American Nieman Fellow Apps Drop

The number of American applicants to the Nieman Fellowship Program dropped to 91 in 2007, down from 100 last year, according to Nieman foundation curator Robert H. Giles. The decrease in applicants is part of a greater trend observed elsewhere, as Stanford also saw its Knight Fellowship Program applicant pool decrease from 101 to 83 in the last year.

Started in 1938, the Nieman Fellowship offers seasoned journalists a chance to study at Harvard for a year in their field of choice.

"The numbers go up and down," said Giles, downplaying the significance of the decline in applicants. "Next year we may have fewer U.S. applicants because some people will be reluctant not to be engaged in daily journalism during a presidential election year."

But Knight Fellowship director James R. Bettinger was less willing to chalk the decrease up to a simple ebb and flow of the applicant pool.

"The turmoil in many major news organizations is both directly and indirectly responsible for much of that," Bettinger said. "Because of the turmoil, many people are anxious about what is happening, and fear that being away for a year might have a negative impact on their careers."

He added that some people have not received leaves of absences but have instead had to resign from their jobs in order to accept fellowships.

Bettinger compared floundering print newspaper circulation to declining CD sales in the music industry, although he was hesitant to make any predictions about the future of journalism.

"I think it’s in for a really messy, difficult period," he said, advising would-be journalists to "think about the opportunities that are there."

But while Bettinger cited "turmoil" as a reason for applicant decline, it was that very same sentiment that compelled one Nieman fellow to apply in spite of any potential career apprehensions.

"Our industry is going through some very troubling and troubled times," said Joshua A. Benton, a Dallas Morning News staff reporter and a 2007 Nieman fellow. "Right now seems like a good time to get away from the newsroom for a bit, because it’s a period of reinvention."

Benton plans to study the impact of school rating systems on classroom instruction during his time at Harvard. As for his job at the Dallas Morning News?

"That’s not a primary worry of mine," he said.

Giles was less quick to acknowledge the changing face of journalism, minimizing the impact of the proliferation of online news sources on the newspaper industry.

"The role and importance of print journalism is as strong as it has ever been," he said. "People who use blogs and make commentary online have to use newspapers for the basic information they are commenting on."

Not all fellowships saw falling numbers in 2007, however. The Shorenstein Fellowship, a Kennedy School program which invites applicants to spend a semester at Harvard writing about the press and politics, did not notice a decline in applicants, according to Shorenstein Center Fellows and Programs Administrator Edith M. Holway.

Additionally, in a twist that Bettinger attributes to increased advertising capabilities, both the Nieman and Knight fellowships saw a rise in international applicants.

"If we didn’t have a free and independent press, and a rigorous press, our country would be in trouble," Giles said. "Good journalism needs to survive."

—Staff writer Jessica L. Fleischer can be reached at jfleisch@fas.harvard.edu.