Alfred Hermida, PhD, is an online news pioneer, digital media scholar, and journalism educator with over 25 years of experience at the intersection of journalism and technology. As a Full Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, he has significantly influenced the evolution of journalism education and practice. Hermida served as the school’s director from June 2015 to December 2020, during which he spearheaded initiatives that integrated innovative teaching methods and research into the curriculum.

As a founding member of the BBC News website, Hermida played a pivotal role in shaping digital journalism from its inception. His extensive research focuses on the transformation of media, examining how emerging technologies, social media, and data journalism are reshaping journalistic practices and audience engagement. His groundbreaking concept of “ambient journalism” has provided a theoretical framework for understanding how social media platforms create a constant flow of information that fundamentally changes news dissemination and consumption.

His books include influential publications such as Data Journalism and the Regeneration of News (Routledge, 2019), which explores the professional identities and collaborative practices underpinning the rise of data journalism. His earlier book, Tell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters (DoubleDay, 2014), won the 2015 National Business Book Award for its critical examination of information sharing in the digital age and its impact on public engagement and political accountability.

Hermida’s commitment to bridging academia and journalism led him to co-found The Conversation Canada in 2017, enabling scholars and journalists to collaborate on timely analyses and commentary. This initiative has transformed how academic research reaches the public, making scholarly insights more accessible and impactful while encouraging evidence-based journalism.

He further advances innovation in journalism through his c0-leadership of the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, a SSHRC-funded initiative investigating how new practices and business models are shaping the future of journalism. The lab’s research has been instrumental in examining how news organizations are adapting to digital transformation, particularly in developing sustainable business models and innovative storytelling approaches.

In the classroom, Hermida emphasizes the importance of media innovation, visual journalism, and new storytelling forms, equipping students with the skills necessary to navigate the rapidly changing media landscape. His award-winning courses, such as Visual Journalism co-taught with Uytae Lee, teach students how to think about, develop and deliver impactful visual stories. This interdisciplinary approach has influenced journalism education globally, serving as a model for integrating digital innovation and practical skills development into traditional journalism curricula.

Hermida’s contributions to communication research have earned him numerous accolades, including his election in 2024 as a Fellow of the International Communication Association and a 2024 UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize. His research has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of how digital technologies influence public discourse, particularly in how social media platforms have reshaped information sharing and shifted traditional power dynamics in journalism. His pioneering work continues to influence both academic discourse and practical journalism, helping shape the future of media in an increasingly digital world.

Prior to UBC

Hermida joined UBC after 16 years as a television, radio and online journalist at the BBC. During his tenure as daily news editor at the BBC News website (1997-2001), the site won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for the best news website four years running, from 1998 to 2001, and a NetMedia Award for the Best Story Broken on the Net in 2000. In 2003, he received a NetMedia Award for Technology Reporting for an in-depth report on the use of technology in developing countries.

He started as a BBC News trainee and gained experience in covering regional, national and international news across the BBC, including the World Service and World TV. He spent four years as a BBC foreign correspondent in North Africa and the Middle East, mainly covering the military coup and Islamic insurgency in Algeria and the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. During this time, he interviewed the PLO leader Yasser Arafat twice, as well as the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He also contributed articles on the Middle East to The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, and radio reports for CBC and Christian Science Monitor Radio.

In 2005, Prof Hermida was the first digital journalist to be a Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan.

He is British-Canadian, with his family roots in Gibraltar where he was born and lived until going to university in the U.K.

With more than two decades of experience in digital journalism, his research addresses the transformation of media, emergent news practices, media innovation, social media and AI in journalism. Through his research at UBC, and his earlier work at the BBC, Hermida has built an international reputation as an authority on new media, with his work appearing in Digital Journalism, Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies and other top tier journals. His work has explored changes in journalistic practices, challenges to established professional dynamics, the impact of social media and processes of media innovation.

Books

Hermida, Alfred, and Young, Mary Lynn. (2019). Data Journalism and the Regeneration of News. New York: Routledge.

Witschge, Tamara, Anderson, C.W., Domingo, David and Hermida, Alfred eds. (2016). The Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism. New York: Sage.

Hermida, Alfred (2014). Tell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters, DoubleDay Canada.

Singer, J.B., Hermida, A., Domingo, D., Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Quandt, T., Reich, Z., Vujnovic, M. (2011). Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at Online Newspapers. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Recent academic publications

Hermida, Alfred, and Felix M. Simon. (2025). AI in the Newsroom: Lessons from the Adoption of The Globe and Mail’s Sophi. Journalism Practice, March, 1–18. doi:10.1080/17512786.2025.2471781.

Hermida, Alfred. (2024) “From automata to algorithms: A jobs-to-be-done approach to AI in journalism.” Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 30(3): 617-675.

Parratt-Fernández, Sonia and Alfred Hermida. (2024). Inteligencia artificial para la relación con las audiencias: el sistema de recomendación Sophi (Artificial Intelligence Uses for Audiences: The Sophi recommendation system). In Periodismo e inteligencia artificial. Aplicaciones y desafíos profesionales, (Journalism and Artificial Intelligence: Uses and Challenges) Parratt-Fernández, Sonia; Mayoral-Sánchez, Javier; Chaparro Domínguez, María Ángeles (eds.). Salamanca: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52495/c7.emcs.25.p108

Young, Mary Lynn, and Alfred Hermida. (2024). People, Power, Platforms and the Business of Journalism. Digital Journalism 12 (9): 1250–60. doi:10.1080/21670811.2023.2273523.

Young, Mary Lynn and Alfred Hermida. (2024). Why Infrastructure Studies for Journalism? Digital Journalism, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2396551

Young, Mary Lynn, and Alfred Hermida. “People, Power, Platforms and the Business of Journalism.” Digital Journalism, 12(9), 1250–1260. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2273523

Lewis, Seth, Alfred Hermida and Samantha Lorenzo. Jobs-to-Be-Done and Journalism Innovation: Making News More Responsive to Community Needs. (2024). Media and Communication. 12: 1-16. Special issue: Unpacking Innovation: Media and the Locus of Change, Scott Eldridge, Frank Harbers and Sandra Banjac.

Hermida, Alfred, and Mary Lynn Young. (2024). Google’s Influence on Global Business Models in Journalism: An Analysis of Its Innovation Challenge. Media and Communication. 12: 1-16.  Special issue: Examining New Models in Journalism Funding, Merja Myllylaht and James Meese.

Hermida, Alfred, Lisa Varano and Mary Lynn Young. (2022). “The university as a ‘giant newsroom’: Not-for-profit explanatory journalism during COVID-19″. In The Institutions Changing Journalism: Barbarians Inside the Gate, Patrick Ferrucci and Scott A. Eldridge II (eds.). Routledge.

Mellado, Claudia, and Alfred Hermida. (2021) “A Conceptual Framework for Journalistic Identity on Social Media: How the Personal and Professional Contribute to Power and Profit.” Digital Journalism: 1-16.

Hermida, Alfred, and Mary Lynn Young. (2021) “Journalism Innovation in a Time of Survival.” In Maria Luengo and Susana Herrera-Damas (eds.), News Media Innovation Reconsidered: Ethics and Values in a Creative Reconstruction of Journalism. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley Blackwell. 40-52.

Westlund, Oscar, and Hermida, Alfred. (2021) “Data Journalism and Misinformation” (preprint). In Tumber, Howard, and Waisbord, Silvio (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism, Routledge.

Mellado, Claudia, and Hermida, Alfred Hermida. (2021) “The Promoter, Celebrity, and Joker Roles in Journalists’ Social Media Performance.” Social Media+ Society 7.1.

Young, Mary Lynn & Hermida, Alfred (2020). “The Conversation Canada: Not for Profit Journalism in a Time of Commercial Media Decline” (PDF). In Dubois, Elizabeth and Martin-Bariteau, Florian (eds.), Citizenship in a Connected Canada: A Research and Policy Agenda, Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press.

Hermida, Alfred, and Claudia Mellado. (2020). “Dimensions of Social Media Logics: Mapping Forms of Journalistic Norms and Practices on Twitter and Instagram.” Digital Journalism: 1-21.

Kligler-Vilenchik, N., Hermida, A., Valenzuela, S., & Villi, M. (2020). Studying incidental news: Antecedents, dynamics and implications. Journalism, 21, 8: 1025-1030.

Hermida, Alfred (2020). “Post-Publication Gatekeeping: The Interplay of Publics, Platforms, Paraphernalia, and Practices in the Circulation of News.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 97, 2: 469-491.

Hermida, Alfred (2019). “The existential predicament when journalism moves beyond journalism.” Journalism 20, no. 1: 177-180.

Witschge, Tamara, C. W. Anderson, David Domingo, and Alfred Hermida. (2019) “Dealing with the mess (we made): Unraveling hybridity, normativity, and complexity in journalism studies.” Journalism 20.5: 651-659.

Hermida, Alfred. (2019) “The existential predicament when journalism moves beyond journalism.” Journalism, 20.1: 177-180.

Young, Mary Lynn, Alfred Hermida, and Johanna Fulda. 2017. “What makes for great data journalism? A content analysis of data journalism awards finalists, 2012-2015.”Journalism Practice: 1-21.

Garcia de Torres, Elvira and Alfred Hermida (2017) The Social Reporter in Action: An Analysis of the Practice and Discourse of Andy Carvin, Journalism Practice, 11(2-3): 177-194.

Hermida, Alfred, and Young, Mary Lynn. 2017. “Finding the Data Unicorn: A hierarchy of hybridity in data and computational journalism.” Digital Journalism, 5.2: 159-176.

Callison, Candis and Alfred Hermida, (2015) “Dissent and Resonance: #Idlenomore as an emergent middle ground,” Canadian Journal of Communication, 40 (4): 695 – 716.

Zeller, Frauke and Alfred Hermida. (2015) “When Tradition Meets Immediacy and Interaction: The Integration of Social Media in Journalists’ Everyday Practices.” About Journalism, 4 (1), 106-119.

Academic awards and fellowships

UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize, 2024

UBC Dean of Arts Mentoring Award, 2024

Fellow, International Communication Association, June 22 2024

Visiting Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism University of Oxford, October 2021 – December 2021

OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Fellow, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, October 2019

National Business Book Award, $20,000. April 2015

President’s Award for Public Education through the Media, University of British Columbia, 2011.

Faculty Fellow (Competitive), IBM CAS Canada, 2010 – 2012. The IBM program connects company employees with students, educators and researchers to address business and societal challenges.

Top-rated Paper, 8th International Online Journalism Symposium, The University of Texas, Austin, April 2007.

Professional awards

Photo Master Prize, Architecture MasterPrize (Cultural Interiors and Cultural Exteriors), 2024. The Architecture MasterPrize honours designs in the disciplines of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture with the goal of advancing the appreciation of architecture worldwide.

Canadian Online Publishing Awards, 2024. Faculty editor on student projects created in JRNL 520V Visual Journalism:

• Best Video Content (media category): UBC Master of Journalism student Ashley Li
• Best Photo Journalism (media category): UBC Master of Journalism student Jake de Guzman
• Best Multicultural Story (academic category): UBC Master of Journalism student Chhavi Mehra
• Best Feel Good Story (academic category): UBC Master of Journalism student Beth Rochester

Digital Publishing Award, 2024. Faculty editor on student projects created in JRNL 520V Visual Journalism:

• Best Online Video (Feature): UBC Master of Journalism student Ashley Li

Canadian Online Publishing Awards 2023: Best blog/column, silver, (academic category) for “Bill C-18: Google and Meta spark crucial test for Canadian journalism”, co-authored with Mary Lynn Young. The Conversation Canada, July 4, 2023.

RTDNA Canada West, Digital Media Award, 2019. Faculty supervisor for Follow the Water, the final research project by Journalism graduate student Joanne Pearce

Best Photo Journalism Award (Gold), Student category, Canadian Online Publishing Award, 2018. Lead instructor for student social media photo project produced as part of the Decoding Social Media course.

Best Use of Social Media Award (Silver) Student category, Canadian Online Publishing Award, 2018. Lead instructor for student live reporting project produced as part the Decoding Social Media course.

Canada’s Top Social Media Maven nomination, Digi Awards, 2011. Named as one of the top three social media experts in Canada.

Best Blog Award, Canadian Online Publishing Awards, 2010.

Finalist, Individual Stand Out: Digital Education, New Media BC PopVox Awards, May 2009.

Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship, (Competitive), Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Winter 2005.

European Online Journalism Technology News Award, NetMedia, 2003.

European Online Journalism Award for Best News Story Broken on the Web, NetMedia, 2000.

BAFTA Interactive Award for Best News Website, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1998-2001.

Since joining UBC in 2006, Prof Hermida has launched a series of applied research projects designed to connect academic research with industry. These digital initiatives combine scholarly work, student training and practical applications to investigate new directions for media, while contributing to the culture of innovation in Canada.

They include a partnership with CBC Radio 3 to research and develop a participatory online resource for Canadian music, and a collaboration with IBM Canada to investigate the application of data visualization technologies in journalism.

Hermida was named an IBM CAS Canada Research Faculty Fellow in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2011, he received the UBC President’s Award for Public Education Through Media for his work in communicating academic research into media trends to the public.

He was a finalist in the 2011 Digi Awards for Canada’s top social media maven and was a finalist in the New Media BC 2009 PopVox Individual Stand Out Awards in the Digital Education category.

He won a 2010 Canadian Online Publishing Award for best blog for Reportr.net.

He has also been recognised for his work on social media with an Excellence in New Communication Award in 2013 from the Society for New Communication Research, (SNCR), for a student social media project he supervised. The previous year, he supervised a UBC/CBC Radio 3 project that won a Commendation of Merit in the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards program.

Hermida was also the first digital journalist to be honoured with a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan.