Former WaPo Executive Editor Sally Buzbee to Begin Visiting Nieman Fellowship

Sally S. Buzbee, the former executive editor of the Washington Post and the Associated Press, will begin a two-month visiting fellowship at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism next week.

Buzbee will stay on Harvard’s campus until shortly after the conclusion of the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5 and work closely with the 24 Nieman Fellows selected for the 2024-25 cohort. The fellowship will be her first position since her sudden departure from the Post in June after the paper’s new CEO, William J. Lewis, sought a controversial reorganization of the newsroom.

In an interview with The Crimson, Buzbee said during her time at Harvard, she hopes to discuss the role of journalism in shaping the upcoming election. Buzbee also plans to examine nonprofit journalism and women’s leadership in newsrooms across the country.

Buzbee said she will take part in conversations with journalists on Harvard’s campus about how to cover elections “in the most accurate and fair way.” Buzbee said she was particularly driven to reflect on how the election is being portrayed by newsrooms after hearing “casual acquaintances” assert that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris would “absolutely” win the race.

“I think that the race has changed so dramatically that there is so much potential for misunderstanding of how close this race still is,” Buzbee said.

In particular, Buzbee said she wants to discuss polling with this year’s Nieman fellows and what journalists should look for when covering polls.

Buzbee said her decision to accept the visiting Nieman fellowship was motivated by a desire to zoom out of the day-to-day hustle of being a working journalist and reflect on her journalistic experiences in a college campus setting.

“I’ve been a working journalist, and I think that working in journalism is very intellectually vibrant, but you are also very busy, and you’re very focused on tactical stuff,” Buzbee said.

“I think it will be good for me to be in an environment where maybe there’s something I’ve totally missed,” she added.

Ryan Y. Kellett, one of this year’s Nieman Fellows who worked under Buzbee at the Washington Post, praised Buzbee’s “wealth of experience” in leading newsrooms and said she will be a “resource” to this year’s Nieman fellows.

“I know she will be a resource to all of us in all the different types of challenges that we’re studying, but also to provoke thought from among the class,” Kellett said.

Ann Marie Lipinski, the curator of the Nieman Foundation, highlighted Buzbee’s experience in helping call “important elections” while at the Associated Press.

“Sally has played a role in her career in helping call a lot of important elections for the AP — election decisions that most news organizations in this country are very reliant upon,” Lipinski said.

“It was our thought that in this really complicated, unusual, and potentially historic election year, her experience and her insights would be very, very valuable to have here on campus,” Lipinski added.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.