CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Aug. 15, 2008) — The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has selected Russian journalist Fatima Tlisova as a member of the Nieman Class of 2009. Tlisova, an independent reporter from the North Caucasus, will join a group of 28 other journalists who will study at Harvard University during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Tlisova has worked for 10 years as a correspondent for a number of independent Russian papers and international media, including the Associated Press, Novaya Gazeta, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the BBC. She also served as chief of the North Caucasian bureau of the Russian news agency Regnum and makes regular contributions to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (London) and the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, D.C.).

She has been honored for her professional and courageous reporting in the face of great personal danger and for her efforts to help fellow journalists.

As a Nieman Fellow, Tlisova plans to study the nexus between fighting terrorism, human rights violations and the press. As part of that research, she will examine human rights abuses and freedom of speech issues in Russia as well as political and social developments in her native region of the Northwest Caucasus.

More information about the Nieman Foundation and the Nieman Class of 2009 is available online at www.nieman.harvard.edu.

Established in 1938, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard administers the oldest midcareer fellowship program for journalists in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment who come to Harvard University for a year of study, seminars and special events. More than 1,300 journalists from 88 countries have received Nieman Fellowships.

The Nieman Foundation also publishes the quarterly magazine Nieman Reports, the nation’s oldest magazine devoted to a critical examination of the practice of journalism. Additionally, the foundation is home to the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism, the Nieman Journalism Lab and the Nieman Watchdog Project, which encourages reporters and editors to monitor and hold accountable those who exert power in all aspects of public life.