For nearly five decades, the Fund has awarded Dag Hammarskjöld Journalism Fellowships to professional journalists from developing countries to come to New York to cover the United Nations during the most active period of the U.N. General Assembly each autumn. The first fellowship was awarded in 1962 and, in the decades since, nearly 180 journalists from more than 70 developing nations have benefited from the program.
The Dag Hammarskjöld Journalism Program has become increasingly important in recent years as fewer and fewer news organizations can afford to maintain reporters at the United Nations. The fellows write for their media outlets without any restrictions imposed on their work.
The program is run by journalists who independently raise funds from foundations, corporations and U.N. missions. The journalists, based at the United Nations, volunteer their time to select the fellowship winners in an effort to promote a free media.
