Seth C. Lewis

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

Thanks so much, Alison! That's tremendous to hear about the lively AI culture — can't wait to be part of all that UVA has to offer. And, yes, I just heard Matt is joining as well! Exciting times. Look forward to meeting you in Charlottesville soon!

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...

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....

Thanks so much, Mike!

Thanks so much, Kirsten! Hope to see you soon, in the DMV area or at an upcoming conference!

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...

🚨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

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...

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/...

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

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

"Autocratic Attacks on Free Speech and Free Science" / Symposium, Münster University
📅 Wednesday, 28 May
🕕 6 p.m. CET / Noon EDT
🌐 Online – Free & open to all (please pre-register to receive the Zoom link)

terminplaner6.dfn.de/en/b/fa8c864...

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).

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...

📣 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/...

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...

The second location of Lookout Local launches in Eugene, Oregon One month in, the new local newsroom has more than 900 paid members.

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-...

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...

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...

[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. 👇

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...

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....

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.

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

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...

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....

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-...

Journalism & Mass Comm Academics Join the conversation

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!

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. 🙌

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:

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

🤖 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....

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...

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