In the age of the global network and crowd-sourcing, it would feel more genuine to print all the names listed below on the cover of this book as co-authors. As every author knows, there are debts racked up in the contemplating, researching, writing, and rewriting that simply cannot be repaid.

Thank you to the University of Denver for providing me with the time and money to research and write, and to my colleagues and students in the university’s Media, Film and Journalism Studies Department and in the Emergent Digital Practices program. Special thanks to Peggy Marlow for being so good at what she does. Thank you also to the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science for hosting me in the spring of 2015 as a visiting fellow. Thank you to Microsoft Research New England for hosting me as a visiting scholar in the spring of 2012; to the media makers who shared their experiences and insights with me and whose work makes the world a better place; to Andrea Drugan and Elen Griffiths at Polity; and to Fiona Sewell, freelance editor. Thank you very much to Jay Duchene and to Robert and Anne Russell for all of their support and encouragement.

Thanks to my friends and colleagues who discussed this research as it unfolded, read chapter drafts, offered me tips, sharpened my arguments, invited me to give talks, and welcomed me when I traveled to their cities. Those generous and talented people include Mike Ananny, Michela Ardizzoni, Veronica Barassi, Stephen Barnard, Charlie Beckett, Lance Bennett, Rod Benson, Chris Braider, Bart Cammaerts, Nick Couldry, Stephanie Craft, Waddick Doyle, Nabil Echchaibi, Louise Edwards, Elisabeth Eide, Liz Fakazis, Geoff Gilbert, Deirdre Gilfedder, Ted Glasser, Jayson Harsin, Heikki Heikkilä, Andreas Hepp, Nadia Kaneva, Stafania Milan, Pierluigi Musarò, Zizi Papacharissi, Danny Postel, Anna Roosvall, Jane Sovndal, Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Silvio Waisbord, and Barbie Zelizer. And thanks to Matt Tegelberg, Emilano Treré, and Dima Yagodin, for always going the extra mile. All of your work inspires my work. Thanks also to the MediaClimate family for years of productive collaboration that has taught me a great deal about journalism around the world.

Without Jenny Filipetti’s skill as a thinker and tinkerer, chapter 2 would not exist. When we needed new mapping tools to answer our questions, she made them. She brought a much-needed hacktivist sensibility to the book. Thanks to Carley St. Clair for the research assistance. Thank you to Lynn Schofield Clark for reading and rereading my very rough drafts, for meeting regularly to discuss research ideas, and for typing up things in real time that I said about my work that otherwise would have been lost forever. Thank you to Risto Kunelius for inspiration, for the ambitious and always fun research projects, for sharing ideas, and for always finding time to read my work and offer one-of-a-kind valuable feedback. Thank you to Erika Polson, an excellent colleague and friend.

And a huge thanks to Sammy and Sofia, who give me great reason to believe media will be a more powerful vector for social justice in the years to come. Ages ago Sammy began thinking about and drawing ideas for the cover. I held all of those images in my head as I wrote. In the end, Sofia dropped the code into the rainbow. Thanks to Mustafa Hacalaki, whose image made a perfect fit.

Finally and especially, thanks to John Tomasic. I see what you did there.