This fellowship is named for the late Katherine Fanning, innovative and influential newspaper editor and publisher who served on the Kettering Foundation Board of Trustees for 12 years and was chair of the board from 1994 to 1996. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize when she led the Anchorage Daily News, Kay Fanning also served as editor of the Christian Science Monitor from 1983 to 1988, and in 1987, was the first woman to serve as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
In 1963, she went to Alaska with her three children and saw newspaper work from an entirely different perspective as librarian at the Anchorage Daily News. She later married newspaperman Larry Fanning and together they bought the paper. Following his death in 1971, she served as the paper’s editor and publisher for 12 years, thoroughly immersing herself in the day-to-day workings of the newspaper and the community of Anchorage. She held strong convictions about the important role journalists could play in helping a society tackle its problems.
On the Kettering Foundation board, Katherine Fanning gave steady voice to the need for news media to act responsibly, with ethical standards and journalistic practices that were in the interest of democracy. Her commitment to those ideals sparked the foundation’s exploration of what became known as “public journalism,” which emphasizes the responsibility of journalists in a democracy to help citizens deliberate over important issues in their communities. She also had a keen interest in KF’s international work, and often brought the two interests together.