CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has selected 24 journalists as members of the 76th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. The group includes reporters, editors, columnists, digital media leaders and producers in print, broadcast and online who work around the globe and across media platforms.
Announcing the class, Nieman Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski said, “They are extraordinary journalists who have much to offer each other and the broader Harvard community interested in the future of journalism. As Nieman celebrates its 75th year, it is exciting to witness the ways in which these fellows are working to uphold journalism’s highest standards while focused on innovations for radically shifting audiences, technologies, and business models. We look forward to working with them all.”
Since its founding at Harvard in 1938, the Nieman Foundation has supported and mentored more than 1,300 accomplished and promising journalists from 92 countries. During their time on campus, Nieman Fellows study with some of the world’s leading scholars and experts in disciplines ranging from business and law to public policy and the natural sciences. They are also full participants in a year-long series of Nieman seminars, master classes and workshops and they work on collaborative projects with other fellows, Harvard faculty and leading thinkers in the Cambridge area.
U.S. Nieman Fellows in the class of 2014:
Issac Bailey, metro columnist and senior writer for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will study the intersection of race, sports and the economy in the American South, with a goal of using the research to understand efforts to battle illiteracy and improve cross-racial understanding in the region. He is the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Community Journalism.
Susie Banikarim, a network television and video producer who has worked for ABC News’ “World News” and “This Week,” Newsweek &The Daily Beast and the talk show “Katie,” will study visual storytelling, specifically focusing on online video and economically viable models for online-only broadcast enterprises.
Tyler Cabot, articles editor at Esquire, will study innovative ways of using digital technology to reimagine the way long-form journalism is created, bought and sold.
Tammerlin Drummond, metro columnist for the Oakland Tribune/Bay Area News Group, will study urban gun violence as a public health emergency, prevention strategies and practices and ways that digital platforms can be used to disseminate information in urban communities plagued by gun homicides and other violent crimes.
Leslie Hook, Beijing correspondent for the Financial Times, will study the intersection of social media and environmental protests in China, with a particular focus on the growing impact of social media on political decisions and policymaking.
Alison MacAdam, senior editor of National Public Radio’s “All Thing Considered,” will study how the arts intersect with business, law and technological innovation, and how cultural institutions are redesigning themselves for the future. MacAdam is the 2014 Arts and Culture Nieman Fellow.
Ravi Nessman, South Asia bureau chief for The Associated Press, will study the influence of religion on creating and alleviating poverty around the world and the responsibility of governments and communities to assist society’s most vulnerable members.
Tim Rogers, editor of The Nicaragua Dispatch, will study the evolving role that online media can play in non-democratic societies, focusing on how content sharing, free expression and interconnectivity contribute to democratization efforts.
Rachel Emma Silverman, a management reporter at The Wall Street Journal, will study workplace design and how it affects collaboration and productivity. She also will explore how journalists can more effectively access new academic management research. Silverman is the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Business Journalism.
Wendell Steavenson, Jerusalem-based staff writer for The New Yorker, will study the way history is memorialized in the Middle East and explore the theories behind the design of museums and how they contribute to a nation’s sense of its own identity.
Dina Temple-Raston, counterterrorism correspondent for National Public Radio, will study the intersection of Big Data and the intelligence community to understand how information from Twitter and other social media can be used to predict and understand events in the future. She also will study the rise of Islam and the first caliphate to research how Shariah law might be included in the transitional governments of the Arab world. Temple-Raston is the first Murrey Marder Nieman Fellow in Watchdog Journalism. The fellowship honors the memory of Murrey Marder, a 1950 Nieman Fellow who helped found the Nieman Watchdog Project.
Jeffrey R. Young, senior editor and writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, will study massive open online courses, or MOOCs, and how they will change higher education and the very nature of pedagogy. He is the Louis Stark Nieman Fellow; the fellowship honors the memory of the New York Times reporter who was a pioneer in the field of labor reporting.
International Nieman Fellows in the class of 2014:
Ameto Akpe (Nigeria), senior reporter, BusinessDay, will study civil movements and their impact on governance, the nature of power and the relationship of citizens to the state. She also will research the impact and reception of U.S. soft power in the developing world. She is the 2014 Barry Bingham Jr. Nieman Fellow. Bingham, a 1956 Harvard graduate, was the editor and publisher of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times in Kentucky.
Uri Blau (Israel), investigative journalist, Haaretz, will study entrepreneurial models for a sustainable, independent nonprofit investigative news platform in Israel and how that could form a base for cooperation among journalists from the Middle East.
Maria Lourdes “Nini” Cabaero (Philippines), new media editor of the Sun.Star group of community newspapers, will study changing newsrooms and how small communities can use new media to gain equal access to national resources. Her fellowship is supported by the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) and honors the memory of journalist Sandra Burton, who reported from the Philippines for Time magazine.
Anna Fifield (New Zealand), the U.S. political correspondent for the Financial Times, will study how change occurs in closed societies, focusing on Iran and the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring and looking at the commonalities between revolutions. She is the 2014 William Montalbano Nieman Fellow, named for a 1970 Nieman Fellow and Los Angeles Times reporter who reported from 100 countries during his 38-year career.
Flavia Krause-Jackson (Italy/U.K.), diplomatic correspondent for Bloomberg News, will study the political and economic challenges and opportunities in Southeast Asia, using the democratization of Myanmar to investigate the influence of foreign investors, multiethnic representation and exogenous actors such as China on the region’s development. She is the 2014 Atsuko Chiba Nieman Fellow, named to honor the memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Nieman Fellow.
Alexandru-Cristian Lupsa (Romania), editor of Decât o Revista, a Romanian journal of nonfiction, will study how narrative journalism can create personal and societal change and ways in which such change can be measured. He is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Fellow. Ruhl, a 1903 Harvard graduate, was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail-Tribune in Oregon from 1911-1967.
Greg Marinovich (South Africa), associate editor, Daily Maverick, will study African syncretic religion and politics and issues of communal morality in times of conflict. His fellowship is supported by the Nieman Society of Southern Africa.
Laura-Julie Perreault (Canada), a staff reporter who covers international affairs for La Presse, will study issues facing women combatants as well as state building and democratization in post-dictatorial states. Perreault is the 2014 Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellow, named for a fellow in the Nieman class of 1962.
Sangar Rahimi (Afghanistan), reporter, The New York Times, will study banking fraud, money laundering, corruption and the misuse of power by politicians. He is the 2014 Carroll Binder Nieman Fellow. The Binder Fund honors 1916 Harvard graduate Carroll Binder, who expanded the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service, and his son, Carroll “Ted” Binder, a 1943 Harvard graduate.
Sandra Rodríguez Nieto (Mexico), an investigative journalist, will study ways to develop sustainable online investigative and narrative journalism projects, focusing on governmental accountability and transparency in Mexico. She is the 2014 Ruth Cowan Nash Nieman Fellow. Nash was best known for her work as an Associated Press war correspondent during World War II.
Hasit Shah (U.K.), senior producer, BBC News, will study the rapid growth and development of digital media in India and its impact on journalism, society, popular culture, political discourse, the economy and public policy.
Yang Xiao (China), Beijing correspondent and chief writer for the Southern People Weekly, with a special interest in democratic transition, will study comparative politics, democratic theory and courses related to China’s political and economic reforms. His fellowship at Harvard is supported through the Marco Polo Program of Sovereign Bank and Banco Santander.
Last fall, three journalists were selected to study at Harvard as short-term visiting fellows: Hong Qu of the U.S., who is currently developing a new mobile and open source application that will enable journalists to easily draw meaning from live-tweet events; Kate Smith of Scotland, who will examine the war reporting of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn to glean what lessons for war correspondents today; and Daniel Eilemberg of Colombia, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Animal Político website, who plans to spend his time at Harvard building the site into the leading digital editorial company in Mexico.
In selecting the Nieman class of 2014, Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of the Nieman Foundation, was joined by Amanda Bennett, executive editor of the Projects and Investigations Unit, Bloomberg News; David Joyner, NF ’12, vice president for content, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama; Nicco Mele, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of “The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath”; the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s managing director Colin Maclay, research director Robert Faris and manager of community programs Rebecca Tabasky; and Nieman deputy curator James Geary, NF ’12, and Joshua Benton, NF ’08, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard educates journalism’s leaders, explores industry innovations and elevates standards through special programs that convene scholars, journalists and experts across multiple fields. In addition to the Nieman Fellowship program, the foundation’s other initiatives include Nieman Reports, an influential quarterly magazine and website that explores contemporary challenges and opportunities in journalism; the Nieman Journalism Lab, a website that reports on the future of news, innovation and best practices in the digital media age; and Nieman Storyboard, a website that showcases exceptional narrative journalism and explores the future of nonfiction storytelling.
Announcing the class, Nieman Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski said, “They are extraordinary journalists who have much to offer each other and the broader Harvard community interested in the future of journalism. As Nieman celebrates its 75th year, it is exciting to witness the ways in which these fellows are working to uphold journalism’s highest standards while focused on innovations for radically shifting audiences, technologies, and business models. We look forward to working with them all.”
Since its founding at Harvard in 1938, the Nieman Foundation has supported and mentored more than 1,300 accomplished and promising journalists from 92 countries. During their time on campus, Nieman Fellows study with some of the world’s leading scholars and experts in disciplines ranging from business and law to public policy and the natural sciences. They are also full participants in a year-long series of Nieman seminars, master classes and workshops and they work on collaborative projects with other fellows, Harvard faculty and leading thinkers in the Cambridge area.
U.S. Nieman Fellows in the class of 2014:
Issac Bailey, metro columnist and senior writer for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., will study the intersection of race, sports and the economy in the American South, with a goal of using the research to understand efforts to battle illiteracy and improve cross-racial understanding in the region. He is the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Community Journalism.
Susie Banikarim, a network television and video producer who has worked for ABC News’ “World News” and “This Week,” Newsweek &The Daily Beast and the talk show “Katie,” will study visual storytelling, specifically focusing on online video and economically viable models for online-only broadcast enterprises.
Tyler Cabot, articles editor at Esquire, will study innovative ways of using digital technology to reimagine the way long-form journalism is created, bought and sold.
Tammerlin Drummond, metro columnist for the Oakland Tribune/Bay Area News Group, will study urban gun violence as a public health emergency, prevention strategies and practices and ways that digital platforms can be used to disseminate information in urban communities plagued by gun homicides and other violent crimes.
Leslie Hook, Beijing correspondent for the Financial Times, will study the intersection of social media and environmental protests in China, with a particular focus on the growing impact of social media on political decisions and policymaking.
Alison MacAdam, senior editor of National Public Radio’s “All Thing Considered,” will study how the arts intersect with business, law and technological innovation, and how cultural institutions are redesigning themselves for the future. MacAdam is the 2014 Arts and Culture Nieman Fellow.
Ravi Nessman, South Asia bureau chief for The Associated Press, will study the influence of religion on creating and alleviating poverty around the world and the responsibility of governments and communities to assist society’s most vulnerable members.
Tim Rogers, editor of The Nicaragua Dispatch, will study the evolving role that online media can play in non-democratic societies, focusing on how content sharing, free expression and interconnectivity contribute to democratization efforts.
Rachel Emma Silverman, a management reporter at The Wall Street Journal, will study workplace design and how it affects collaboration and productivity. She also will explore how journalists can more effectively access new academic management research. Silverman is the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Business Journalism.
Wendell Steavenson, Jerusalem-based staff writer for The New Yorker, will study the way history is memorialized in the Middle East and explore the theories behind the design of museums and how they contribute to a nation’s sense of its own identity.
Dina Temple-Raston, counterterrorism correspondent for National Public Radio, will study the intersection of Big Data and the intelligence community to understand how information from Twitter and other social media can be used to predict and understand events in the future. She also will study the rise of Islam and the first caliphate to research how Shariah law might be included in the transitional governments of the Arab world. Temple-Raston is the first Murrey Marder Nieman Fellow in Watchdog Journalism. The fellowship honors the memory of Murrey Marder, a 1950 Nieman Fellow who helped found the Nieman Watchdog Project.
Jeffrey R. Young, senior editor and writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, will study massive open online courses, or MOOCs, and how they will change higher education and the very nature of pedagogy. He is the Louis Stark Nieman Fellow; the fellowship honors the memory of the New York Times reporter who was a pioneer in the field of labor reporting.
International Nieman Fellows in the class of 2014:
Ameto Akpe (Nigeria), senior reporter, BusinessDay, will study civil movements and their impact on governance, the nature of power and the relationship of citizens to the state. She also will research the impact and reception of U.S. soft power in the developing world. She is the 2014 Barry Bingham Jr. Nieman Fellow. Bingham, a 1956 Harvard graduate, was the editor and publisher of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times in Kentucky.
Uri Blau (Israel), investigative journalist, Haaretz, will study entrepreneurial models for a sustainable, independent nonprofit investigative news platform in Israel and how that could form a base for cooperation among journalists from the Middle East.
Maria Lourdes “Nini” Cabaero (Philippines), new media editor of the Sun.Star group of community newspapers, will study changing newsrooms and how small communities can use new media to gain equal access to national resources. Her fellowship is supported by the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) and honors the memory of journalist Sandra Burton, who reported from the Philippines for Time magazine.
Anna Fifield (New Zealand), the U.S. political correspondent for the Financial Times, will study how change occurs in closed societies, focusing on Iran and the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring and looking at the commonalities between revolutions. She is the 2014 William Montalbano Nieman Fellow, named for a 1970 Nieman Fellow and Los Angeles Times reporter who reported from 100 countries during his 38-year career.
Flavia Krause-Jackson (Italy/U.K.), diplomatic correspondent for Bloomberg News, will study the political and economic challenges and opportunities in Southeast Asia, using the democratization of Myanmar to investigate the influence of foreign investors, multiethnic representation and exogenous actors such as China on the region’s development. She is the 2014 Atsuko Chiba Nieman Fellow, named to honor the memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Nieman Fellow.
Alexandru-Cristian Lupsa (Romania), editor of Decât o Revista, a Romanian journal of nonfiction, will study how narrative journalism can create personal and societal change and ways in which such change can be measured. He is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Fellow. Ruhl, a 1903 Harvard graduate, was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail-Tribune in Oregon from 1911-1967.
Greg Marinovich (South Africa), associate editor, Daily Maverick, will study African syncretic religion and politics and issues of communal morality in times of conflict. His fellowship is supported by the Nieman Society of Southern Africa.
Laura-Julie Perreault (Canada), a staff reporter who covers international affairs for La Presse, will study issues facing women combatants as well as state building and democratization in post-dictatorial states. Perreault is the 2014 Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellow, named for a fellow in the Nieman class of 1962.
Sangar Rahimi (Afghanistan), reporter, The New York Times, will study banking fraud, money laundering, corruption and the misuse of power by politicians. He is the 2014 Carroll Binder Nieman Fellow. The Binder Fund honors 1916 Harvard graduate Carroll Binder, who expanded the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service, and his son, Carroll “Ted” Binder, a 1943 Harvard graduate.
Sandra Rodríguez Nieto (Mexico), an investigative journalist, will study ways to develop sustainable online investigative and narrative journalism projects, focusing on governmental accountability and transparency in Mexico. She is the 2014 Ruth Cowan Nash Nieman Fellow. Nash was best known for her work as an Associated Press war correspondent during World War II.
Hasit Shah (U.K.), senior producer, BBC News, will study the rapid growth and development of digital media in India and its impact on journalism, society, popular culture, political discourse, the economy and public policy.
Yang Xiao (China), Beijing correspondent and chief writer for the Southern People Weekly, with a special interest in democratic transition, will study comparative politics, democratic theory and courses related to China’s political and economic reforms. His fellowship at Harvard is supported through the Marco Polo Program of Sovereign Bank and Banco Santander.
Last fall, three journalists were selected to study at Harvard as short-term visiting fellows: Hong Qu of the U.S., who is currently developing a new mobile and open source application that will enable journalists to easily draw meaning from live-tweet events; Kate Smith of Scotland, who will examine the war reporting of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn to glean what lessons for war correspondents today; and Daniel Eilemberg of Colombia, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Animal Político website, who plans to spend his time at Harvard building the site into the leading digital editorial company in Mexico.
In selecting the Nieman class of 2014, Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of the Nieman Foundation, was joined by Amanda Bennett, executive editor of the Projects and Investigations Unit, Bloomberg News; David Joyner, NF ’12, vice president for content, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama; Nicco Mele, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of “The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath”; the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s managing director Colin Maclay, research director Robert Faris and manager of community programs Rebecca Tabasky; and Nieman deputy curator James Geary, NF ’12, and Joshua Benton, NF ’08, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard educates journalism’s leaders, explores industry innovations and elevates standards through special programs that convene scholars, journalists and experts across multiple fields. In addition to the Nieman Fellowship program, the foundation’s other initiatives include Nieman Reports, an influential quarterly magazine and website that explores contemporary challenges and opportunities in journalism; the Nieman Journalism Lab, a website that reports on the future of news, innovation and best practices in the digital media age; and Nieman Storyboard, a website that showcases exceptional narrative journalism and explores the future of nonfiction storytelling.
