Snapshot of Today: What does journalism at Stanford look like in 2016?
Journalism at Stanford Today
We are an interdisciplinary community of journalists, researchers, teachers, computer scientists, data detectives, designers, entrepreneurs and storytellers across campus.
The set of people currently working at Stanford to turn unstructured data into structured information that allows you to spot how people use power in public and private institutions is growing. It includes the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, the d. school, the Bill Lane Center for the American West, the JSK Fellows Program, the Hoover Institution Media Fellows Program, the Stanford Journalism Program, the Department of Communication, the Stanford Data Lab, and the Stanford Computational Journalism Lab.
Stanford’s Founding Grant specifies that the university is “to qualify its students for personal success, and direct usefulness in life.” It also says the purpose of the university is “to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization.” What people learn as undergrads, MA students, Phds, and fellows at Stanford gives them new insights into how individuals and institutions operate. When they translate those insights into reporting, the impacts on public policies are exactly the type of engagement with the world envisioned at the University’s founding.
Right now, work at Stanford and the broader Silicon Valley is changing the way stories are discovered, told, and transmitted. We are part of that transformation, empowering students to produce work that is multimedia, data-intensive, entrepreneurial and influenced by design thinking.
In our nine-month master’s program, journalism students learn how how to use data to boost their multimedia reporting to the next level. We have classes that explore data reporting, multimedia storytelling and narrative writing. These days, we’re even experimenting with immersive storytelling using virtual reality.
The Stanford Computational Journalism Lab supports the evolution of computational approaches to public affairs journalism through research, teaching and the production of reporting.
The CJ Lab surfaces problems faced by reporters to those focused on computational approaches to solving analytical challenges. Classes and projects at the CJ Lab focus on two research questions: How do you lower the costs of discovering stories through better use of data and algorithms? How do you tell stories in more personalized and engaging ways?
The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships supports passionate journalists, innovators and entrepreneurs as they create the new models, tools and approaches that are redefining journalism. We select up to 20 fellows from around the world and bring them together for 10 months at Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Each has identified and articulated a challenge in journalism that she or he wants to work on addressing. Through the years, one core mission of the JSK Fellowships remains the same: To improve the quality of news and information reaching the public.
Established in 2012, the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute is a collaboration between Columbia University and Stanford University, designed to encourage and support new endeavors in media innovation.
Each year we invite the Columbia and Stanford communities to submit proposals for Magic Grants. We look for ideas that are original and have the potential to bring true innovation in the media world. The Institute also awards fellowships. Brown Fellows are postgraduate or graduate students working towards engineering prototypes, creating innovative media products, or carrying out related research.
The d.school is a hub for innovators at Stanford. Students and faculty in engineering, medicine, business, law, the humanities, sciences, and education find their way here to take on the world’s messy problems together. Human values are at the heart of our collaborative approach. We focus on creating spectacularly transformative learning experiences. Along the way, our students develop a process for producing creative solutions to even the most complex challenges they tackle. This is the core of what we do.
The Stanford Daily publishes Monday through Friday during the academic year and maintains a circulation of 8,000 to more than 500 locations on the Stanford campus and throughout the city of Palo Alto. The Daily publishes several special issues every year including a New Student Orientation issue, a Big Game issue and a Commencement issue.
The Daily became one of the first college newspapers publishing on the Internet when it launched its online edition in 1995.
The explosion of data in recent years together with powerful new tools is opening new opportunities to tackle important and long-unsolved problems.
In the Data Lab, students develop their data skills by solving real problems with expert coaching. The problems range from simple challenges to master data fundamentals up to unsolved, high-impact problems for NGOs, government agencies, and other social sector organizations.
The Hoover Institution Journalist Programs allow print, online, and broadcast journalists to take time out from their daily deadlines to deepen their understanding of substantive issues. Such issues include economics, politics, international relations, and domestic policy. Through informal meetings, scholarly discussion, and interactive forums, program participants have the opportunity to exchange information and perspectives with Hoover scholars and the Stanford community during their visit to the Hoover Institution. The Programs aim to provide professional enrichment to journalists who benefit from the research of Hoover scholars by cultivating relationships and expanding their network of sources.
Dedicated to advancing scholarly and public understanding of the past, present, and future of western North America, the Center supports research, teaching, and reporting about western land and life in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A Global Network
Stanford alumni are in newsrooms and media companies across the United States and world.
Entrepreneurs Changing the Face of News
Stanford students, professors and alumni are developing technologies, platforms and social networks that continue to transform the way we tell stories.
