Nik (Nikki) Usher, Ph.D.

Welcome! I study the intersection of new technology, politics, and the news media, with a particular focus on how power, inequality, and economics impact our news and information environment.
Key areas of interest include: 

• artificial intelligence, journalism, and civic information
• misinformation, hyper-partisanship, and populism 
• digital platforms as civic communication infrastructures
• media and technology policy & the post-newspaper democracy 

I'm the author of three books, News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism; Making News at the New York Times, and Interactive Journalism: Hackers, Data, and Code. I am an associate professor at the University of San Diego in the Communication Studies department and a professor on the graduate faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Currently, I am a Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellow.