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 new in-progress book for Columbia University Press 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. The first published paper, Twitter Makes it Worse: Political Journalists, Gendered Echo Chambers, and the Amplification of Gender Bias has received international attention in the popular press.
3) The future of AI, machine learning, journalism (and knowledge)
Research on artificial intelligence has a long intellectual history, and murky definitions among the public and scholars alike. This line of research looks at the breadth of AI as it is understood and misunderstood by journalists and by technologists. This area of research tackles questions about broader changes to work, labor, and economics for knowledge workers in the US and beyond. The broad range of how we understand AI, from AI as imagined as persona to AI understood as software makes it difficult to cut through emotion and provide clarity as to how AI is changing not just how journalists work but how we consume information. From platform politics to the problems of training data, this Illinois-Minnesota-Utah-led project combines news production research with inquiry into the priorities of tech development inside and outside the news industry.
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 new in-progress book for Columbia University Press 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. The first published paper, Twitter Makes it Worse: Political Journalists, Gendered Echo Chambers, and the Amplification of Gender Bias has received international attention in the popular press.
3) The future of AI, machine learning, journalism (and knowledge)
Research on artificial intelligence has a long intellectual history, and murky definitions among the public and scholars alike. This line of research looks at the breadth of AI as it is understood and misunderstood by journalists and by technologists. This area of research tackles questions about broader changes to work, labor, and economics for knowledge workers in the US and beyond. The broad range of how we understand AI, from AI as imagined as persona to AI understood as software makes it difficult to cut through emotion and provide clarity as to how AI is changing not just how journalists work but how we consume information. From platform politics to the problems of training data, this Illinois-Minnesota-Utah-led project combines news production research with inquiry into the priorities of tech development inside and outside the news industry.
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.
