The Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society have selected two journalists as the 2014-2015 Nieman-Berkman Fellows in Journalism Innovation. The fellowship is a collaboration between the two organizations designed to generate new ideas to advance quality journalism in the digital age.
Maggie Koerth-Baker, a freelance science journalist, columnist for The New York Times Magazine and science editor at BoingBoing.net, will study the process, history and ethics of medical development and human testing, with a particular focus on the flu vaccine. Her work has appeared in Discover, Popular Science, New Scientist, on websites like Scientific American and National Geographic News, and in the anthology “The Best Science Writing Online 2012.” She also is author of the book “Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us,” about the U.S. electric grid and the future of energy. Koerth-Baker is a board member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
Miguel Paz Rueda is a Chilean journalist, former Knight ICFJ Fellow and president of the Poderomedia Foundation, an organization that promotes the use of new technologies to rethink journalism and foster transparency and digital innovation in Latin American news organizations. He also is the founder and CEO of Poderopedia.org, a data journalism platform that maps who’s who in business and politics in the region. At Harvard, he will study new data visualization models, innovative news startups, and civic media approaches to building quality sustainable journalism models. Paz is the creator of the Hacks/Hackers chapter in Santiago and the Iberoamerican Data Journalism Handbook; co-founder of OpenDataLatinoamerica.org; and a 2012 Start-Up Chile winner. He previously was deputy director of ElMostrador.cl, the first digital-only newspaper in Chile.
Candidates for the Nieman-Berkman Fellowship propose a specific course of study or project relating to journalism innovation that may deal with any issue relating to journalism’s digital transformation. Working journalists from the United States and abroad, including independent journalists and those who work for a news organization in a business, technology, or leadership capacity, are welcome to apply.
Read about all of the Berkman Center’s new fellows
Learn more about the Nieman-Berkman Fellowship in Journalism Innovation