Nik Usher

Background

About Nik Usher

Studies journalism, politics, tech, and power. Interested in questions about platforms, big tech & AI, and the future of journalism. Goes to sleep worried each night about misinformation, deep fakes, and the erosion of democratic norms. Cares about place, space, and inequality, with a focus on how the market-failure of local news undermines access to news and information. Well-regarded ethnographer with extensive experience researching elite media outlets and non-traditional newsrooms. Newer work focuses on partisanship, community, polarization, big tech, and journalism. Researchers news production through the lens of media sociology, journalism studies, and political communication. Experience working in the media and tech policy world. Author: News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism, Columbia University Press, July 2021 Author: Interactive Journalism: Hackers, Data, and Code; University of Illinois Press, November 2016 Making News at The New York Times; University of Michigan Press, April 2014 Consults, speaks, blogs and provides commentary on journalism, misinformation/disinformation, big tech, AI, media, politics, social media, persuasion, and journalism training. Recent speaking presentations: journalism, fake news, and misinformation (especially via visual misinformation); digital journalism ethics; newsroom culture change; content monetization, digital advertising, and news/digital business models; news innovation; startups, social media and journalism; information security for journalists and academics; social media and political communication; social media strategy; journalism and technology/journalism, gender, and technology; media effects.