Ten Niemans to Tour Canada At Behest of Government

Ten Nieman fellows are touring Canada from coast to coast between semesters, a trip paid for by the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, James C. Thomson Jr., curator of the Nieman Fellowships, said yesterday.

The Canadian government has offered the tours to Nieman fellows for the past 12 years in an attempt to increase journalists' knowledge of Canada, Thomson said. The government of Japan has extended similar offers in past years to tour Japan during the spring.

Fellows--all practicing journalists--are chosen yearly by the Nieman foundation for two semesters of study at Harvard. They agree not to write anything for publication during their year in Cambridge, and that they receive neither credit nor grades for their course work.

The program was founded in 1938 by Harvard president James B. Conant '14 with funds left by Agnes Wahl Nieman. Conant established the fellowship to give practicing journalists an opportunity to broaden their knowledge, or pursue their area of specialty in greater depth.