After more than a decade researching the future of news, chances are if you have a question about journalism, either where it's been or where it's going, I can probably help (though watch what you ask for, as I will talk your ear off about anything news-related from "deep fakes" to "robot journalism" to digital analytics and platforms (ahem, Facebook) to Abraham Lincoln's challenge to press freedom). Much of my work relies on in-depth ethnographic research which I am increasingly coupling with big(gish) data analysis and content analysis for triangulation. Right now, though, I'm thinking a lot about how journalists work and what that means for questions of trust. I have lost count of how many interviews I've conducted and of the number of newsrooms, startups, meetups, and beyond that I've studied, but I am proud to have garnered a reputation among journalists and scholars alike of generating careful, fair research that has public value.
1) Place, trust, and journalism
My forthcoming book for Columbia University Press (June 2021), News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism, examines the challenges facing journalism in terms of place, power, and inequality. (See more on the NEW BOOK subpage). Race and class are major sub-themes this work, and I critique the normative premise that journalism and democracy go hand and hand, throwing some cold water on the fantasy (see my post-2020 thoughts, for example).
This line of research generally examines how journalists are shaped by places and also shape places through their journalism. I look at news buildings, virtual work, the rise of national news organizations, mapping, the decline of local journalism, and global digital expansion, among other concerns. Some early work previews can be seen in my Tow Center Report, this Poynter post, and this journal article on The Miami Herald. Associated projects look at other dimensions of place, from materiality and objects of journalism to the role of time in journalism to changing labor conditions for journalists and other newsworkers. For my fancy theoretical take on place in journalism, see this 30k word monograph.
2) The "power elite" of journalism and politics
This line of research is inspired by the beltway versus heartland divide I heard so much about living in Washington. At the core is this question: Who gets to tell the story of America? Why? What hiccups result? Using a multi-method approach that includes qualitative field work, interviewing, and Twitter, LinkedIn and other big data sources for computational and manual analysis, my team and I focus on the national political news media and interrogate questions related to amplification, partisanship, inequity, and representation. The first papers are now in press, and if you are a prospective student looking to be part of a research team, this is the project you'd likely work on. Our first papers have received significant earned media and scholarly engagement. Twitter Makes it Worse: Political Journalists, Gendered Echo Chambers, and the Amplification of Gender Bias received international attention and the open-access Sharing Knowledge and "Microbubbles": Epistemic Communities and Insularity in US Political Journalism was featured on NPR, among other media outlets.
3) The political economy of Big Tech, platform governance, and journalism
This new line of research considers how Google, Facebook, and other big tech companies undermine the financial solvency and independence of journalism worldwide. Spurred by a fellowship with the Open Markets Institute's Knight-funded Center for Journalism and Liberty, I consider how journalism and big tech intersect, following the trail of money, platform politics, and (lack of) platform governance. Early research suggests that these companies pose dangers to democratic life beyond just misinformation, from data privacy to media capture, funding distressed newsrooms and acquiescing to political demands in a piecemeal and compromised fashion. My research briefing can be found here. This is my most comparative project, and looks to the EU and Australia for insights and failures into regulatory efforts to balance the needs of an independent news media with the power of platforms.
Statement on research ethics
I strive for collaboration and collegial, respectful relationships with my colleagues, research participants, and students. I strive for transparent and open research, from data to methods to modes of publication, as much as possible. I aspire to public-facing, non-partisan analysis. I have not taken financial support for my research from Google, Facebook, Twitter, or any platform company.
1) Place, trust, and journalism
My forthcoming book for Columbia University Press (June 2021), News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism, examines the challenges facing journalism in terms of place, power, and inequality. (See more on the NEW BOOK subpage). Race and class are major sub-themes this work, and I critique the normative premise that journalism and democracy go hand and hand, throwing some cold water on the fantasy (see my post-2020 thoughts, for example).
This line of research generally examines how journalists are shaped by places and also shape places through their journalism. I look at news buildings, virtual work, the rise of national news organizations, mapping, the decline of local journalism, and global digital expansion, among other concerns. Some early work previews can be seen in my Tow Center Report, this Poynter post, and this journal article on The Miami Herald. Associated projects look at other dimensions of place, from materiality and objects of journalism to the role of time in journalism to changing labor conditions for journalists and other newsworkers. For my fancy theoretical take on place in journalism, see this 30k word monograph.
2) The "power elite" of journalism and politics
This line of research is inspired by the beltway versus heartland divide I heard so much about living in Washington. At the core is this question: Who gets to tell the story of America? Why? What hiccups result? Using a multi-method approach that includes qualitative field work, interviewing, and Twitter, LinkedIn and other big data sources for computational and manual analysis, my team and I focus on the national political news media and interrogate questions related to amplification, partisanship, inequity, and representation. The first papers are now in press, and if you are a prospective student looking to be part of a research team, this is the project you'd likely work on. Our first papers have received significant earned media and scholarly engagement. Twitter Makes it Worse: Political Journalists, Gendered Echo Chambers, and the Amplification of Gender Bias received international attention and the open-access Sharing Knowledge and "Microbubbles": Epistemic Communities and Insularity in US Political Journalism was featured on NPR, among other media outlets.
3) The political economy of Big Tech, platform governance, and journalism
This new line of research considers how Google, Facebook, and other big tech companies undermine the financial solvency and independence of journalism worldwide. Spurred by a fellowship with the Open Markets Institute's Knight-funded Center for Journalism and Liberty, I consider how journalism and big tech intersect, following the trail of money, platform politics, and (lack of) platform governance. Early research suggests that these companies pose dangers to democratic life beyond just misinformation, from data privacy to media capture, funding distressed newsrooms and acquiescing to political demands in a piecemeal and compromised fashion. My research briefing can be found here. This is my most comparative project, and looks to the EU and Australia for insights and failures into regulatory efforts to balance the needs of an independent news media with the power of platforms.
Statement on research ethics
I strive for collaboration and collegial, respectful relationships with my colleagues, research participants, and students. I strive for transparent and open research, from data to methods to modes of publication, as much as possible. I aspire to public-facing, non-partisan analysis. I have not taken financial support for my research from Google, Facebook, Twitter, or any platform company.
