Algorithms · News · Democracy

Daniel Trielli

Assistant Professor of Media and Democracy
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland

I research how news reaches the public in an increasingly algorithmically defined world, and how journalists can cover algorithms. My work examines how search engines, digital platforms, and AI shape journalism and political information.

Before academia, I spent about a decade as a journalist in my native Brazil, working at O Estado de S. Paulo and Diário do Grande ABC. I earned my Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2022 and my master’s in journalism at Maryland in 2016.

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Research

My interests include algorithmic accountability, AI and journalism, news visibility, and the relationships between media, technology, and democracy.

Visibility for Local News

Research on the visibility of local journalism on digital platforms, connecting questions about news distribution with the needs of local newsrooms and their audiences.

AI News Game

A tabletop simulation for teaching and researching AI in journalism. Players assign newsroom tasks to humans, AI, or both, and explore the consequences for reach, trust, and audience retention.

Supported by the Lucy Dalglish Faculty Fund for Media & Democracy, University of Maryland (2026).

AI and local journalism

Co-principal investigator on Employing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Local Journalism, supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation (2025–2027).

Selected publications

Search in the Newsroom: How Journalists Navigate Google’s Dominance in a Hybrid Media SystemDaniel Trielli · Media and Communication · 2025
Interactive AI-Supported News Systems and the Transformation of Recipients’ RoleDaniel Trielli · The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Journalism · 2025
Partisan search behavior and Google results in the 2018 U.S. midterm electionsDaniel Trielli & Nicholas Diakopoulos · Information, Communication & Society, 25(1), 145–161 · 2022 (online 2020)
Search as News Curator: The Role of Google in Shaping Attention to News InformationDaniel Trielli & Nicholas Diakopoulos · ACM CHI · 2019

More publications on Google Scholar →

Teaching

I teach data and computational journalism, the role of platforms and AI in news, and qualitative research methods.

Data Journalism (JOUR472 / JOUR772)
Machine Editors: Search Engines, Social Media, AI and the News (JOUR458A)
Students in the Newsroom: Visibility for Local News (JOUR479Z)
Qualitative Research Methods in Journalism and Public Communication (JOUR776)

I am developing Covering Our AI Society: Reporting on Algorithms, Platforms, and Power for Spring 2027, supported by an AIM Course Development Grant.

Public writing

I also write for audiences outside academia, in the United States and Brazil.

The rise of agentic journalism
Nieman Lab · 2025

Contact

dtrielli@umd.edu
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland · College Park, Maryland

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