Niraj Sheth named Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern

Stanford Daily reporter Niraj Sheth has been chosen as the 2007 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern.

A senior majoring in history and minoring in philosophy, Sheth will work in the London bureau of the Wall Street Journal next fall.

The internship was established to commemorate the work and ideals of Daniel Pearl, a Stanford alumnus and foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

In an essay written as part of the application process, Sheth said that Pearl knew that reporters must sometimes confront intolerance: "It is a risk inherent to doing the job right. Not only did Pearl accept this risk with courage and determination, he did so for a purpose: to give voice to the untold stories of different peoples—wherever they come from—and to bring an understanding of these individual struggles to distant readers."

Sheth is a senior staff writer at the Daily. He has held a previous journalism internship at the Sacramento Valley Mirror in Willows, Calif. He is from New Jersey.

A committee of Communication Department faculty members evaluated applicants for the Pearl internship. The final decision was made by the Wall Street Journal.

A 1985 graduate of Stanford's Department of Communication, Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002, while working on a story retracing the steps of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. A month later, his captors released a videotape of his slaying. He was 38.

Editor Note:

A photo of Sheth is available at http://newsphotos.stanford.edu (slug: pearlintern_sheth.jpg).

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