Niemans in the News

Nazila Fathi, NF ’11 to discuss reporting in Iran - February 8

Nazila Fathi, NF ’11, will talk about the many challenges of reporting from Iran as part of the Harvard Writers at Work Lecture Series on February 9. Fathi reported out of Iran for nearly two decades until 2009 when she was forced to leave her country because of government threats against her. She is currently a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. Learn more »
2011
Global Health Fellow examines famine relief crisis in Africa - November 29

In an opinion piece in the New York Times, 2012 Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellow Samuel Loewenberg takes a look at the ongoing problem of delayed response to drought and famine crises in Africa and the resulting escalation of suffering. He reports that poor response timing is an issue that "bedevils aid agencies" and states that while many believe the cause of hunger emergencies is a lack of food, the real issue is poverty. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting provided a travel grant for the reporting of Loewenberg's essay and funds fieldwork projects for the Nieman Global Health Fellows.

Read "The Famine Next Time" »
New York Times columnist Tom Wicker dies - November 25

Tom Wicker, NF ’58, a political columnist for The New York Times for 25 years, died Nov. 25 at the age of 85 at his home near Rochester, Vermont. The only Times reporter riding in the presidential motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, Wicker covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was named chief of the Times Washington bureau the following year and started writing a political column in 1966. Read more »
Nieman journalists to examine press freedom in Latin America - November 10

Leading Latin American journalists — including past and present Nieman Fellows — will gather at Harvard on Nov. 18 for a one-day conference that will take a close look at press freedom in Latin America. The speakers will discuss the difficult challenges many journalists face in their countries, including the killings of colleagues, abductions, intimidation, pressure from government officials or from powerful media moguls, and the absence of legal protection and press freedom laws. They also will present innovative solutions to some problems, including how online news magazines can make a difference.

This event is co-sponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at HKSG and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Follow the sessions on Twitter at #LatAmPress.

Friday, November 18, 2011, 10:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Rockefeller Center, 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020.

Watch the conference live »

View the conference schedule »
The Inestimable Value of an Afghan Reporter - November 8

Waheed Abdul Wafa, NF ’11, was The New York Times’s longest-serving reporter in Afghanistan. Now he has left journalism to become executive director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University. The Times’s “At War” blog describes the vital roles he’s played in the Kabul bureau—translator, fixer, security consultant, cultural interpreter, bookkeeper and reporter on more than 300 stories. Read more »
Robert Blau joins Pulitzer Prize Board - October 31

Robert Blau — a managing editor at Bloomberg News noted for his commitment to investigative and narrative journalism — along with historian Steven Hahn, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board. Blau is a 1997 Nieman Fellow. Nieman Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski is a co-chair of the board. Read more »
Alex Jones Inducted into American Academy of Arts and Sciences - October 19

Alex S. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, was among 177 of the nation’s most influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders who were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences earlier this month. He is a 1982 Nieman Fellow. Read more »
Rose Marie Economou, 1946-2011 - October 7

Rose Economou, and Emmy Award-winning documentary producer and Columbia College professor, died Sunday, Oct. 2, at 65. A 1981 Nieman Fellow, Economou worked at the school for two decades after a distinguished career as a broadcast producer. Read more »
Rutledge wins Barlett & Steele award - October 4

Raquel Rutledge and her Milwaukee Journal Sentinel colleague Rick Barrett were named Silver Award winners Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the annual Barlett & Steele contest, which honors outstanding investigative reporting focused on business. The two were recognized for their story on how federal regulators failed to prevent tainted alcohol wipes from getting into hospitals and medicine cabinets across the country. Rutledge is a 2012 Nieman Fellow. Read more »
Amupadhi new editor of The Namibian - September 30

The editorship of The Namibian changed hands when founding Editor Gwen Lister, after 26 years at the helm of the biggest newspaper in the country, passed on the torch to Tangeni Amupadhi on Friday, Sept. 30. Amupadhi was appointed editor-designate in April, after serving as editor of Insight magazine, which he co-founded in 2004, and has worked closely with Lister over the past six months before being confirmed in the position. He is a 2007 Nieman Fellow. Read more »