WINNER NAMED FOR TWENTY SIXTH
The trustees of the
Martin Wise Goodman Trust announce that PACINTHE MATTAR, a Toronto based
journalist, producer and writer, has been awarded the twenty sixth
Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.
This fellowship is funded by a publicly subscribed permanent endowment in memory of Martin Wise Goodman, late President of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
Ms. Mattar will join the 84th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. The fellowship carries a stipend for living expenses and payment of fees to Harvard University.
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| photo credit Taiwo Bah |
"This is a dream come true, and I can still hardly believe it's happening to me,” Ms. Mattar said after the Canadian Nieman Fellowship Selection committee awarded her the biennial fellowship. “I'm so deeply grateful to the Goodman family for extending me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and beyond humbled that I am following in the footsteps of some of the best journalists by being chosen as this year's Canadian Nieman Fellow. Thank you to the Martin Wise Goodman Trust, and the Nieman Foundation, for supporting me in my goal to improve the field of journalism at this critical juncture. I can't wait to get to spend the year ahead at Harvard University where I will have time to follow my curiosity, my interests, my passion, and share them alongside the other Nieman fellows who I am so excited to learn from. I look forward to an invigorating, inspiring, and game-changing year ahead." While at Harvard, Ms. Mattar will study how newsrooms and newsmaking can adapt to better foster, retain and promote Black, Indigenous and racialized journalists, focusing on how diversity initiatives can go beyond surface-level platitudes and lead to more representative newsrooms and coverage.
Pacinthe Mattar has most recently been a senior producer at Antica Productions. She spent a decade at the CBC where she covered everything from Middle East politics, pop culture, race, refugees and migration, Indigenous issues and more. Her work received a 2018 Silver at the New York Radio Festival Awards, as well as a 2015 Gracie Award. Her work has appeared on CBC, Buzzfeed, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, and The Walrus. Her feature article, “Objectivity Is A Privilege Afforded To White Journalists” for The Walrus was long-listed for the 2020 Allan Slaight Journalism Prize. In 2018 she was selected as an Arthur F. Burns Fellow.
The Nieman Fellowships were established for American journalists in 1938 in memory of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of the Milwaukee Journal. It provides for a year of study for working journalists in any department of Harvard University as well as a seminar program. Previously, thirteen Canadian journalists had gone to Harvard on this program under other funding, including Martin Goodman (Nieman fellow class of '62).
Pacinthe represents the best of Canadian journalism. The Selection Committee was very impressed with Pacinthe’s editorial acumen, her courage, and her commitment to improving diversity in the newsrooms of the future,” said Jonathan Goodman, Chairman of the Canadian Nieman Fellowship.
