Program News

June 2021

How Stanford students helped with a Pulitzer Prize-winning project

When then-Stanford student Jackie Botts got to help Reuters staff as part of her Stanford journalism class, little did she know it would culminate into Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.

March 2021

Marion Lewenstein, Stanford professor of communication (teaching), emerita, has died at 93

During her Stanford career, pioneering journalist and journalism teacher Marion Lewenstein was awarded a Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service to Undergraduate Education and served as academic secretary of the Faculty Senate.

April 2020

Big Local News, Pitch Interactive Launch COVID-19 Case Mapper

Stanford University’s Big Local News and Pitch Interactive—with support from the Google News Initiative—created the COVID-19 Case Mapper to make it possible for local journalists and others to easily embed up-to-date coronavirus map visualizations on their websites. The map offers state and county views, with a simple interface for embedding on a site.

July 2019

Stanford Journalism alums launch immersive experience featuring Mandy Barker photography

The virtual reality experience, Ripple: the unintended life of plastics in the sea, is now viewable at https://rippleplastic.com/. Featuring the photography of artist and conservationist Mandy Barker, the experience immerses viewers into a galaxy of garbage, to show how ubiquitous, insidious and long-lasting plastic can be in our world. 

For years, Barker, a UK photographer, […]

November 2018

Big Local News harnesses investigative journalists’ expertise to empower local newsrooms

Stanford’s Big Local News program is expanding with the addition of two investigative journalists — Pulitzer Prize winner Justin Mayo and data reporter Bethney Bonilla.

Mayo comes to Stanford after 20 years with the Seattle Times, primarily working with the paper’s investigative team. Bonilla most recently worked with the investigative unit at NBC Bay […]

October 2018

Stanford Journalism launches data-driven initiative to help journalists hold powerful individuals, institutions accountable

Story originally published by Stanford News 

With media outlets losing advertising revenues to digital platforms, some newsrooms no longer have the resources for investigative and public service reporting.

The inability of news outlets to perform this traditional “watchdog” role puts democracy at risk, said communication scholar James Hamilton, who is concerned about what could happen – […]

Big Local News part of JSK Impact Partnerships

The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University launched a major new initiative, the JSK Impact Partnerships, which will leverage JSK’s connections, its vast alumni network, and access to one of the world’s top universities to accelerate progress in the journalism industry to improve the quality of news and information reaching the public.

The […]

September 2018

Brenner and Tumgoren Bolster Stanford’s Focus on Public Affairs Reporting

Stanford University’s Journalism Program has added two nationally known journalists to its teaching faculty: R.B. Brenner and Serdar Tumgoren.

October 2017

Journalists and academics tout collaboration benefits during Mind to Mind Symposium

At the Mind to Mind Symposium, held at Stanford University Oct. 2017. Journalists talk about collaborating with professors and students at universities to access and produce data at an unprecedented level of depth.

June 2017

New database allows Stanford researchers to find disparities in officers’ treatment of minority motorists

We obtained data on millions of state patrol stops and found evidence that minorities are held to a double standard. The data are being shared with researchers, journalists and the public via the new Stanford Open Policing Project.