ALLISSA V. RICHARDSON
AWARD-WINNING author + SCHOLAR OF RACE, MEDIA & AcTIVISM
Photo taken by DaJuana Jones
located near: Los Angeles, CA
EXPERTISE
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Race, Media & Activism
Technology & Social Movements
The Black Press
Diversity & Inclusion in Newsrooms
Media Ethics
Cancel Culture
event types
Available for keynotes, panels, workshops, and interactive exhibits across the U.S. and abroad.
Popular talks
Second Drafts: Using AI to Preserve Black Testimony and Reimagine Justice
Bearing Witness While Black: Reparative Journalism in an Age of Surveillance and Silence
FIRESIDE CHATS
Teaching Truth in a Time of Erasure: Media Literacy as Civic Power
“I build technologies that remember—so the world can’t forget. Each line of code holds a testimony, each archive a reckoning. My work gathers what injustice tried to erase, and reimagines what justice has yet to be.”
Allissa Richardson’s bio
Allissa V. Richardson, PhD (she/her) is an assistant professor of journalism at USC Annenberg. She researches how African Americans use mobile and social media to produce innovative forms of journalism — especially in times of crisis. Richardson is the author of Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism (Oxford University Press, 2020). The book explores the lives of 15 mobile journalist-activists who have documented the Black Lives Matter movement using only their smartphones and Twitter.
Richardson’s research is informed by her award-winning work as a journalism innovator. She is considered a pioneer in mobile journalism (MOJO), having launched the world’s first smartphone-only college newsrooms in 2010, in the U.S., Morocco and South Africa.
Richardson won the National Association of Black Journalists’ prestigious Journalism Educator of the Year (‘12) award for her international work. Richardson is an inductee into Apple’s elite Distinguished Educator program. She is the recipient of two esteemed Harvard University posts: the Nieman Foundation Visiting Journalism Fellowship (‘14) and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society Fellowship (‘20). She is also a fellow in Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism (‘20).
Richardson’s research has been published in Convergence, Journal of Communication, Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies and The Black Scholar. Richardson serves on the editorial boards of Digital Journalism and the International Journal of Communication. She is an affiliated researcher with New York University’s Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies (CR + DS) as well. Richardson holds a PhD in journalism studies from the University of Maryland College Park; a master’s degree in magazine publishing from Northwestern University’s Medill School; and a bachelor of science in biology from Xavier University of Louisiana, where she was named a “Top 40 Under 40” alumna.
get social with allissa richardson
books by Allissa Richardson
Allissa Richardson in the media
Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the Fight to Preserve Our Democracy
UPC Faculty Symposium in Celebration of the Inauguration of Dr. Carol L. Folt
White Surveillance and Black Digital Publics
USC Amplified An Evening with Chuck D of Public Enemy
Articles Featuring Allissa Richardson
Professor Allissa V. Richardson honored for trailblazing work on Black citizen journalism | UC Annenberg
The digital Black press strategically combated COVID-19 misinformation | Columbia Journalism Review
Why cellphone videos of black people's deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs | Ohio Capitol Journal
It’s telling that we’re OK with showing Black people dying | The Guardian
Mental health and journalism, Part 4: A conversation with Dr. Allissa Richardson | IJ NET
Podcasts with Allissa Richardson