Mainer named by Harvard as one of 30 new Nieman Fellows
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --Thirty U.S. and international journalists, including an arts and culture writer for the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, have been named to the 70th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, university officials said Wednesday.
Alicia Anstead, 44, of Castine, Maine, was awarded the Nieman Foundation's inaugural fellowship in arts and culture, a new component to the program.
"She represents exactly the kind of journalist we were hoping to attract: someone with a deep commitment to the local community who could use the Nieman experience to influence her impact on the future course of arts and culture in the community," said Bob Giles, foundation curator.
The fellowship gives working journalists the chance to study any subject at Harvard. Giles said the journalists are due to arrive at the end of August and will study at Harvard through early June.
Maine's Blaine House Conference on the Creative Economy, which took place in Lewiston in 2004, gave rise to Anstead's Nieman proposal.
"It really fired my imagination to a side of the arts that I hadn't explored very thoroughly, which is the economy of the arts, the business of the arts," she said. "I began at that point to read more, research more and head a little bit more in the direction of business. My proposal is the culmination of that exploration."
The Nieman Fellowship was established in 1938 and is the oldest midcareer fellowship for journalists in the world.
In addition to Anstead, U.S. members of the class of 2006-2007 include:
Gaiutra Bahadur, freelance journalist who has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Josh Benton, staff reporter, Dallas Morning News.
James Causey, night city editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Kate Galbraith, freelance correspondent, who has written for The Economist, The
Christine Gorman, science reporter and Time magazine contributor.
Joan Martelli, producer, ABC News in New York.
Jenifer McKim, reporter, Orange County Register.
Andrew Meldrum, correspondent, The Guardian and Observer.
Dean Miller, executive editor, The Post Register, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Mary Newsom, editorial writer, The Charlotte Observer.
Olivera Perkins, staff reporter, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.
Dan Vergano, science reporter, USA Today.
Stuart Watson, investigative reporter, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, N.C.
Walter Watson, senior supervising producer, National Public Radio in Washington.
The international members of the class:
Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi, Iraq, reporter, The New York Times, Baghdad Bureau.
Ran An, China, medical reporter, China Newsweek.
Iason Athanasiadis (also called Jason Fowden), Greece, a freelance reporter working in Iran.
James Baxter, Canada, editorial pager editor, Edmonton Journal.
Ayelet Bechar, Israel, freelance filmmaker.
Andres Cavelier, Columbia, multimedia manager, El Nuevo Herald, Miami.
Melanie Gosling, South Africa, environmental reporter, The Cape Times.
Aboubakr Jamai, Morocco, journalist and former publisher of Le Journal in Casablanca.
Siew Ying Leu, Malaysia, Guangzhou, correspondent,
Raul Penaranda, Bolivia, editorial director, La Epoca.
Andrew Quinn, United Kingdom, senior Southern Africa correspondent for Reuters.
Fernando Rodrigues, Brazil, columnist, Fohla de S. Paulo.
Holly Williams, Australia, senior Asia producer, Sky News Beijing Bureau.
Simon Wilson, United Kingdom, editor BBC Middle East Bureau, Israel.
Jing Zhao, (also known as Michael Anti), China, reporter, The New Times, Beijing Bureau.
