Seth C. Lewis

Word is out already, but here's a write-up about my exciting next chapter... In August 2026, I will join the University of Virginia @UVA as a distinguished professor of AI and Media Studies. I'm truly honored to be named a Jefferson Scholars Foundation professor, allowing me to be part of a unique intellectual community at UVA. I'm also grateful for a final year ahead with my wonderful colleagues at the University of Oregon. Full write-up here: jeffersonscholars.org/news/foundatio…

🚨 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. @rodzam, Tomás Dodds, and I spent two years writing "Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination," coming later this year and in time for fall classes from Polity — fully open access. Our argument: this is a constitutive moment for journalism — a critical juncture that unsettles how the profession understands its roles, routines, and reasons for being. The question isn't whether AI will change journalism. It's whether journalism will use this disruption to reimagine itself, or simply run faster on the same wheel. In the book, we examine what happens when AI doesn't just do journalism's work but erodes the capacity to do it well, what "Google Zero" means for the future of news, and why the biggest threat may not be AI replacing reporters — but AI making everyone's work sound the same. This is a book about journalism in the age of artificial intelligence — but that's only part of the story. It's also a book about a much larger phenomenon: the rapidly expanding scope and influence of AI, which is transforming how people around the world create, access, and make sense of information. We explore questions of creativity and authorship, platform power and infrastructural capture, public knowledge and democratic accountability, the fate of education and the future of personal empowerment — issues that extend well beyond the newsroom. We wrote it for students, journalists, educators, and anyone trying to make sense of this moment. Much more to share in the weeks ahead — stay tuned!

Recently joined @MedlirM on the Age of AI podcast to discuss the "AI turn" in journalism — a term we have to describe this moment when generative AI challenges foundational assumptions about authorship, creativity, trust, and professional identity. We explore how AI is shifting from backstage technology to active participant in communication, redefining roles, routines, and relationships. What does trust look like in an increasingly synthetic media environment? How do we preserve critical thinking when so much can be outsourced to machines? All the more pressing given the Moltbook craze and the rapid rise of agentic AI. These questions connect to the human-machine communication research we've been doing for years — and they figure prominently in my forthcoming book with Tomás Dodds and Rodrigo Zamith, "Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination" (Polity Press, 2026). 🎧 ageofaipodcast.com/1727342/episod…

What's ahead for journalism in 2026? Based on my ongoing research (and forthcoming book!) on AI and journalism with Rodrigo Zamith and Tomás Dodds, I explain why AI is a critical fork-in-the-road moment for journalism's future: “The breaking of the hamster wheel’s fundamental premise — that humans must run it — creates space for reimagining what journalism could be if not organized around acceleration as its governing logic.” niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-bre… Thanks to @NiemanLab for including this essay as part of its great annual roundup of predictions.

✨ New publication: What actually makes for a "good" news experience? There isn't really a clear normative standard in journalism research for assessing that question. So in this new article, Emmanuel Maduneme and I bring together an approach that bridges journalism studies with UX (user experience) design. We build on Peter Morville's Honeycomb model to argue that for a news experience to be truly "good," it must be: ++ Useful: Does it fulfill specific "jobs-to-be-done"? ++ Usable & Findable: Does it fit into the temporal rhythms and routines of daily life — and facilitate 'movement' through information? ++ Desirable: Does it acknowledge the "emotional turn" in news consumption? ++ Accessible: Is it inclusive in both design and readability? ++ Credible: Does the interface itself signal epistemic authority? ++ Valuable: This is the intersection where it all comes together—user needs combined with public service. Does news create meaningful, sustainable value in people's lives, individually and collectively? At a time when too much emphasis is on engagement metrics, this framework advances the "audience turn" in journalism studies by offering a more holistic understanding of news *experience* and its relative quality. I'm also really proud of Emmanuel for originally developing this paper in my doctoral seminar and seeing it through to this finish line! 📄 Read the full paper here: #abstract" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">tandfonline.com/eprint/GX54PE6…

ONLINE FIRST! This article byEmmanuel Maduneme and @SethCLewis discusses what makes a good #news experience by introducing and elaborating on Morville’s Honeycomb model from #UX studies and applying it to #journalism. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

I wish that @mckaycoppins didn't have to write this essay.

Our hearts are heavy with sorrow. Millions of us are mourning the passing of our beloved Prophet and President, Russell M. Nelson. He was a dear friend and a cherished leader.    His timeless teachings continue to guide us and help us find comfort amid suffering, especially in the wake of the recent violence aimed at members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan this past Sunday.   The awful tragedy that took place in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on September 28, reminds us of our sacred responsibilities as followers of Jesus Christ. We mourn with our members who have lost loved ones, and we join in prayer for comfort with others around the world who are suffering from similar tragedies.   We all seek answers and understanding in the wake of trauma, shock, and grief. We are grateful to all who are reaching out with service, prayers, and words of support during this difficult time.   May we all remember the truth that each of us is a beloved child of God. Our Savior Jesus Christ, through His infinite Atonement, overcame death and gives us the joyful assurance that each of us will be gloriously resurrected.   On behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I extend this expression to the family and friends of those affected by this recent tragedy and all others who may be experiencing loss and heartache at this time.

Great new piece by collaborator Jacob Nelson. Earlier this year, he and I interviewed 100 Americans, exploring how and why they distrust journalism and other knowledge institutions. We find a deep level of frustration toward news that is bipartisan, against much of the conventional wisdom today that seeks to code this as a 'right' or 'left' problem. That lack of trust in news is less about specific journalists or editorial style and more about a sweeping skepticism toward journalism itself — and largely because of the belief (again, a bipartisan one) that news organizations are too focused on making money. As one of our interviewees told us: “It’s profits over journalism and over truth.” theconversation.com/a-bari-weiss-l…

ONLINE FIRST! This commentary by @SethCLewis, @rodzam, & Jon Benedik A. Bunquin argues for taking tech hype in #journalism more seriously as an object of inquiry because it represents something more than mere ephemeral excitement or superficial puffery. ➡️ #abstract" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

@wihbey @UVA Thanks so much, John!

@SethCLewis @UVA Congratulations, Seth —that is great news! Well deserved.

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 Studies. I will start at @UVA in August 2026, after serving one final year in my current role as the Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity — to join one of the nation’s top public universities in a newly created endowed chair focused on the social impact of AI, one of the most consequential questions of our time. This position is part of a broader, forward-looking UVa initiative that involves hiring nearly a dozen endowed chairs in AI across the university. I’m thrilled to work with my new colleagues in the Department of Media Studies — and in the larger College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, along with faculty, postdocs, and students around the university — in exploring the wide-ranging social implications, cultural meanings, and ethical quandaries that AI poses for the future of media and journalism, knowledge work and education, and democratic society broadly. To be situated at the heart of this conversation, at a university with UVa’s reach, resources, and reputation, is a chance of a lifetime for which I’m immensely thankful. Also in this role, I am fortunate to be joining the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and its cadre of Distinguished Professors (jeffersonscholars.org/faculty-suppor…), which will allow me to work closely with student fellows and postdocs across disciplines as part of the foundation’s mission to nurture the intellectual range and depth of the UVa community. To be sure, there are mixed emotions for our family. We deeply cherish this place and its people: so many friends, colleagues, and fellow church members in Eugene/Springfield who have enriched our lives beyond anything we could have imagined when we moved here in 2016. Saying goodbye is hard, yet we trust that it’s the right thing at the right time, and that these friendships and connections will always be with us. Lastly, I wish I could thank personally all of the people who have played a part in making this opportunity a reality. I’m thinking of the many research collaborators — over the course of nearly 20 years now, since my early days as a PhD student at Texas — who have catalyzed my thinking and made my work infinitely better … my former colleagues at Minnesota and Oxford who inspired me at key moments in my career … my current colleagues at Oregon who have been so encouraging and supportive at every turn for nearly a decade now (I’m glad we have one more year together!) … and my future colleagues at Virginia who have welcomed so me warmly and given me an exciting vision of what we can accomplish together in the years ahead. Thank you, all. Here’s to energizing new chapters in our lives! - Seth (and the Lewis family)

"Autocratic Attacks on Free Speech and Free Science" / Symposium, Münster University 📅 Wednesday, 28 May 🕕 6 p.m. CET / Noon EDT / 9 a.m. PDT 🌐 Online – Free & open to all (please pre-register to receive the Zoom link) terminplaner6.dfn.de/en/b/fa8c8646d…

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 prelim findings about people's feelings about media, medicine, and higher education as part of this panel (register below).

📣 We have a new publication outlining the “AI turn” in journalism — a turn that forces a rethink about the role, identity, and audience dynamics of news amid the distinctive nature of AI technologies. Read (and please share) the full piece (open access): journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14…

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

I will be speaking at @COMatBU 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-lectur…

@SethCLewis 🥳Congratulations, and welcome to the MIT Press author family! 🥂

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 @mitpress. Forthcoming in 2026/2027.