Meredith D. Clark is an American journalist and scholar. She was named by ''

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, '' Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

'' to their 2015 list of 100 most influential Black Americans after her Ph.D. dissertation, ''To Tweet Our Own Cause: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Online Phenomenon "Black Twitter"'', won a Top Dissertation award from the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a major international membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. It has numerous members ...

. According to ''The Root'', the dissertation was one of the first analyses of Black Twitter by an academic researcher.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

called her "the go-to person about Black Twitter".

Early life and education

Clark was born to John T. Clark and Dr. Bonnie Mitchell-Clark and raised in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. Clark attended Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, earning a bachelor's degree in political science in 2002 and a master's degree in journalism in 2006. She attended the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

and earned a Ph.D. in mass communication in 2014. Clark's dissertation for her Ph.D. was titled ''To Tweet Our Own Cause: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Online Phenomenon "Black Twitter"''. It won a Top Dissertation award from the

Career

Clark's research interests include

Black Twitter Black Twitter is an Virtual community, internet community largely consisting of the African diaspora, Black diaspora of users in the United States and other nations on Twitter, Twitter (officially X), focused on issues of interest to the black com ...

cancel culture Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...

, and systemic racism in the US news media. Prior to earning her Ph.D., Clark worked as a journalist for the '' Capital Outlook'', the ''

Tallahassee Democrat The ''Tallahassee Democrat'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper. It covers the area centered on Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County. The newspaper is owned by Gannett ...

'', the ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'', and the ''

News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

''. She wrote a column on diversity at the

Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...

's website and was a contributor to ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''. According to ''The Root'', Clark's Ph.D. dissertation was one of the first analyses of

by an academic researcher. NPR called her "the go-to person about Black Twitter". After earning her Ph.D., Clark became an assistant professor at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

. She is an assistant professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. She is a faculty fellow with the Data & Society Research Institute, an advisory board member for the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, an advisory board member for Project Information Literacy at Harvard University, and a faculty affiliate of the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. She received a grant of $1.2 million from the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

to research African-American social media. As of 2021 she is an associate professor at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

. In July 2024 Clark was hired by alma mater The

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media is the undergraduate and graduate journalism school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The school, founded in 1950, is ranked competitively among the best journalism schools in the Un ...

as an associate professor of race and political communication.https://hussman.unc.edu/news/unc-hussman-welcomes-4-new-thought-leaders-in-research-and-industry-to-the-faculty

Personal life

Clark is married to Willie A. Green III The couple live in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Meredith People from Lexington, Kentucky Florida A&M University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Virginia faculty People from Charlottesville, Virginia University of North Texas faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women academics

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References