The Latin America bureau chief for US News and World Report, a photojournalist studying Cuba and Haiti and a Washington Post staff writer are among newly selected Nieman fellows, the Nieman Foundation announced yesterday.

Others selected for the 2000-2001 term include reporters from Washington, Chicago, Paris and throughout the world. Twelve other international journalists will be selected later this month.

"The Nieman fellowship is something that every journalist dreams about and aspires to," said Don Aucoin, a television critic for The Boston Globe and future Nieman fellow.

The Nieman fellowship program allows mid-career journalists to spend a year taking classes at Harvard and exchanging ideas.

Aucoin, who studies the influence of culture and the Internet on television, said the fellowship presents a great opportunity to learn from some of the smartest journalists in the world.

The fellowship program brings together journalists of varied backgrounds.

For instance, newly selected fellow J.R. Moehringer, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, has studied American civilization and the post-World War II period. Kirstin Downey Grimsley, a writer for the Washington Post, brings with her a background in economics, labor laws, immigration and class issues.

Not all fellows are writers, however. Nuri Vallbona of the Miami Herald is a photojournalist. Vallbona has documented the history of Cuba and other Carribean countries.