Ghanaian journalist Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman has been named a 2025/2026 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, joining a prestigious group of 22 journalists from nine countries selected to deepen their professional development and explore critical global issues.
Dini-Osman, a broadcast journalist at EIB Network (GHOne TV and Starr FM) and a freelance correspondent for The World—the largest international radio news program in the United States—will spend two semesters at Harvard.
He is the only African selected to join this year’s prestigious global cohort and his focus will be on how African newsrooms can improve coverage of marginalized communities despite legal and cultural barriers.
Now in its 88th year, the Nieman Fellowship program has hosted more than 1,700 journalists from 100 countries since its founding in 1938. Fellows audit classes across Harvard, collaborate with scholars at MIT, and engage in workshops that foster innovation in journalism.
Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Foundation, said: “Nieman is proud to support these talented journalists, especially at a time when there is a growing need for fortifying the free press. These fellowships are an investment in their future and evidence of our commitment to strengthening journalism leadership in the U.S. and abroad for nearly nine decades.”
This year’s cohort includes journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, and Bloomberg News. Their areas of study range from AI in journalism, climate change, and misinformation to immigration, war crimes, and religious populism.
Commenting on his selection, EIB Network’s News Editor, Alice Aryeetey, stated: “This is indeed an exciting time for Ridwan, and here at EIB Network, we couldn’t be prouder of him. This achievement does not only highlight his exceptional talent but also reaffirms the impact of Ghanaian journalism on the global stage.”
A multi-award-winning journalist and multiple Pulitzer Center grantee, Dini-Osman has reported from India, the U.S., Rwanda, Nigeria, Malawi, and Sierra Leone.
A seven-time recipient of Ghana’s National Journalism Award, Dini-Osman’s international recognitions include the 2018 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize from the European Commission, the 2021 International Center for Journalists’ Global Health Crisis Award for Covid-19 reporting, and the 2022 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications from the U.S. National Academies.
In 2024, he was honored with the Covering Climate Now Journalism Award for his reporting on the climate crisis in Africa.
Through the fellowship, Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman hopes to help reshape African journalism by developing strategies that uphold human dignity and ensure inclusive representation in storytelling.
