Commemorative Double Issue
What you [see] here is a collection which reflects the substance of the first 53 years of the conversation journalists have engaged in about their rights and responsibilities in the pages of Nieman Reports. At times you will find an article that opened a new argument or ended an old one. Throughout you will hear the voices of journalists committed to their work challenging colleagues to raise the standards of discovering, reporting, writing and editing the news in a context meaningful for navigation within a free society. – Bill Kovach
[This article originally appeared in the September 1960 issue of Nieman Reports.]
…I remember going over to the President’s house.… And he said, “You know it’s only three years—you’re the third class [of Niemans]. But I think maybe you people are doing a great service to Harvard.” This shocked us because we didn’t think we were. I said “Well Mr. President, what are we doing?” “Well,” he said, “you are running around this campus asking rude questions. Many members of this faculty haven’t had a rude question asked in 25 years, and I think it’s very good for Harvard University.”…
…I remember going over to the President’s house.… And he said, “You know it’s only three years—you’re the third class [of Niemans]. But I think maybe you people are doing a great service to Harvard.” This shocked us because we didn’t think we were. I said “Well Mr. President, what are we doing?” “Well,” he said, “you are running around this campus asking rude questions. Many members of this faculty haven’t had a rude question asked in 25 years, and I think it’s very good for Harvard University.”…
