• Nieman Fellows Win 2007 Pulitzer Prizes
  
• George Packer Gives 2007 Morris Memorial Lecture
  
• Shuli Hu Receives 2007 Lyons Award
  
• Lancaster New Era Receives 2007 Taylor Award
  
• 2007 Lukas Prize Project Awards Announced
  

—1959—

Evans Clinchy's book, "Rescuing the Public Schools: What It Will Take to Leave No Child Behind," has been published by Teachers College Press. Through the tale of his own experiences as a newspaperman and educator, Clinchy strongly attacks the Bush No Child Left Behind agenda as "educationally and

—1960—

John G. (Jack) Samson died on March 18th at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 84.

Samson began his journalism career covering the Korean War for United Press International. After spending some years freelancing, he was appointed managing editor of Field & Stream in 1970. By 1972 he was editor in chief and had the opportunity to travel throughout the world. By 1985, he retired and settled in Santa Fe.

Coincidentally, Samson sold his first story to Field & Stream in 1949 for $75, as noted in his obituary in "Field Notes." In the intervening years, the reporter continued, "he accomplished about everything a hunter, fisherman, and outdoor writer could hope to [do]." In The Santa Fe New Mexican, friend Craig Springer said, "He was an icon. Legend is often overused, but in this case it's entirely appropriate."

In 1999, Samson received the University of New Mexico's James F. Zimmerman Award, which was given in honor of his career as a journalist, author and editor. In 2001, the Outdoor Writers Association of America gave him their Excellence in Craft award.

Samson wrote 23 books, with the final one, "Fly Fishing for Permit," completed four years ago. Other books include "Saltwater Fly Fishing," "Modern Falconry," "Jack Samson's Hunting the Southwest," and "Man & Bear Adventures in the Wild."

—1966—

Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation, was one of four journalists to receive The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Award for 2007. The award recognizes alumni of the

—1970—

Joe Zelnik has stepped down from his position as editor of the Cape May County Herald due to health concerns, said Art Hall, the paper's publisher. Under the new tile of editor emeritus, Zelnik will continue writing his column and perform other duties in a role that no longer "carr[ies] the weight of running the entire news operation," Hall explained.

Zelnik became editor of the Herald in 1982 when the paper had half a dozen employees and a two-man news staff, of which he was half, Zelnik wrote in the Spring 2006 issue of Nieman Reports. From "a free distribution, tabloid-sized weekly newspaper" averaging 20 pages and headquartered in a "two-room hovel,"

—1980—

Jim Boyd has taken voluntary buyout and will be leaving the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after nearly 27 years. Boyd had been the deputy editor of the paper's editorial page for 25 years. A wide-ranging interview with Boyd by Paul Schmelzer of the Minnesota Monitor can be found at minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1750. In that discussion, Boyd talks about the Star Tribune's new owners, Avista Capital Partners (McClatchy was the previous owner); the possibility of a change in the paper's editorial position because of the new ownership; the effect of downsizing on newspapers, and how the St. Petersburg Times's nonprofit status might be a helpful model for other newspapers.

In 2005, Boyd received the Arthur Ross Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis on Foreign Affairs given by The American Academy of Diplomacy "for critical, perceptive and nonpartisan commentary on the policies of governments and international organizations, reflecting exhaustive research, a willingness to tell truth to power, and a consistent appreciation for the importance of cooperation among nations."

—1986—

Stan Tiner, executive editor of The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, has been reelected to a second three-year term on the board of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). Tiner's paper has received many awards for "its valorous and comprehensive coverage of Hurricane Katrina," including a National Headliner Award for online journalism and a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Tiner has been a member of ASNE since 1975.

—1989—

•  Cecilia Alvear is to be inducted into The National Association of Hispanic Journalists' Hall of Fame during the organization's 25th anniversary convention in California in June. Alvear has received a number of other honors, among them inclusion on a list of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States" by Hispanic Business in 2000. Earlier this year, she retired from NBC Network News after almost 25 years.

•  Bill Kovach received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Boston University in May during the university's 134th commencement ceremony. He also presented the main address at the Baccalaureate service. Kovach, senior counselor at the Project for Excellence in Journalism in Washington, D.C. and the founding chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, was curator of the Nieman Foundation for 10 years. He has been a journalist and writer for 50 years.

—1991—

•  Maria Dunin-Wasowicz received a PhD in liberal arts from Warsaw University in May during an award ceremony held at the Kazimierzowski Palace, an historic building on the university campus. She writes, "I obtained my PhD by the unanimous vote of the Science Council of the Institute of Journalism and Political Science .... Professor dr hab. Roman Kuzniar—whom I warmly thank for his excellent advice and guidance—was the promoter of my thesis entitled 'Sovereignty and Money within the Process of European Integration.'"

•  Tim Giago's book on Indian mission schools, "Children Left Behind," received a bronze medal in the Multicultural Non-Fiction Adult category from Independent Publisher. The Independent Publisher Book Awards, known as the IPPY's, "reward those who exhibit the courage, innovation and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing."

Giago started the Lakota Times (Indian Country Today) in 1981 and was integral in establishing the Native American Journalists Association, which began under the name Native American Press Association. "Children Left Behind" was published in August 2006 by Clear Light Book Publishing. For copies, e-mail harmon@clearlightbooks.com.

—1992—

•  Marcus Brauchli has been named managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Brauchli joined Dow Jones, the paper's publisher, in 1984 and spent 15 years as a foreign correspondent before joining its editing ranks in 1999, rising to national news editor in 2000.

The New York Times said Brauchli has the "overwhelming backing of the newsroom," citing one reporter's view that it sent "a very positive signal" to the staff that the paper is "interested in someone who is a dynamic thinker and from the new generation of newsgatherers who can think digitally and probably is willing to shepherd the paper in a creative way from print to online."

Brauchli has been given much of the credit for the Journal's recent redesign, which made the printed newspaper physically smaller, a move that has saved an estimated $5 million dollars thus far, and added a Saturday edition. The redesign also moved more breaking news to a paid subscription-access Web site and shifted the printed paper's content toward enterprise reporting, features and analysis.

"These days people wake up and check their BlackBerry before they read the newspaper," Brauchli said in an interview. "A newspaper has to be much more than what happened yesterday. It's too easy for them to skate by and not read it."

In a memo published on Romenesko, Brauchli addressed the Journal staff: "For our journalism to have the impact it should, we must reach our audience

—1993—

Michael Skoler, executive director of the Center for Innovation in Journalism at American Public Media, shared in the first Knight News Innovation EPpy for the center's Public Insight Journalism model, an innovative system for engaging tens of thousands of people in the newsgathering process.

Skoler and his team developed Public Insight Journalism in the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) newsroom over four years, when Skoler was managing director of news. "At the simplest level," Skoler wrote in the Winter 2005 issue of Nieman Reports, "the Public Insight Journalism process expands a journalist's Rolodex, finding sources that would be hard to find. ... We've built software that keeps track of more than

—1994—

•  Maria Henson, deputy editorial page editor at The Sacramento Bee, was chosen as a Spring 2007 Jefferson Fellow by the University of Hawaii's East-West Center. The fellowship offers print and broadcast journalists immersion courses focused on the Asia Pacific region with the goal of promoting better public understanding of cultures and current issues through a week of lecture and discourse followed by extensive field study in the United States and Asia.

Henson writes, "Speaking about peaks of human experiences, yes, friends, I was chosen as one of the participants of the Spring 2007 Jefferson Fellowship. ... We will be spending a week at the East-West Center in Hawaii, then another week at Silicon Valley after which we will fly to China (Shanghai and Beijing) and India (Bangalore and Chennai)."

•  Christina Lamb won the British Press Award for Foreign Correspondent of the Year. This is the second time she has received this honor, the first time in 2002, when she also received the Foreign Press Association award for her reporting on the war on terrorism. Lamb has also recently been chosen by the ASHA Foundation as one of their inspirational women worldwide. She has been a foreign correspondent for almost 20 years, first for the Financial Times and then the Sunday Times. Lamb's new book, "Tea with Pinochet," a collection of her journalism, will be out in August, published by Harper Collins. Other books include "The Africa House," "Waiting for Allah—Pakistan's Struggle for Democracy," and "The Sewing Circles of Herat."

In the introduction to "Tea with Pinochet," Lamb writes about her work as a foreign correspondent and the danger in which she often finds herself. (See her article in Nieman Reports, Spring 2007.) She writes:

"Why do it? Every day I run away from that question.

"I am not an alcoholic, a heroin addict, or from a broken home. I am a mother of a gorgeous curly-haired boy, wife of a loving husband, daughter of devoted parents, part of a close circle of friends .... I have no excuses.

"I could tell you it's a search for truth. A hope that by exposing the evils and injustices of the world I can help make it a better place. ...

"I could tell you that when I was a child I loved to read the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson and turn the sheets hanging on the washing line into doors onto faraway places. ...

"I never set out to be brave or daring or intrepid or any of those labels often attached to the phrase 'war correspondent.' What I wanted to be is a storyteller. I have been lucky enough to live in countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe at a time of huge upheaval when the world was adjusting from the cold war to a whole new war of terrorist attacks and suicide bombs.

"To me the real story in war is not the bang-bang but the lives of those trying to survive behind the lines. This book then is not an attempt to answer the question why but just to present what I have seen as it is. Working for a weekly paper I have had the luxury of time to be able to go where other reporters don't and tell the stories of those forgotten.

"This then is a mixture of memories, articles (where possible the original rather than edited), and impressions jotted in notebooks and diaries. Sometimes the story behind the article is more interesting than what appeared on the printed page and where that is so I have tried to include that. These are my places of hope and despair."

—2006—

•  Chris Cobler is now editor of the Victoria (Tex.) Advocate, the second largest family-owned newspaper in Texas. The paper, established in 1846, has adapted its circulation strategy many times since the delivery of its inaugural edition by horseback and now faces the challenge of meeting today's demands for both print and Web products. After a national search, the Advocate selected Cobler as the replacement for previous editor Scot Walker, in part due to Cobler's expertise in the field of digital media.

"We want to become more than just a print newspaper," said Barry Peckham, president and general manager of the Advocate. "We have a tremendous focus on the digital side of our operation now. Chris has a lot of experience there and a lot of great ideas about where the digital side of the news business is going. There was just simply a connection when he came down here."

Cobler said he is eager to make changes to the newsroom, but plans to "honor the work that's gone on and everything that's been done here and seek first to understand before trying to be understood."

Cobler last served as interactive division publisher at the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune and Swift Communications. His wife, Paula, daughter, Nicole, and son, Paul, will leave Colorado in June to join him in Texas.

•  Brent Walth, a senior investigative reporter at The Oregonian, has been named adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. He says one of the best parts of his new teaching job is that his office is just two doors down from that of his Nieman classmate, Jon Palfreman, the school's KEZI Distinguished Professor of Broadcast Journalism.

—2007—

Eliza Griswold's book, "Wideawake Field," was published by Farrar Straus Giroux in May. The book of poetry, Griswold's first, is influenced by her reporting in South Asia and Africa. She is working on a nonfiction book, "The Tenth Parallel," also to be published by Farrar Straus Giroux.

—2008—

Dean Miller, executive editor of The Post Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho, was among 23 finalists in the first annual Mirror Awards. The honor, given by Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, recognizes excellence in media industry reporting. Miller was nominated in the "Best Coverage of Breaking Industry News" category for an article he wrote for the Summer 2006 issue of Nieman Reports, "Journalists: On the Subject of Courage." The article, "A Local Newspaper Endures a Stormy Backlash," described the challenges the newspaper confronted in investigating pedophiles who were involved in the Boy Scouts and who were allowed by scout officials to continue working with children.
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