It feels official now that I've been quoted as a professor at the University of Virginia! This is from a story in today's WaPo: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... We cover more on these tensions re: AI + news in our book; sign up to read for free: journalism-in-the-age-of-ai.kit.com/c9dbcf4a6f

New book: Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination (Polity), with Rodrigo Zamith and @tomasdodds.bsky.social. Free and open access on Aug. 3 — anyone can read it or assign it. The opening chapter is yours now → journalismandai.com

Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination

Drawing on questions of creativity, democratic accountability, platform power, and human agency, this book offers a toolkit for reimagining journalism not just as an industry in the face of artificial...

journalismandai.com

CALL FOR PAPERS: We're looking forward to hosting another minitrack on Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies at HICSS (the 60th HICSS!), being held January 5-8, 2027, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Deadline for full-paper submissions: June 15. communicationhicss.wordpress.com

Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies: a minitrack of HICSS

Call for papers for this minitrack of HICSS-60, held January 5-8, 2027, on the Big Island of Hawaii

communicationhicss.wordpress.com

🚨 New book announcement! For two decades, journalists have been running on a hamster wheel — producing more, faster, with less. AI is speeding that wheel up. But it doesn't have to. (1/x)

What's ahead for journalism in 2026? Based on my ongoing research (and forthcoming book!) on AI and journalism with Rodrigo Zamith and @tomasdodds.bsky.social, I explain why AI is a critical fork-in-the-road moment for journalism's future: www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-b...

AI breaks the hamster wheel of journalism

"The breaking of the hamster wheel's fundamental premise — that humans must run it — creates space for reimagining what journalism <em>could be</em> if not organized around acceleration as its governi...

niemanlab.org

What actually makes for a "good" news experience? There isn't a clear normative standard in journalism research for assessing that question, so in this new paper we bring together an approach ("honeycomb model") that bridges journalism studies with UX design: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GX54P...

Word is out already, but here's a write-up about my exciting next chapter coming August 2026: I will join the University of Virginia as a distinguished professor of AI and Media Studies, and I'm honored to be named a Jefferson Scholars Foundation professor. www.jeffersonscholars.org/news/foundat...

Foundation-funded professorship brings national leader in AI and journalism to UVA

Seth Lewis appointed Elcan Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Media Studies

jeffersonscholars.org

ONLINE FIRST! This article by @acadianjprof.bsky.social, @sethclewis.bsky.social, & Maxwell Ely examines—through interviews and by analyzing metajournalistic discourse surrounding #ChatGPT & related tools—how journalists interpret and respond to AI in journalism. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ChatGPT, Generative AI, and an Epistemic Opportunity for Journalistic Authority

Journalists have long been concerned about the boundaries of their craft, wary that their work might be replicated by actors who do not adhere to the profession’s normative values. Early artificial...

tandfonline.com

🚨NEW PUBLICATION🚨In this @digitaljournalism.bsky.social piece with brilliant co-authors @sethclewis.bsky.social and @maxwellely.bsky.social, we offer a nuanced, multi-step methodology to explore how journalists reacted to the “threat” of #genai, in particular #ChatGPT. (1/3) #commsky

ChatGPT, Generative AI, and an Epistemic Opportunity for Journalistic Authority

Journalists have long been concerned about the boundaries of their craft, wary that their work might be replicated by actors who do not adhere to the profession’s normative values. Early artificial...

tandfonline.com

Exciting news to share! In 2026, I am joining the University of Virginia as the Elcan Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Media Studies. I'm so grateful for this — and happy to have one more year at Oregon. Details: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Happy to share some big news: I have accepted an offer to join the… | Seth Lewis

Happy to share some big news: I have accepted an offer to join the University of Virginia as the Elcan Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Media Studie...

linkedin.com

Just 10 days left! 🚨 We're excited to invite your full-paper submissions to our Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack at HICSS-59. 📍 Where: Hyatt Regency Maui 📅 When: Jan. 6–9, 2026 ⏰ Deadline: June 15, 11:59pm HST See the full CfP: communicationhicss.wordpress.com

Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies: a minitrack of HICSS

Call for papers for this minitrack of HICSS-59, held January 2026 on the island of Maui

communicationhicss.wordpress.com

For our MIT Press book "Why We Distrust," Jacob Nelson and I have done 70 of our 100 interviews with a cross-section of Americans. I'll talk about some of our preliminary findings about people's feelings about media, medicine, and higher education as part of this panel Wednesday (register below).

📣 We have a new publication outlining the “AI turn” in journalism — one that forces a rethink about the role, identity, and audience dynamics of news amid the distinctive nature of AI tech. 🔗 Read (and please share) the full piece (it's free with open access 🔓): journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The AI turn in journalism: Disruption, adaptation, and democratic futures - Tomás Dodds, Rodrigo Zamith, Seth C Lewis, 2025

In this essay, we argue that, unlike previous changes in digital media technologies over the past few decades, this AI “turn” in journalism forces us to rethink...

journals.sagepub.com

SPECIAL ISSUE CfP! Submit abstracts to our Special Issue on "Institutionalizing Open-Source Investigations in Journalism", edited by @sethclewis.bsky.social, @tomasdodds.bsky.social, Alexa Koenig, @rodzam.bsky.social & @davidcheruiyot.bsky.social 🗓️Sep 1, 2025 ➡️Info: drive.google.com/file/d/1R9T8...

I was in Eugene right as Lookout launched there and stopped by their downtown newsroom. They had a monster first month and local news industry veterans seem genuinely excited about what they've built. Three more local newsrooms will launch by end of 2026. www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/the-...

The second location of Lookout Local launches in Eugene, Oregon

One month in, the new local newsroom has more than 900 paid members.

niemanlab.org

Welcome @sethclewis.bsky.social as the latest fellow of the Münster institute of comm studies! Looking forward to an exciting guest lecture and a very important online event - as well as personal talks, discussing research projects and sharing ideas. www.uni-muenster.de/Kowi/en/mitt...

Prof. Dr. Seth Lewis appointed new Fellow at the IfK

The new fellow at the Centre for Research on Digital Public Spheres has come to Münsterland from the United States: Prof. Dr. Seth Lewis from the University of Oregon (USA) is currently visiting the I...

uni-muenster.de

[THREAD] NEW ISSUE ALERT! #DigitalJournalism Vol 13 Issue 3 is out! This special issue is all about #epistemologies of #digitalnews production and features 13 original articles. Access the articles in this thread below. 👇

This article by Young Eun Moon & Seth C. Lewis explores the use of social media by #political #reporters in the United States and South Korea. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Social Media as Commodifier or Homogenizer? Journalists’ Social Media Use in Individualistic and Collectivist Cultures and Its Implications for Epistemologies of News Production

This study seeks to address two research needs in journalism studies. First, there is a need for research that situates political reporters’ social media engagement as part of a broader investigati...

tandfonline.com

Autocratic attacks on free speech and science are a growing concern - in academia and beyond. Join us for an online symposium with world-class experts like Robert Sternberg & @sethclewis.bsky.social. Wednesday, 28. May, 6 p.m. CET. Open to everybody, register via link. t1p.de/muenster-sym...

I will be speaking at @comatbu.bsky.social about our research on AI, news, and human-machine communication as the Dr. Melvin L. DeFleur Distinguished Lecturer. I'm honored to be part of a lecture series that recognizes a pioneering figure in communication research: sites.bu.edu/crc/crc-lect...

I'm happy to announce that Jacob Nelson and I have a book contract to write "Why We Distrust: American Skepticism Toward Media, Medicine, and Higher Education" for The MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social. Forthcoming in 2026/2027.

Is solutions journalism feasible for local newsrooms with fewer resources? (And is "SOJO lite" really better than "SOJO nothing"?) Check out our latest RQ1 newsletter to read up on key findings about news from academic research (with @markcoddington.bsky.social) rq1.substack.com/p/can-soluti...

Can solutions journalism work for local newsrooms?

Plus: Finding the strongest motivations for paying for news, how news orgs can help journalists' mental health, and why partisan-based news consumption is heavier in the US

rq1.substack.com

My 2025 prediction for @niemanlab.org—a wake-up call for professionals: "While perceived authenticity has always been an important piece of evaluating trustworthiness, *performed* authenticity has become much more important than ever before because of social media." www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/the-...

The expert class confronts reality

"While perceived authenticity has always been an important piece of evaluating trustworthiness, <em>performed</em> authenticity has become much more important than ever before because of social media....

niemanlab.org

Welcome to all the new folks incoming. I hope this means people are cutting The Bad Place loose. I've got a starter pack for folks either in journalism/mass comm academia or who are adjacent to it. Some great folks here, and if you'd like to be included please @ me!

Journalism & Mass Comm Academics

Join the conversation

go.bsky.app

Since there are so many new people here 👋, allow me to re-up this new short essay on GenAI and the media industries that Andrea L. Guzman and I just published. It's open-access. 🙌

Seth C. Lewis@sethclewis.bsky.social · 2y ago

🤖 NEW: "What Generative AI Means for Media—and Why It Matters Across Journalism, PR, and Advertising." A. Guzman and I argue that the uptake of AI has consequences that may be best understood *across* media industries more so than *within* them in isolation. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

3) Also from @felixsimon.bsky.social , one about AI and journalism:

1) @jeremylittau.bsky.social created one with Journalism and Mass Communication Academics

If you are just arriving (or like me, really activating) your account here, you're probably seeing a flood of start packs to help with the transition. Heres's thread with the most useful starter packs for me so far, in no particular order:

🤖 NEW: "What Generative AI Means for Media—and Why It Matters Across Journalism, PR, and Advertising." A. Guzman and I argue that the uptake of AI has consequences that may be best understood *across* media industries more so than *within* them in isolation. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Spread the word about the coming June 15 deadline for HICSS, a major interdisciplinary conference where I co-chair a newly renamed minitrack: Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies. Read on about our minitrack: communicationhicss.wordpress.com + more on HICSS: hicss.hawaii.edu

Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies: a minitrack of HICSS

The Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack focuses on the study of communication taking place on digital and social media. Communication is the making of meaning and cul...

communicationhicss.wordpress.com