Kemi Busari
kbusari@umd.eduKemi Busari is a journalist-scholar and doctoral candidate (ABD) at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. His research examines how journalism institutions, organizations and practitioners respond to changing professional norms, technologies and the broader media environment. His scholarship has been published in leading journals in journalism and media studies, including Journalism, Journal of Media Ethics and News Research Journal.
Busari brings more than 15 years of experience in investigative journalism, newsroom leadership, fact checking and professional journalism training to his scholarship. Before joining Merrill College, he served as full-time editor at DUBAWA, a leading African fact-checking and media literacy organization, and as a senior reporter at Premium Times. He has also served as course director for the United Nations Institute for Development and Planning, where he directed an international journalism training program.
At Merrill College, Busari serves as a co-instructor for the Media, Self and Society program of the College Park Media Scholars. Among others, he teaches courses on media literacy, fact checking, artificial intelligence in journalism and research, media concentration and the impact of “the other news” (satire, parody and comedy) on mainstream media.
His journalism has received more than two dozen awards and nominations, including the International Fact-Checking Network’s Highest Impact Fact-Check Award, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Kavli Science Journalism Award and the International Center for Journalists’ Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling. His research has received multiple awards, including the Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award and two consecutive AEJMC Scholastic Division Best Student Paper Awards. He has also received multiple competitive research grants.
Areas of interest
- Journalism education and professionalization
- Newsroom practices and processes
- Information disorder and fact checking
- Impact of AI and digital tech on journalism
- Media ethics
Education
- B.S. (Political Science), Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria)
- M.S. (Communication Studies), Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium)