In the nightmarish milieu of twenty-first-century journalism, the Knight Wallace Fellowship is a sweet dream: a $70,000 stipend, a chance to study whatever you want at the U-M, lots of schmoozing, and even some expense-paid travel to visit journalists in places like New York, Buenos Aires, and Istanbul. So its no wonder that 193 people applied for the twenty-two slots available this falltwice as many as last year. Longtime director Charles Eisendrath says the quality of the applicants was better than weve ever seenbut reflecting the cutbacks at newspapers and broadcast networks, hes seeing a lot more freelancers, people who work for the dot-coms, people who want to retool.
Of course, the eight-month program is only a temporary shelter. When he started his fellowship last year, says Geoff Larcom, the Ann Arbor News reporter and columnist, I had no idea the paper was going to fold. But while hes sweating about his future, he has no regrets about the fellowshipfor someone whos spent his career covering his hometown, the chance to travel and meet journalists around the world offered an experience so far outside the realm of life in Ann Arbor. Another current fellow, Kim Kozlowski of the Detroit News, was terribly worried about her job, Eisendrath says. But not only do her bosses want her back, they are expanding her beat to covering all of science. Even in journalism, says Eisendrath, its not all bleak.
