Nieman Reports

Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard: Nieman Reports

Search Twitter Facebook

Observation and Dedication
When Gay Talese started out at The New York Times he was told, daily, that the most important rule was to “get it right.” That drilled-in lesson stayed with him in the decades that followed, from his legendary profiles of Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio at Esquire in the ’60’s, through more than a half-dozen books, and onward to The New Yorker. He shared a few other important lessons during a discussion at Harvard last fall, and we’ve excerpted the best in the Spring issue of Nieman Reports.
Gay Talese: The New York Observer »
Changing the Newsroom
For our Spring issue, we asked six former newspaper editors—from the Los Angeles Times to a small New Hampshire daily—how they would reorganize their old newsrooms if they were starting over today. What could they do without? For starters, publishing a print edition every day and holding focus groups. Two expenses that were often cut in recent years showed up on more than one editor’s list of must-haves: employee training and investigative reporting.
Editors Rethink Their Papers »
War in Pictures
“With war, the story never ends,” writes AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus. “It keeps me coming back.” For 20 years she has traveled around the world, recording the struggle and survival of ordinary people in an age of unceasing conflict. From quiet, reflective moments, like a German soldier celebrating his birthday in Northern Afghanistan (at left), to occasional outbursts of joy in the Gaza strip, her new book “At War” captures powerful images from a career on the frontlines.
See a slideshow of images from 'At War' »

« Prev | Pause | Next »

In this Issue: Spring 2012

Drawing History Into Today's News
By Jonathan Seitz
The Wide Web of Innovation
To Kill a Story
By Steve Weinberg

Nieman Fellows & Contributors in the Field

75th Class of Nieman Fellows Announced
The Nieman Foundation has announced the 24 journalists from the United States and abroad who will be members of the 75th class of Nieman Fellows during the 2012-2013 academic year. The group includes reporters, editors, broadcasters and photojournalists working across diverse media platforms. It will also feature the first two Nieman-Berkman Fellows in Journalism Innovation, a collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard.
Profiling the Biographer
With the fourth volume of his multipart biography of Lyndon Johnson published on May 1, Robert Caro, NF ’66, is in the spotlight. Esquire’s Chris Jones has written a lengthy profile of Caro and Charles McGrath’s profile in The New York Times Magazine was a cover story in April. In that piece, Caro recounts a pivotal moment from his Nieman year. In a class on land use and urban planning, the discussion turned to statistics and the siting of highways. He recalled thinking: “This is completely wrong. This isn’t why highways get built. Highways get built because [New York City planner] Robert Moses wants them built there. If you don’t find out and explain to people where Robert Moses gets his power, then everything else you do is going to be dishonest.” “The Power Broker,” his book about Moses, won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Professor's Corner

The Road to New Media

Two essays on Professor’s Corner offer insights into the changing media landscape students will face. University of Nebraska professor Sue Burzynski Bullard writes about teaching students to include links in their articles and offers resources for teaching linking. And University of Arkansas professor Gerald B. Jordan takes the temperature of a newsroom in transition at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he works during summer breaks.

Twitter @NiemanReports

Recent Issues

Old Meets New

One From the Heart

Awards season is well under way, and while the big-name prizes get all the attention, there are plenty of lesser-known and regional honors as well. Dig further still and maybe you’ll find the Womble Award, which 1980 Nieman Fellow Paul Lieberman received from a reader, Fred Womble, whose news tip he had investigated. In our Spring 1982 issue, he reminisced about the heart-shaped plaque he received, and decided that it “had only a positive effect, and that effect was one too rarely noted in the competitive process: the potential of an award to flatly humble the recipient.”