Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University from 2000-2011, died in Traverse City, Michigan, on August 7, 2023, after battling cancer. Known as Bob to friends and colleagues alike, he … Read more
When news came of Ralph Hancox’s passing, my instinct was to find an old photograph of the Nieman Fellows’ class of 1966. There he was in the first row, towering over the rest of us clustered on … Read more
Former Nieman curator Bob Giles, NF ’66, will receive a Yankee Quill Award this fall from the Academy of New England Journalists. The annual award recognizes recipients’ contributions to journalistic excellence and broad influence on New England journalism over time. The selection committee was impressed with Giles’ 11 years as director of the Nieman Foundation, including his oversight of programs such as the Nieman Journalism Lab and Nieman Watchdog and his support of narrative journalism. Read more
Bob Giles, former curator of the Nieman Foundation and a 1966 Nieman Fellow, is among the 220 new members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The 2012 class — which also includes Hilary Clinton, Melinda Gates, Clint Eastwood, Paul McCartney and Neil Simon — will be inducted at a ceremony on October 6 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge. Read more
Bob Giles, who retired last summer after 11 years as curator of the Nieman Foundation, has joined the international news site GlobalPost as Commentary editor. He will recruit contributors from around the world to bring authoritative analysis to a new GlobalPost section called Commentary. Read more
Nieman Foundation curator Bob Giles retired at the end of June after 11 years on the job. During his tenure, he found new ways to strengthen the Nieman Fellowship program and expand the foundation’s critical role in discussions about the future of serious journalism. Giles recently reflected on his time at Harvard and began by describing what it has been like to lead the Nieman Foundation for more than a decade. Read more
Several Nieman Fellows contributed to the latest issue of ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. The new magazine focuses on “Journalism of the Americas” and features articles by Mónica Almeida NF ’09, Rosental Alves NF ’88, Alfredo Corchado NF ’09, Bob Giles NF ’66, Juanita León NF ’07, Graciela Mochkofsky NF ’09 and Raúl Peñaranda NF ’08. Read more
Nieman curator Bob Giles writes about the difficulties Chinese blogger Michael Anti is having publishing under his preferred name. Anti, a 2008 Nieman Fellow whose government-recorded name is Zhao Jing, has used his pen name professionally for years. That changed quickly in January however, when Facebook cancelled his account without warning and deleted all his contacts, due to a “real name policy.” The Committee to Protect Journalists describes the move as complicit with “China’s growing attempt to stifle the free flow of news and opinion.” 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
Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for the past decade, will retire at the end of the academic year in June 2011. “It is not easy to leave a great institution and the wonderful people who make it so, but this is a good time for my wife, Nancy, and me to begin a new chapter in our lives,” Giles, 77, said. Read more