Nieman News

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Dec. 20, 2000) — Seth Effron, a veteran newspaper reporter who developed two online news ventures in North Carolina, has been named deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Effron, 48, was a Nieman Fellow in 1992 and will fill a new position in the Nieman program. He will have wide responsibilities in working with the Nieman Fellows and in helping expand the journalistic work of the Nieman Foundation.

“Seth is a solid journalist with a demonstrated ability to bring good ideas to life,” said Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation who announced the selection. “His innovative skills and can-do enthusiasm will help us build on the wonderful legacy of the Nieman program.”

Nieman Fellowships are awarded each year to 12 U.S. and 12 international journalists for a year of study at Harvard. Fellows are free to design individual courses of study and participate in seminars and work shops organized by the Nieman Foundation.

In 1993, in the early years of the Internet, Effron launched an electronic publishing venture to cover North Carolina state government and politics called “the insider.” The service was the first to offer the status and text of legislation online, as well as the first to provide online live broadcasts of state House and Senate sessions and of key committees meeting in the state capital at Raleigh.

In 1996 Effron became the executive editor of Nando Media, the pioneering online news venture of the McClatchy Company, owners of the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. In 1998, the news sites were recognized by “Editor & Publisher’s” “Eppy” awards for having the “Best Sports Section in a Newspaper Online Service” and being one of three finalists for “Best News Section in a Newspaper Online Service.”

Before going into online news, Effron was the Raleigh correspondent for the “Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record” for eight years. Prior to that, he worked at the “Wichita (Kan.) Eagle,” and the “Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat.” He began his newspaper career at “The Fayetteville (N.C.) Times.”

For the last year, Effron worked for Capital Strategies, a public relations and public affairs firm in Raleigh.

Effron grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He received a B.A., with honors in political science, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1974.

He is married to Nancy Thomas and has two daughters, Rebecca, 17 and Eve, 10.

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