After months of negotiation, Middle East correspondent Dexter Filkins, a 2007 Nieman Fellow, is leaving The New York Times and heading to The New Yorker. This move provides the publication a workhorse and a fully dedicated foreign correspondent at a period when other New Yorker foreign writers either have side-projects or assignments at home. Read more
An article by Nieman Curator Bob Giles, “An Emergent Neo-Journalism: The Decline and Renewal of News Media,” has been published in the Fall 2010 issue of the Harvard International Review. The current issue, which is titled “Pressing Change: Journalism in Focus” and is on sale now, features a symposium that examines the state of journalism today and the many sacrifices journalists around the world make in order to do their jobs well. Read more
James Baxter, a 2008 Nieman Fellow, this week launched iPolitics.ca, Canada's answer to Politico. Featuring political coverage on policy, departmental news and inside scoops from Parliament Hill, iPolitics.ca includes original reporting from eight full-time journalists. Read more
Ronald R. Walker, a longtime Virgin Islands journalist and resident, died Nov. 23. Walker began his journalism career in 1959 as a reporter with the Virgin Islands Daily News, serving as editor in 1976 and 1977. He also worked at the San Juan Star, where he eventually served as managing editor. He was a 1971 Nieman Fellow. Read more
Outstanding journalists at the forefront of the battle for press freedom were honored Tuesday, Nov. 24 at the Committee to Protect Journalists' 20th Annual International Press Freedom Awards benefit dinner. Among those honored was J.S. (Tissa) Tissainayagam, a formerly imprisoned Sri Lankan journalist who was given a CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2009, received his award in person. Tissainayagam is a 2011 Nieman Fellow. Read more
Roanoke Times reporter Beth Macy and a team of medical missionaries she's been following in Haiti fled rioting in the cholera-stricken northern region of the country, passing through fiery roadblocks and machete-wielding thugs on the way. Macy is a 2010 Nieman Fellow. Read more
Henry Jeffreys, a 2005 Nieman Fellow, was recently announced as the new editor of The New Age newspaper, following the controversial walkout of the fledgling newspaper's top five editors. Jeffreys is well-respected as the former editor of Cape Town daily Die Burger, and former deputy and political editor of the Johannesburg daily Beeld, where he started his career in the 1980s. Read more
The California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting has launched a new website that chronicles the news projects it has produced with California newspapers during the last year. Based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the Center works in partnership with news organizations across the state to cover California health policy issues. Read more
Veteran civil rights reporter, Simeon Booker, told the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards Dinner, “our struggle is far from over,” as he accepted the organization’s 2010 Phoenix Award for lifetime achievement. The annual Phoenix Awards are presented to those whom have made significant contributions to society, and symbolizing the immortality of the human spirit and an eternal desire to reach its full potential. Booker is a 1951 Nieman Fellow. Read more
Jim Standard, former top editor of The Oklahoman, died Oct. 12, 2010, in Oklahoma City. He was 70. During his time with the paper he was named Oklahoma Newsman of the Year, spent much of his free time with journalistic and civic organizations, and was a frequent public speaker and lecturer. He was a 1970 Nieman Fellow. Read more
