Khadijah Costley White
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies
Faculty, PhD JMS Faculty
Biography
Khadijah Costley White is a media and politics scholar whose work examines race, gender, and social change in news and popular media. She studies how journalism, popular culture, and political communication shape understandings of activism, democracy, and belonging. White brings a cultural studies approach to questions of power, representation, and equity in media industries, texts, and audiences.
White is the author of “The Branding of Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party” (Oxford, 2018) and co-editor of “Media and January 6th,” which brings together media and communication scholars to analyze the politics and news coverage of the January 6th coup attempt. Her scholarship appears in outlets such as Communication, Culture, and Critique, Urban Geography, and other journals. She also consults on documentary films and has served as an external advisor to the MacArthur Foundation on journalism and media.
White is the founder and executive director of SOMA Justice, a community nonprofit organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in South Orange and Maplewood, New Jersey. Her public writing and commentary on race, social movements, news, and politics have appeared in outlets such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Root, Huffington Post, BBC, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. In 2020–2021, she was a Whiting Public Engagement Fellow. She worked on an Emmy-nominated team at NOW on PBS, was awarded a National Association of Black Journalists/United Nations reporting fellowship to Senegal, and interned on the Obama administration’s Broadcast Media team at the White House.
Education
Ph.D., Communication, University of Pennsylvania
M.A., Communication, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., Social Justice, Swarthmore College