Tim Ferriss Funds Fellowships for Journalists Reporting On Psychedelics

Lucid News reports

As the field of psychedelics continues to rapidly expand, Tim Ferriss believes that more journalists are needed to uphold accountability and provide reliable information.

“Good journalists can help separate fact from fiction, real deliverables from marketing, and white hat versus black hat players, among other things,” said Ferriss.

Widely known for his podcast The Tim Ferriss Show and his series of books including “The 4-Hour Workweek,” Ferriss has donated more than $800,000 over three years to the University of California Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) to increase the number of journalists covering psychedelics.

The donation, which was announced in September by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, will create fellowships for reporters covering “the science, business, policy, and culture of psychedelics for mainstream news outlets.” According to the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where the fellowship will be based, the application form will go live on December 1, 2021.

According to Ferriss, the fellowship is not intended to address any particular weakness in the present coverage of psychedelics. “I just see a small number of journalists who currently view this beat as a valid career choice,” said Ferriss. “I’m hoping the Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship, and other fellowships that emerge, will help change that.”

The Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship is intended to help early and mid-career journalists develop their knowledge of the field and cover in-depth stories in print and audio media. The fellowship will be overseen by author Michael Pollan, whose book “How to Change Your Mind” documented the revival of scientific research into psychedelic-assisted therapies.

Ferriss doesn’t think that journalists need specialized training to produce in-depth reporting on psychedelics. He believes that reporters who excel at long-form investigative journalism have the critical thinking skills and tools of the trade to cover nearly all fields of inquiry.