The Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate
School of Journalism announces call for entries for its second annual
competition for three year-long fellowships. They are open to all working
journalists, but preference will be given to graduates of UC Berkeley's
master's program in journalism. The deadline for applications is April 1.
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/press/journalismfellowships-2-08.pdf
BERKELEY – To help develop a new generation of investigative reporters in
an era of cutbacks at major news organizations, UC Berkeley's Graduate
School of Journalism today announced a call for entries for its second
annual competition for three year-long fellowships in investigative
reporting.
Funded by the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation, The Einhorn Family
Charitable Trust, Scott and Jennifer Fearon and Ian and Rita Isaacs, the
fellowships will be awarded in May 2008. They are open to all working
journalists, but preference will be given to graduates of UC Berkeley's
master's program in journalism.
Applicants will be chosen based on their qualifications as well as their
potential, and on the proposed areas of investigation they intend to
pursue during the year-long program. There are no educational
prerequisites. Fellowships will be administered by the school's
Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) and the program's advisory board.
The board is comprised of representatives from some of the nation's top
media outlets.
“More than last year, supporting the development and practice of in-depth
journalism in the public interest is critical given continuing cutbacks in
broadcast and print newsrooms across the country,” says Lowell Bergman,
the director of the Investigative Reporting Program. “The IRP’s fellowship
program is unique in the country. Our goal is to provide a model for
academic and non-profit organizations everywhere who are dedicated to
nurturing the kind of critical cutting-edge reporting that makes democracy
possible.”
Winners of the 2007-2008 Fellowships were Andrew Becker, a 2005 UC
Berkeley graduate; Marton Dunai, a 2004 Berkeley graduate; and Siri
Schubert, a freelance business and financial reporter in San Francisco.
One of the projects Becker is working on is scheduled to run as a segment
on PBS Frontline/WORLD later this year. "I've been given the time, space
and resources to pursue stories I would otherwise not be able to do,” says
Becker. “It is an amazing and exciting opportunity, to say the least.
Being able to work closely with Professor Bergman and draw on his years of
reporting has proven invaluable. It’s an experience that will stay with me
for the rest of my career.”
Siri Schubert says that her experience has been incredible. “By traveling
to Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, I was able to really get inside the
issues I was researching by having the time and space to cultivate
sources; scientists as well as policy makers,” she says. “Having the
opportunity to engage with the former FBI agents, Justice Department
prosecutors and federal judges Professor Bergman brings to his weekly
seminars will be invaluable for my future. It would take me years to have
done so on my own. It’s just a fantastic, stimulating and very rewarding
experience.”
Marton Dunai, who is researching the challenges of globalization in the
nuclear power industry says "UC Berkeley's resources, the opportunity to
travel as needed, the incredible guidance of Lowell Bergman and his
colleagues, and just the sheer power of the environment - producers from
PBS Frontline and Frontline/WORLD abuzz around us - has propelled me to
push for professional heights I hadn't known existed."
The graduate program in investigative reporting in the coming year will
focus on corporate corruption, particularly the way some U.S. companies
operate overseas. Entries for the 2008-2009 fellowships are urged to
present detailed areas of inquiry within this broad subject area.
Proposals could include print and broadcast components as well as
multimedia projects for the Internet.
Fellows will be provided with office space, phones, basic expenses and
funds for travel. Their base will be the Investigative Reporting Program
offices in Berkeley, in space provided by the Reva and David Logan
Foundation. Proposals should include an estimate for travel expenses to
complete a project. No housing or relocation supplements are provided.
Fellows are expected to refrain from outside journalistic projects, and
use the Berkeley offices as their base of operations during the
fellowship.
In addition to regular interaction with the faculty of the journalism
school and the instructors in investigative reporting, the fellows will
participate in a weekly seminar in investigative reporting taught by
Bergman and Robert Gunnison, the journalism school's director of school
affairs.
Fellows will be salaried employees of the University of California with
the job classification of staff research associate II and with an annual
salary of approximately $45,000, with health benefits. They also will be
able to audit UC Berkeley classes and use campus research facilities.
The fellowships have been established to augment an endowment created by
the Reva and David Logan Foundation that funds a permanent program in
investigative reporting at the journalism school. That endowment and
related programs and scholarships are also funded by gifts from Robert
Bishop, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation, the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund, the Pearson Foundation (UK) and
the Gladys P. & Alfredo I. Rodriguez Fund.
The deadline for fellowship applications for the academic year 2008-2009
is April 1. This year's recipients will be announced on May 17. The
fellows' year-long tenure will begin on Sept. 1.
The application can be found at: http://jobs.berkeley.edu/ Job # 008023.
For additional details on the fellowship program, contact IRP Deputy
Director Marlena Telvick at (510) 643-1299 or e-mail
investigativereportingprogram [AT] berkeley.edu.