CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (June 10, 2005) — Twelve international journalists have been named Nieman Fellows for the 2005-06 academic year. They will join 12 U.S. journalists whose names were announced in May to make up the 68th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University.

Established in 1938, the Nieman program is the oldest midcareer fellowship for journalists in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the university. More than 1,100 U.S. and international journalists from 79 countries have studied at Harvard as Nieman Fellows.

Here are the international members of the Class of 2006 with their areas of interest.

CLAUDIA ANTUNES (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Deputy Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, Folha de S. Paulo: The impact of economic integration and trade agreements on development; changes in the work market along with their influence over politics and contemporary forms of organizing civil society. Antunes is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellow.

ZIPPI N. BRAND (Tel-Aviv, Israel), freelance journalist and documentary filmaker: What happens in a multiethnic, democratic society whose members have very deep religious and political differences when the glue that held them together — the struggle for survival — is no longer relevant?

KIM CLOETE (Cape Town, South Africa), specialist journalist, South African Broadcasting Corporation: To explore the potential of bringing Africa fully into the global economy through investment, targeted aid, fair trade and debt cancellation. Funding for her fellowship is provided by The Nieman Society of Southern Africa.

TAGHREED EL-KHODARY (Gaza City, Palestine), freelance television and print reporter: Explore how insights from political science, international relations and conflict resolution can focus journalistic analysis in Middle Eastern news media. El-Khodary is the Ruth Cowan Nash Fellow, with funding provided by the Nash Fund.

YAPING JIANG (Beijing, China), executive vice president, People’s Daily Online: Web media and intellectual property rights, the Western journalistic system and media management

MARY ANN JOLLEY (Sydney, Australia), producer/reporter, Australian Broadcasting Corporation: To explore the role of the international journalist in reporting from countries where freedom of speech is repressed and the impact of such reporting on international policy

GUILLERMO E. FRANCO MORALES (Bogota, Colombia), content manager of new media and editor, eltiempo.com: How news organizations in developing countries, particularly newspapers, can take advantage of Internet not just to survive but to prosper and to strengthen the democracy. He is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellow.

TAKASHI OSHIMA (Tokyo, Japan), reporter, The Asahi Shimbun: Emerging regional cooperation in East Asia and the foreign policies of Japan, the United States and China toward East Asia

ALTIN RAXHIMI (Tirana, Albania), producer-editor for Top Channel TV and correspondent for Transitions Online: How main monotheistic religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism) reflect and influence political decisions and popular mores vis a vis those political decisions. Raxhimi is the Carroll Binder Fellow, with funding provided by the Carroll Binder Fund.

BEENA SARWAR (Karachi, Pakistan), editor op-ed and features, The News International, Jang Group: Examine issues and linkages related to domestic, regional and international peace and conflict resolution with a focus on gender, media and domestic and foreign policies. Sarwar is the Chiba-Nieman Fellow. Her fellowship is supported by the Atsuko Chiba Foundation, established in memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Nieman Fellow.

BILL SCHILLER (Toronto, Canada), foreign editor, Toronto Star: Examine the transformation of American foreign policy from NSC-68, the guiding document of the Cold War period, to the current National Security Strategy of 2002. Schiller is the Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellow, with funding provided by the Goodman Trust in Canada and the Goodman Fund in the United States.

ALICE TATAH (Yaounde, Cameroon), producer/presenter, Cameroon Radio and Television: Health reporting and media approaches to public-health problems — the use of behavior-change communication in reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on Cameroon’s youthful population. Tatah is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Fellow, with funding provided by the Robert Waldo Ruhl Fellowship Fund.

The Nieman Foundation also publishes the quarterly magazine Nieman Reports and is the home of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism and the Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project to encourage reporters and editors to monitor and hold accountable those who exert power in all aspects of public life.