Founded in 1947, Nieman Reports is a website and quarterly print publication covering thought leadership in journalism. Its editorial mission mirrors that of the Foundation itself: “to promote and elevate the standards of journalism.” Nieman Reports is home to the Nieman Watchdog Project, which chronicles how journalists can hold those in power to account, founded by longtime Washington Post reporter and 1950 Nieman Fellow Murrey Marder.
In 2021, Nieman Reports won two Mirror Awards. Opinion columnist Issac Bailey, NF ’14, won the commentary award for three of his articles and reporter Casey Quackenbush won the award for “Best Story on Media Coverage of the 2020 Presidential Election” for “Without a Campaign to Cover, Reporters Shift to Covering the Voting Process Itself.” Deborah Douglas was named as a finalist in the best single article/story category for “Meet the New Black Press.”
In 2020, Nieman Reports won the 2019 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism. In 2019, Nieman Reports and regular contributor Issac Bailey received a 2018 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society for Professional Journalists for online column writing for his commentary on journalism ethics.
In 2017, Nieman Reports received a SFJ Excellence-in-Features Award in the feature series or project category (“Election ’16: Lessons for Journalism”), a Folio Eddie Award for best single article (“Why We Need More Visual Journalists and Editors of Color” by 2016 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow Tara Pixley), and a SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award for magazine writing (“A Mass Shooting, Only in Slow Motion” by Glenn Jeffers). Nieman Reports was also a finalist for the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
In 2016, Nieman Reports received a 2016 Mirror Award for best single article, digital media and an ASJA Writing Award in the business/technology category (both for “Automation in the Newsroom ” by Celeste LeCompte, NF ’15). Nieman Reports also received a SFJ Excellence-in-Features Award for general feature (“The Offending Art: Political Cartooning after the Charlie Hebdo Attacks” by Jonathan Guyer); a SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award for research in journalism (“How to Make J-School Matter (Again)” by Amy Webb, a 2014-2015 Visiting Nieman Fellow); and two Folio Eddie Awards, one for best single article (“Confronting Racism in the Age of Obama” by Isaac Bailey, NF ’14) and one for best series of articles (“Covering Minorities” series, including “Covering the Transgender Community” by Sara Morrison, “Making Black Lives Matter in the News” by Susan Smith Richardson, “Reporting on Disability with Sensitivity, not Sensationalism” by Genevieve Belmaker, and “Bringing Native American Stories to a National Audience” by Jon Marcus). The Nieman Reports website received an EPPY Award for best digital magazine.
In 2015, Nieman Reports received two 2015 Mirror Awards, the first for best commentary (“Moral Hazard” by Yang Xiao, NF’ 14) and the second for best single article, digital media (“Where Are the Women? Why we need more female newsroom leaders” by Anna Griffin, NF’ 12); the 2014 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism; and a 2015 EPPY Award for the best web redesign/relaunch (under 1 million unique monthly visitors category).