Nik Usher, Ph.D. (they/them) is an associate professor at the University of San Diego (USD) in the department of communication. Usher's research focuses on news in the changing digital environment, blending insights from media sociology and political communication. In 2022, Usher received a New Directions Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation. They are a senior fellow at the Open Markets Institute's Center for Journalism and Liberty. Usher is the author of three books: Making News at The New York Times (University of Michigan Press, 2014), Interactive Journalism: Hackers, Data, and Code (University of Illinois, 2016), and News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism (Columbia, 2021), and co-editor of Journalism Research that Matters (Oxford, 2021), with Valerie Belair-Gagnon. Prior to USD, Usher was a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the College of Media's journalism department (with affiliate appointments in the communication and political science) and an assistant and associate professor at The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. They also co-edit the Oxford University Press series Journalism and Political Communication Unbound with Daniel Kreiss.