The Nieman Foundation celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2023 with an inspiring and thought-provoking reunion weekend at the end of October. More than 400 guests from 40 countries representing seven decades of Nieman Fellowships attended. The event provided alumni with an opportunity to reconnect with classmates and make new connections, hear from leading Harvard professors and learn how newsroom leaders are coping with daunting new challenges. The weekend also offered time and space for the Nieman community to reflect on journalism’s progress since Nieman’s founding in 1938, and to contemplate its rapidly evolving future.
Highlights included:
- An evening of captivating storytelling with Nieman alumni, each sharing “the story I couldn’t let go”
- The 90-Minute Nieman, a series of talks by Harvard faculty experts who spoke about subjects ranging from the rapid growth of AI and the climate crisis to global health inequities and racism, as well as polarization and other threats to democracy
- Insightful discussions with New York Times executive editor Joseph Kahn, who talked with Henry Chu, NF ’15, deputy news editor at the Los Angeles Times, about striving for greater reporter diversity, the formidable challenges of covering war and the implications of AI for newsrooms, among other topics; and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, CEO of the online news publication Rappler in the Philippines, who spoke with Nieman curator Ann Marie Lipinski about her advocacy for press freedom and fighting against the dangers of disinformation and weaponized social media
- A panel with Nieman alumni, all with deep experience reporting on the Middle East, about the difficulties of covering the Israel-Hamas war and the terrible toll the fighting has taken on journalists covering the region
- Alumni gatherings at Lippmann House and a dinner at the Boston Public Library
