MACON – Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism (CCJ) Executive Director Tim Regan-Porter was recently awarded a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship for the 2017-2018 academic year at Stanford University.
This year, 18 journalists and innovators from around the world were selected as the 52nd class of journalism fellows at Stanford.
Journalism fellowships at Stanford began in 1966 with the idea of giving reporters and editors free run of the university in order to produce superb journalism. A $4 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 1984 permanently endowed the fellowship, and the program was renamed for John S. Knight.
Over the past decade, the program has transformed from a mid-career sabbatical model to a format focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership in journalism.
This year's Fellows are the first who applied under a new “Teams and Themes” framework intended to guide collaboration toward tackling the biggest challenges facing journalism. Fellows submitted questions in one of five topic areas and will be teamed with those whose questions are in the same area. Regan-Porter's question is “How might we use data about news stories and products to build stronger trust and attachment to news brands?”
“I am thrilled to join this distinguished group of innovative journalists from around the world,” said Regan-Porter. “This honor is a recognition of the accomplishments of CCJ's students, faculty and partners. I look forward to returning to CCJ with new ideas, knowledge and connections to help the Center continue making a difference in Macon and in the field of journalism more broadly.”
Regan-Porter became the founding executive director of the CCJ on March 1, 2012. Previously, he was president and co-founder of Paste Magazine, the award-winning entertainment title that became the third-largest music magazine in the country.
Recognized as a “C-Level Visionary” in the Folio: 40, Regan-Porter architected and directed a website that trailed only Rolling Stone among print competitors, conceived and developed the viral phenomenon Obamicon.me, oversaw a successful print-to-digital transition and led social media efforts. He also wrote numerous cover stories for Paste, appeared regularly on CNN Headline News, and co-hosted a weekly radio show in Atlanta.
Prior to Paste, Regan-Porter spent 10 years in web development and consulting at several firms, including IBM's e-business National Practice where he managed the engineering teams on some of IBM's largest projects.
He majored in economics and math with a minor in history at Olivet Nazarene University and has pursued graduate study in business, economics and math at Georgia State University, the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) and the University of Georgia.
In addition to managing the CCJ and its partnerships, Regan-Porter teaches courses on Data Journalism, Hacking the Media (Ruby, HTML, CSS and JavaScript for journalists), Media Entrepreneurship, Journalistic Insight into the Community, and Media and Society.
In 2014, he was one of 70 technologists from 37 countries selected to participate in Al Jazeera's inaugural Media in Context Hackathon, and in 2015, he traveled to Cambodia to document a Mercer On Mission clinic run by an interdisciplinary team of medical, nursing, pharmacy and undergraduate students.
For more information on the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship, visit jsk.stanford.edu.
About the Center for Collaborative Journalism
The Center for Collaborative Journalism (CCJ) is a unique partnership between Mercer University, The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Peyton Anderson Foundation. The Center's groundbreaking collaboration has students, faculty and veteran journalists working together in a joint newsroom. Learning in a “teaching hospital” model, students engage the community using the latest digital tools and leave with a strong portfolio of published work.
