Bill Kovach

About Bill Kovach

Bill Kovach

Bill Kovach, a 1989 Nieman Fellow, was curator of the Nieman Foundation from 1989 to 2000. He is the co-author of “The Elements of Journalism.”

Stories of a Changing American South

By August 28, 2014

John Seigenthaler leaves in his wake a cadre of journalists—working with him, around him and for him over the past 75 years—whom he helped shape to understand that their work required a commitment to a set of standards. It required … Read more

In Praise of Digital

By and Books July 17, 2014

Since its publication in 2001, “The Elements of Journalism” has been the industry-standard text on the ethics and practice of journalism. In this edited excerpt from the third edition, published this past April, co-authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel … Read more

Taking Back Our Language

By 75th Anniversary September 24, 2013

The shape and content of my decade as curator was determined by unexpected events. Howie Simons’s time as curator was cut drastically short by his death. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of journalism’s economic model … Read more

Murrey Marder, Pathfinder

By Nieman Notes June 13, 2013

Murrey Marder, a former Washington Post reporter and founder of the Nieman Watchdog Project, died on March 11, 2013, at age 93. Former Nieman Curator Bill Kovach, NF ’89, reflects on Marder’s legacy: … Read more

Elements of a Free Press in Indonesia

By Nieman Notes March 15, 2004

When Tom Rosenstiel and I wrote “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect,” we felt pretty confident there would be an interested audience among journalists in the United States. But since its publication in … Read more