Rise of the News Nerds

Fordham Professor Allie Kosterich studies how journalism is evolving in a world shaped by programming, data and artificial intelligence. A media scholar at the Gabelli School of Business, Kosterich is the author of News Nerds: Institutional Change in Journalism — a book that explores how a new generation of reporters is blending traditional journalism skills with technological fluency. Before entering academia, she worked as a producer at Bloomberg Television where she saw how newsrooms struggle to keep pace with rapid technological change.

“I think the biggest takeaway is to understand that there’s always resistance to change,” Kosterich said, reflecting on what inspired her research and how the role of journalist is shifting.

A key theme of her book is the necessity of journalism schools and news organizations adapting as audience expectations evolve.

"What types of skill sets, technologies, and processes does a journalist need," she said, "when there’s so much technology, especially for something like journalism, which very traditionally is a professionalized role?”

This is the central question of News Nerds, published by Oxford University Press.

This interview ran on the What’s What podcast from WFUV News on July 21, 2025.