly introduced to the work of Wallace House and four members of the previous Knight-Wallace board, which advised the Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalists. The broader programmatic mandate of the new advisory body will enable Wallace House to think ambitiously about the full scope of its programs, reach and influence at a time when active support for the work of journalists is of vital importance.

Wallace House is pleased to welcome Executive Board members:

  • Daniel Alarcón, author, co-founder and executive producer, Radio Ambulante
  • Kainaz Amaria, visuals editor, Vox
  • Michael S. Barr, dean, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
  • Liz Barry, special counsel to the president, University of Michigan
  • Alex Blumberg, CEO and co-founder, Gimlet Media
  • Ferhat Boratav, CNN TÜRK and lecturer, Bilgi University, Istanbul
  • Jim Burnstein, screenwriter and director of screenwriting, University of Michigan
  • Tabbye Chavous, director, National Center for Institutional Diversity and professor of education and psychology, University of Michigan
  • Anne Curzan, professor of English and Associate Dean for Humanities, University of Michigan
  • Louise Kiernan, editor-in-chief, ProPublica Illinois
  • Margaret Low, president, AtlanticLIVE and vice-president, The Atlantic
  • Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief, The Undefeated
  • Paul Resnick, professor and associate dean, School of Information, University of Michigan
  • Ann Silvio, correspondent, “60 Minutes Overtime” and managing editor, 60 Minutes online

Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House, will chair the board.

Read more on the Executive Board members and their bios.