Reunions & Events
KWF Reunion 2010
Triumph of Information and Death of Meaning
By Ralph Williams
Watch Ralph Williams Video - Reunion 2010 >>
The danger to which my title points is not yet fully realized, but is real nonetheless. The scope of the danger is global, for the passage of information knows no boundaries, and information is limited in quantity only by the (vastly enhanced) capacities of the machines of our beyond-Gutenburg world. The threat is that the chaotic superfluity of information rapidly transmitted arguably so distracts and exhausts the attention of even the diligent and morethan- usually intelligent that little time and mental space are available for the creation and testing of meaning. >>
Forging New Paths: Panels Highlight Innovators
By Emily Richmond ’11
While consistency has long been a hallmark of the American newspaper, the industry is facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty that demands continual change, said KWF board member John Costa ’93.
“We are reinventing ourselves every day,” said Costa, editor of the The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., who moderated a panel discussion on “New Patterns at Traditional Places” at the KWF Reunion, held September 11 at U-M’s Michigan League. ...read more >>
Graham Hovey, Margaret DeMuth Remembered:
Exceptional Lives in Service to Others
By Charles B. Fancher, Jr. ’82 & Diane Brozek Fancher ’82
We were honored to have been asked to play a role in connection with the 25th annual Graham Hovey Lecture on September 10 by offering a tribute to the late Graham B. Hovey, for whom the lecture series is named, and the late Margaret DeMuth, the Fellowship’s program assistant for 16 years.
Graham, who directed the Fellowship from 1980 to 1986, died at 94 on February 20, just weeks after Margaret, who passed away on January 2 at the age of 83. Those of us who knew them are confident that our lives were immeasurably enriched by the association....read more >>
The Odd Couple: Newspapers and the Internet—Will They Ever Get Along?
By Gerard Ryle ’06 and his wife Kimberley Porteous ’06S—respectively, news editor and multimedia editor of The Sydney Morning Herald—delivered KWF’s first joint Hovey Lecture on September 10.The Internet: Newspaper’s Great Con Man
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by Gerard Ryle ’06
Watch Gerard Ryle Video - Hovey Speaker 2010 >>
It is precisely the dramatic changes in the ways journalism is being delivered to the community through the internet that should allow us to see the possibilities of the change in our relationship with the community.
Having recently written a book about a con man I can’t help thinking that, in many ways, the internet appeared as a kind of con man to the world of newspapers. ...read more >>
The Age of Restoration: An Online Prescription
—by Kimberley Porteous '06S
Watch Kimberley Porteous Video - Hovey Speaker 2010 >>
When was the last time a newspaper website (apart from The New York Times or The Guardian) thrilled you about the possibilities of journalism? Newspapers have failed to live up to their promise online.
How can newspapers regain their power and primacy and return to profitability? I offer a prescription: marketable solutions through strong web presence to make newspapers once again essential to communities, act as public watchdogs and help readers participate in political life. This can be an age of Restoration. ...read more >>
Fellowship, Fun & Food: A Weekend Recipe for Success
—By Matthew Power ’11
After a day of lectures and discussions, more than 180 Fellows and spouses got fancied up and made their way to the Michigan League’s grand ballroom.
During dinner, each table was instructed to confer and select its best Knight-Wallace story. While some recollections may not have been fit to be reprinted in a family newspaper (the bar had been open for hours, after all), an array of past fellows stood and shared their stories. ...read more >>