Kevin Mudavadi

Biography

A former corporate communications strategist, Kevin Mudavadi, is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in the Media School at Indiana University-Bloomington. He specializes in the effects of disinformation and misinformation on decision-making in digital media. His research also explores journalistic role conception and audience perceptions of media roles, focusing on Kenya and the United States.

His dissertation employs mixed methods (survey and in-depth interviews) to investigate forces shaping journalistic role perceptions in Kenya. These include social media disinformation, AI in journalism, audience metrics, post-COVID-19 job satisfaction, and declining media trust. These forces threaten journalism and democracy globally. Recently, he received an $11,000 grant from the Eastern Africa Editors Society (EAES) to study AI usage in East African (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya) newsrooms.

Kevin’s work has been published in journals such as Journalism, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Mobile Media & Communication, International Journal of Communication, African Journalism Studies, and African Multidisciplinary Journal of Research. His book chapters appear in the Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies (2nd ed.) and work by the African Feminism and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Foundation. His ICA-awarded paper, “Third-Person Effects of Political Disinformation in Kenya,” underscores his growing impact on media research.

Academic Publications

1. Madrid-Morales, D., Tully, M., Mudavadi, K. C., Matanji, F., & Layire, D. (In-press). Exploring Audience Agency in Countering Misinformation. International Journal of Communication.
2. Layire, D., Matanji, F., Mudavadi, K. C., Tully, M., & Madrid-Morales, D. (In-press). What is media literacy, and why does it matter? Perspectives of Senegalese social media users and media professionals. Journal of African Media Studies.
3. Mudavadi, K. C., Tully, M., & Lomoywara, D. B. (2025). Exploring Kenyans’ Interactions with Misinformation on WhatsApp. Mobile Media & Communication.
4. Ochieng, J., Grabe, M. E., Ireri, K., & Mudavadi, K. C. (2025). Mitigating information insecurity: An African perspective on satisfaction with democracy. The International Journal of Press/Politics.
5. Mudavadi, K. C., Matanji, F., Layire, D., Tully, M., & Madrid-Morales, D. (2024). Stakeholder perceptions of regulatory responses to misinformation in Kenya and Senegal. Journalism. 
6. Matanji, F., Tully, M., Mudavadi, K. C., Layire, D., & Madrid-Morales, D. (2024). Media Literacy and Fact-checking as Proactive and Reactive Responses to Misinformation in Kenya and Senegal. African Journalism Studies.
7. Mudavadi, K. C. & Madrid-Morales, D. (2024). Countering Political Disinformation. In S. Banjac, J. Swart, D. Cheruiyot, & S. Eldridge II (Eds.), Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies (2nd ed.). Routledge.
8. Mudavadi K. C. (2020). Patriarchy and Print Media Coverage in Kenya: An Analysis of Newspaper Framing of Women Politicians in Pre-And-Post 2017 General Election. In C. Kioko, R. Kagumire, & M. Matandela (Eds), Challenging patriarchy: The Role of Patriarchy in the Roll-back of Democracy. Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
9. Mudavadi, K. C., Nduhiu, N., Ochieng, L., Muriithi, M. & Odhiambo, C. (2017). Uses and Gratifications Approach to the Use of Facebook among Kenyan University Students. African Multidisciplinary Journal of Research, 2(2), 83-106.

Selected Learned Conferences & Symposia

1. Mudavadi, K. C. (June 2025). Despite Lower Pay, Kenyan Journalists Express Higher Job Satisfaction: A Decade Later. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Denver, Colorado).
2. Mudavadi, K. C. & Bingbing, Z. (June 2025). “Proper and Mindful Use of AI Should be a Shared Goal”: Examining News Audience Perception of Generative AI Usage and Regulation in Kenyan Newsrooms. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Denver, Colorado).
3. Mudavadi, K. C., Mare, A., & Bingbing, Z. (June 2025). Extended Abstract: Journalistic Perception of the Impact of Audience Media Metrics on Consumer and Citizen Roles in East African Newsrooms. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Denver, Colorado).
4. Ochieng, J., Grabe, M. E., Ireir, K., & Mudavadi, K. C. (June 2025). Mitigating information insecurity: An African perspective on satisfaction with democracy. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Denver, Colorado).
5. Wei, W. Yihan, D. J., Maria, G. E., Mudavadi, K. C., Paxton, G., Hwang, J., & Ochieng, J. (June 2025). Debunking COVID-19 falsehoods: A test of three cognitive predispositions as buffers for partisan influences. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Denver, Colorado).
6. Mudavadi, K. C., Bingbing, Z., Matanji, F. & Lomoywara, D. (August 2024). Examining news media and trust in political institutions in Kenya: The moderating role of perceived corruption and political freedom. 107th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference—AEJMC (Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia).
7. Lanosga, G., Mudavadi, K. C., & Houston, B. (August 2024). Long hours but lots of freedom: Non-profit investigative journalists’ diverging views of professional practices and values. 107th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference—AEJMC (Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia).
8. Layire, D., Mudavadi, K. C., Matanji, F., Tully, M., & Madrid-Morales, D. (August 2024). What is media literacy, and why does it matter? Perspectives of Senegalese social media users and media professionals. 107th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference—AEJMC (Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia).
9. Mudavadi, K. C., Hwang, J., Wang, W., Paxton, G., Ochieng, J., & Grabe, M. E. (June 2024). Third-Person Effects of COVID-19 Social Media Posts. 74th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Gold Coast, Australia). 
10. Ochieng, J., Mudavadi, K. C., & Grabe, M. E. (June 2024). Populist hustlers versus establishment dynasties: The contentious visual framing dual of the 2022 Kenyan election. 74th Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Gold Coast, Australia). 
11. Mudavadi, K. C.* (May 2023). Third-Person Perception of Digital Political Disinformation in Kenya. 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). 
12. Mudavadi, K. C. & Shanahan, J. (May 2023). Journalistic Digital Migration in Kenya. 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference – ICA  (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). 
13. Matanji, F. Tully, M., Madrid-Morales, D., Mudavadi, K. C., & Layire, D. (October 2022). Perception of and The Role of Fact-Checking to Combat the Spread of Misinformation in Kenya. Global Fusion Conference (Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). 
14. Tully, M., Madrid-Morales, D., Layire, D., Mudavadi, K. C., & Matanji, F. (August 2022). Fact-checking as Process and Product: How Kenyan and Senegalese Media Professionals Combat Misinformation. 105th Annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference – AEJMC (Detroit, Michigan). 

* Top-Student Only Paper – International Communication Association (Mass Communication Division – 2023).

Research Grants

1. Summer 2024: AI in East African Newsrooms: Examining Perceived Prevalence, Ethics, and Impacts of AI on Media Freedom, Citizen Participation, and Democratic Processes. Eastern Africa Editor Society in the context of the Africa Digital Rights Fund with support from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) ($11,000).
2. Fall 2023: Michael Haley Travel Grant for the 73rd Annual ICA Conference ($1,250).
3. Fall 2021: Journalistic Digital Migration or a Fresh Challenge to Traditional Media Gatekeeping? Kern Scholarship Award for Innovation in Journalism ($2,500).
4. Fall 2020: Effective Strategies to Counter the Spread of Health Misinformation around COVID-19 in Kenya and Senegal. Waterhouse Institute and the University of Houston  ($10,000).