Research

My research is guided by a long-standing interest in journalism, technology, computer programming, and digital data, and applies a scholarly lens to the changing natures of journalism and how we study it. Specifically, my research explores three distinct but interconnected streams: (1) the reconfiguration of journalism, (2) the development of digital research methods, and (3) the mediation of public and foreign affairs.

My scholarship draws on theoretical bodies from sociology, psychology, science & technology studies, and economics. It employs both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as human, computational, and hybrid research designs. It has been particularly useful in furthering scholars’ understanding of the social role and impact of technology on professional media practice and products, as well as helping scholars understand how computational methods can be effectively used to enhance traditional approaches to mass communication research.

My work has been recognized through AEJMC’s Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award and multiple conference top-paper awards. I have also been a finalist for ICA’s Gene Burd Dissertation Award and Digital Journalism’s Article Of The Year award, among other professional honors. I’ve previously held research fellowships and visiting appointments at OsloMet and Karlstad University.

Publications

Ji, X., Kuai, J., & Zamith, R. (2024). Scrutinizing Algorithms: Assessing Journalistic Role Performance in Chinese News Media’s Coverage of Artificial Intelligence. Journalism Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2024.2336136.

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Zamith, R. (2023). Open-Source Repositories as Trust-Building Journalism Infrastructure: Examining the Use of GitHub by News Outlets to Promote Transparency, Innovation, and Collaboration. Digital Journalism. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2202873.

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Mooseder, A., Brantner, C., Zamith, R., & Pfeffer, J. (2023). (Social) Media Logics and Visualizing Climate Change: 10 Years of #climatechange Images on Twitter. Social Media + Society, 9(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231164310.

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Nechushtai, E., Zamith, R., & Lewis, S. C. (2023). More of the Same? Homogenization in News Recommendations When Users Search on Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Mass Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2023.2173609.

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Zamith, R. (2022). The International Journalism Handbook: Concepts, challenges, and contexts (1st Ed.). Amherst, MA: UMass Amherst Libraries.

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Zamith, R. (2022). The American Journalism Handbook: Concepts, issues, and skills (1st Ed.). Amherst, MA: UMass Amherst Libraries.

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Zamith, R., & Westlund, O. (2022). Digital Journalism and Epistemologies of News Production. In J. Nussbaum, D. Cloud, H. Giles, J. Greene, T. Hanitzsch, E.M. Kramer, T.R. Kuhn, D. Mastro, R. Parrott, & B. Vivian (Eds.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication (pp. 1-29). New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.84.

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Molyneux, L., & Zamith, R. (2022). Surveying Journalists in the "New Normal": Considerations and recommendations. Journalism, 23(1), 153-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920935277.

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Zamith, R. (2021). Data-Driven Storytelling: A Guide to R-Based Data Journalism (1st Ed.). Amherst, MA: UMass Amherst Libraries.

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Zamith, R., Belair-Gagnon, V., & Lewis, S. C. (2020). Constructing Audience Quantification: Social influences and the development of norms about audience analytics and metrics. New Media & Society, 22(10), 1763-1784. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819881735.

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Lewis, S. C., Zamith, R., & Coddington, M. (2020). Online Harassment and its Implications for the Journalist–Audience Relationship. Digital Journalism, 8(8), 1047-1067. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1811743.

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Zamith, R., & Haim, M. (2020). Algorithmic Actants in Practice, Theory, and Method. Media and Communication, 8(3), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3395.

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Belair-Gagnon, V., Zamith, R., & Holton, A. E. (2020). Role Orientations and Audience Metrics in Newsrooms: An examination of journalistic perceptions and their drivers. Digital Journalism, 8(3), 347-366. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1709521.

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Haim, M., & Zamith, R. (2019). Open-source Trading Zones and Boundary Objects: Examining GitHub as a space for collaborating on "news". Media and Communication, 7(4), 80-91. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i4.2249.

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Wright, K., Zamith, R., & Bebawi, S. (2019). Data Journalism Beyond Majority World Countries: Challenges and opportunities. Digital Journalism, 7(9), 1295-1302. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1702472.

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Zamith, R. (2019). Transparency, Interactivity, Diversity, and Information Provenance in Everyday Data Journalism. Digital Journalism, 7(4), 470-489. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1554409.

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Zamith, R., & Braun, J. A. (2019). Technology and Journalism. In T.P. Vos, F. Hanusch, M. Geertsema-Sligh, A. Sehl & D. Dimitrakopoulou (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies (pp. 1-7). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0040.

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Zamith, R. (2019). Algorithms & Journalism. In H. Örnebring, Y.Y. Chan, M. Carlson, S. Craft, M. Karlsson, H. Sjøvaag & H. Wasserman (Eds.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies (pp. 1-21). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.779.

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Zamith, R. (2018). Innovation in Content Analysis: Freezing the flow of liquid news. In B. Franklin & S. A. Eldridge II (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Developments in Digital Journalism Studies (pp. 93-104). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

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Zamith, R. (2018). On Metrics-Driven Homepages: Assessing the relationship between popularity and prominence. Journalism Studies, 19(8), 1116-1137. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1262215.

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Zamith, R. (2018). Quantified Audiences in News Production: A synthesis and research agenda. Digital Journalism, 6(4), 418-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1444999.

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Zamith, R. (2018). A Computational Approach for Examining the Comparability of "Most-Viewed Lists" on Online News Sites. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(1), 122-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699017714223.

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Zamith, R. (2017). Capturing and Analyzing Liquid Content: A computational process for freezing and analyzing mutable documents. Journalism Studies, 18(12), 1489-1504. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1146083.

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Lewis, S. C., & Zamith, R. (2017). On the Worlds of Journalism. In P. J. Boczkowski & C. W. Anderson (Eds.), Remaking the News: Essays on the Future of Journalism Scholarship in the Digital Age (pp. 111-128). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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Brendan R. Watson, Rodrigo Zamith, Sarah Cavanah, Seth C. Lewis (2015). Are Demographics Adequate Controls for Cell-Phone-Only Coverage Bias in Mass Communication Research?. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(3), 723-743. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699015589187.

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Zamith, R., & Lewis, S. C. (2015). Content Analysis and the Algorithmic Coder: What computational social science means for traditional modes of media analysis. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 659(1), 307-318. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716215570576.

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Zamith, R., & Lewis, S. C. (2014). From Public Spaces to Public Sphere: Rethinking systems for reader comments on online news sites. Digital Journalism, 2(3), 558-574. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.882066.

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Hermida, A., Lewis, S. C., & Zamith, R. (2014). Sourcing the Arab Spring: A case study of Andy Carvin's sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 479-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12074.

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Zamith, R., Pinto, J., & Villar, M. E. (2013). Constructing Climate Change in the Americas: An analysis of news coverage in U.S. and South American newspapers. Science Communication, 35(3), 334-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547012457470.

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Zamith, R. (2013). Just Off the Wire: AP's and AFP's Coverage of Immigration in France and the United States. In G. Dell’Orto & V. Birchfield (Eds.), Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the US and the EU (pp. 84-100). New York: Routledge.

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Bennet, S., & Zamith, R. (2013). A (More) Humanitarian Take: Al-Jazeera English and Arabic's coverage of immigration in the West. In G. Dell’Orto & V. Birchfield (Eds.), Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the US and the EU (pp. 126-138). New York: Routledge.

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Lewis, S. C., Zamith, R., & Hermida, A. (2013). Content Analysis in an Era of Big Data: A hybrid approach to computational and manual methods. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(1), 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2012.761702.

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Villar, M. E., Concha, M., & Zamith, R. (2012). Health Beliefs and Attitudes of Latino Immigrants: Rethinking acculturation as a constant. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 14(5), 885-889. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9579-5.

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Villar, M. E., & Zamith, R. (2011). Comparing Frequency of Online News Coverage, Worldwide Mortality and Perceived Risk of Leading Diseases and Injuries: Challenging paradigms in the new media landscape. Journal of Health & Mass Communication, 3(1-4), 191-204.

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