Harvard announced today that Nieman Foundation curator Ann Marie Lipinski will step down July 1, ending a 14-year tenure as head of the University-housed journalism organization.
A current member of Harvard Magazine’s board of incorporators, Lipinski is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune. She was the first woman appointed to lead the Nieman Foundation, where she had been a fellow during the 1989-90 academic year. During her years at the foundation, the journalism industry has undergone tremendous change and disruption, including the move from print to digital, the rise of mis- and disinformation, the growth of social media and artificial intelligence (AI), the decimation of local news outlets, and numerous assaults on journalists and press freedom.
In a press release announcing her departure, Lipinski said, “It has been a profound privilege to lead Nieman, not in spite of the industry complexities but because of them. Each year, journalism faced new challenges and each year, a new class of fellows rose to confront them. Fortifying those journalists for the future is essential.”
Under Lipinski’s leadership, the Nieman fellowship, which draws applicants from around the world, came to include more journalists from emerging news organizations. The foundation also launched a fellowship in journalism innovation, in collaboration with Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society; added new fellowships to support local investigative reporters and those writing on China; and gave research opportunities to technologists, publishers, and academics working in journalism. Lipinski also expanded the work of the foundation’s publications—Nieman Reports, Nieman Storyboard, and the Nieman Lab reports—addressing urgent challenges such as AI and the collapse of local news. The current issue of Nieman Reports includes a cover article titled “Dear America,” offering advice to American colleagues from nine journalists working in countries where press freedom is under attack. “International journalists are hearing echoes,” Lipinski wrote in the article’s opening paragraph. “From countries around the world that have witnessed the rise of autocratic and populist leaders, they are watching the U.S. and warning of a characteristic of wounded democracies everywhere: an endangered free press.”
In a public statement on Lipinski’s departure, President Alan M. Garber said, “I have watched with admiration as she has met change after change with energy and optimism, always centering her efforts on recruiting and nurturing outstanding fellows. Her influence on countless careers and her impact on the field itself will continue to shape how news is produced and consumed around the world. I cannot imagine a leader better suited to have led the Nieman Foundation through a period of profound transformation for journalism.”
According to the press release, the search for a new curator will begin soon.
