Meet the International Fellows for the JSK Class of 2020

The next class of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University will include seven fellows from Africa, Europe and South America who are in the vanguard of transforming journalism. They are leading collaborations to share investigative resources, stories and training; reshaping storytelling in organizations large and small; and championing press freedom in the midst of government attacks on the media.

The JSK Class of 2019-2020 will include journalists from Brazil, Israel, Nigeria, Poland, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, said Dawn Garcia, director of the JSK Fellowships. JSK plans to announce the U.S. members of the class on May 1.

“We are fortunate to have this group of terrific international journalists join the JSK community,” Garcia said. “They are bringing their tremendous drive and passion for journalism to Stanford University, which will welcome and celebrate their diverse perspectives and experiences. We are eager to have them make use of the vast resources available at one of the world’s top universities, and we look forward to seeing their ideas thrive. We can’t wait to learn from them and their families.”

Beginning in September, the JSK Class of 2019-2020 will spend 10 months at Stanford strengthening their leadership skills while working on projects that address some of the most urgent issues in journalism. They and their spouses and partners will have the opportunity to sit in on Stanford classes and to access a diverse range of interdisciplinary experts and events at Stanford and across Silicon Valley. The fellows will test ideas and perform experiments aligned with the primary objectives of the JSK Fellowships: challenging misinformation and disinformation; holding the powerful accountable; strengthening local news; and fighting bias, intolerance and injustice.

The JSK Class of 2019-2020 will include Joseph Poliszuk, editor and co-founder of Armando.info in Caracas, Venezuela, where journalists have been imprisoned, detained and assaulted amid the political and social turmoil that have engulfed the country. Poliszuk, winner of the 2018 Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists, will serve as a JSK Press Freedom Fellow.

“We’re fortunate to have freedom of the press enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, even as we have seen attacks on the media increase here and around the world,” Garcia said. “It’s even more essential today that we support the brave journalists everywhere who are giving voice to the voiceless while working under the threat of reprisal.”

Support for international journalists has always been a core part of the JSK Journalism Fellowships. More than 1,000 fellows from over 80 countries have been a part of the program since it was founded in 1966.

The members of the JSK Program Committee will meet with the JSK directors in late April to select the U.S. candidates who will join the Class of 2019-2020. JSK plans to announce the complete class on May 1, 2019.

International JSK Journalism Fellows, Class of 2019-2020

Motunrayo Alaka, centre coordinator, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Lagos, Nigeria

Omri Assenheim, investigative journalist and author, Uvda, Tel Aviv, Israel

Divine Dube, editor-in-chief, The Citizen Bulletin, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Anna Gielewska, journalist, Wprost, and vice president, Reporters Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow

Alastair Leithead, Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya, British Broadcasting Corp., United Kingdom

Natália Mazotte, executive director, Open Knowledge Foundation, São Paulo, Brazil
Knight Latin American Fellow

Joseph Poliszuk, editor and co-founder, Armando.info, Caracas, Venezuela
JSK Press Freedom Fellow