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The Nieman Foundation names its 2011 Fellows

SHOWCASE | May 26, 2010

Curator notes ‘extraordinarily diverse backgrounds and interests' as 25 American and international journalists are selected.


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has selected 25 journalists from the United States and abroad to join the 73rd class of Nieman Fellows. The group includes journalists who work in print, radio, television, photography, filmmaking and online.

Nieman Foundation Curator Bob Giles notes “The new fellows are a highly talented group of journalists with extraordinarily diverse backgrounds and interests. Together, they’ll have the opportunity to share their expertise and learn from each other as they take full advantage of the exceptional educational resources available at Harvard. This year, a large number of them are freelancers and some have launched innovative journalism projects. They represent a new breed of pioneering journalists who will carry us, well informed, into the future.”

Established in 1938, the Nieman Foundation administers the oldest midcareer fellowship program for journalists in the world. Working journalists of accomplishment and promise are selected to come to Harvard for a year of study, seminars and special events. More than 1,300 journalists from 90 countries have received Nieman Fellowships.

U.S. Nieman Fellows in the Class of 2011 and their areas of interest:

Loch Adamson, London bureau chief, Institutional Investor, will study the ecology of risk in the global financial system and explore the challenges that industry practitioners and policymakers now face in anticipating and containing market crises. Adamson is the 2011 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Business Journalism. This new Nieman Fellowship is supported by a generous grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Tony Bartelme, projects reporter, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., plans to examine the human, social and environmental costs of coal-fired power generation with a special focus on how the United States exploits coal reserves in South America.

Tyler Bridges, an author and freelance journalist based in Lima, Peru, will study the changes, challenges and opportunities for delivering news in the digital era, in both the United States and Latin America.

Jennifer Eccleston, a broadcast journalist/writer who has reported extensively overseas, predominantly in the Middle East and South Asia, as a foreign correspondent for network news and national cable outlets, will study the intersection of religion and war, the ethics of engaging, conducting and exiting war and the role of morality in foreign policy.

Michael Fitzgerald, a freelance writer based in the Boston, Mass., area, will study behavioral economics, statistics and the history of innovation to gain a better understanding of innovation, its causes and its impact on societies.

Darcy Frey, an author andcontributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, will study ecology and environmental science, particularly evolving social concepts of nature and how they affect conservation and environmental policy.

Anna Gorman,staff writer, Los Angeles Times,plans to study the intersection between poverty and public health, with a focus on health disparities and how neighborhoods impact well-being.

Joshua Prager, a freelance journalist and author based in New York, will study how individuals and societies reckon with disclosures of secrets and suppressed truths.

Deb Price, Washington correspondent for The Detroit News, will study China’s explosive growth and the opportunities and challenges it presents Michigan. She is the Louis Stark Nieman Fellow. The fellowship honors the memory of the New York Times reporter who was a pioneer in the field of labor reporting.

Gwen Thompkins, East Africa correspondent, National Public Radio, plans to study the art of storytelling within a variety of disciplines, including music composition, filmmaking, epic poetry and the history of science.

Annmarie Timmins, reporter for the Concord Monitor in Concord, N.H., plans to explore the effects of specialized mental health courts and prison policies on offenders with mental health problems. She is the 2011 Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Community Journalism.

Nieman Fellows in global health reporting and their areas of interest:

Antigone Barton (United States), a freelance journalist, will study global health policy and research ways to build collaborative reporting and accessible resources in developing world news settings.

Helen Branswell (Canada), medical reporter, The Canadian Press, will study the politics and practicalities of disease eradication in the 21st century, with a particular focus on polio eradication.

International Nieman Fellows and their areas of interest:

Fernando Berguido (Panama), publisher and editor of La Prensa, will study how mass media is facing circulation and income challenges in contemporary America. He also will focus on the relation between reporting and power, with an emphasis on corruption control.

Stefan Candea (Romania), a freelance journalist and co-founder of the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism in Bucharest, will explore new perspectives on the failure of societies evolving from totalitarian autocracy to develop core values of effective contemporary civil society. He will also research the role of the media in this equation and whether nonprofit journalism makes a difference. Candea is the Carroll Binder Nieman Fellow. The Binder Fund honors 1916 Harvard graduate Carroll Binder, who built up the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service, and his son, Carroll “Ted” Binder, a 1943 Harvard graduate.

Pablo Corral Vega (Ecuador), photojournalist and founder of nuestramirada.org, the largest online network for Latin American documentary photographers, will study the construction of online networks as tools to facilitate collaboration between journalists, and to promote transparency and human rights. He is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellow.

Kevin Doyle (Ireland), editor-in-chief, The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh, will explore the rise of market freedoms among illiberal governments in Southeast Asia, with a focus on the region’s “managed” models of democracy.

Nazila Fathi (Iran) a reporter who covers Iran for The New York Times, will explore political development and democratization in the digital age and investigate how the Internet, new media and satellite television can affect civil society in Iran and lead to sustainable development and meaningful change. Fathi is the Ruth Cowan Nash Nieman Fellow. Nash was a trailblazer for women in journalism, best known for her work as an Associated Press war correspondent during World War II.

Hui Siu Fun (China), principal producer, Television Broadcasts Limited in Hong Kong, will study how press freedom in mainland China and Hong Kong is affected by official propaganda promoting social harmony. She is the Atsuko Chiba Nieman Fellow. Her fellowship honors the memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Nieman Fellow.

Florence Martin-Kessler (France), a freelance documentary filmmaker, will study the dynamics of change from a public policy perspective, especially how, in the realm of peace-building and anti-poverty efforts, good intentions collide with hard realities. She is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Fellow. A 1903 Harvard graduate, Ruhl was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail-Tribune in Oregon from 1910-1967.

Hollman Morris Rincón (Colombia), independent journalist and Contravía TV series director, will study human rights issues, focusing on conflict negotiation strategies, international criminal court procedures and the Rome Statute. He is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellow.

Rob Rose (South Africa), a reporter in the business investigations unit of the Sunday Times, will study conflicts of interest in the business-political landscape in developing economies as well as media law in those emerging countries. His fellowship is supported by the Nieman Society of Southern Africa.

Philippa Thomas (United Kingdom), anchor and correspondent, BBC World News television, will look at the role of journalism in building community cohesion with a particular emphasis on how social media can be used to empower citizen journalists in developing democracies.

Maxim Trudolyubov (Russia), editorial page editor of the business daily Vedomosti, will explore current research on values and the interconnection between values, faith, culture change and democracy. Trudolyubov is the William Montalbano Nieman Fellow. Montalbano was a 1970 Nieman Fellow and a prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter who reported from 100 countries during his 38-year career.

Abdul Waheed Wafa (Afghanistan), a reporter for The New York Times in Kabul, plans to study international affairs and learn more about state-of-the-art journalism, particularly the revolution in websites and online reporting. He is the Barry Bingham Jr. Nieman Fellow. Bingham, a 1956 Harvard graduate, was the editor and publisher of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times in Kentucky.

The U.S. Nieman Fellows were selected by Ju-Don Marshall Roberts, senior vice president and executive editor at beliefnet.com, former managing editor of washingtonpost.com and a 2004 Nieman Fellow; Margaret Engel, director of the Alicia Patterson Foundation and a 1979 Nieman Fellow; and Donna Hicks, associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation and a 1966 Nieman Fellow, chaired the committee. Giles also selected the international Nieman Fellows.

The Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellows were chosen by Jon Sawyer, director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and Stefanie Friedhoff, special projects manager for the Nieman Foundation and a 2001 Nieman Fellow. Nieman Curator Bob Giles chaired the global health reporting selection committee.



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