Gianni Riotta is Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the French and Italian
Department, specializing in digital humanities, machine writing, social history and visual
history of Italy. Since 2018 he has been directing the Master of Journalism and Multimedia
Communication and the Data Lab Research Centre at Luiss University in Rome, where he
coordinates the Italian Digital Media Observatory (IDMO). The project, financed within the
framework of the European call CEF-TC-2020-2 EDMO, constitutes an international hub
aimed at supporting and implementing the work of the European Digital Media
Observatory (EDMO) with a consortium formed by Tim, Rai, Gedi, the University of Tor
Vergata, NewsGuard, Pagella Politica, and T6 Ecosystem, which join forces and expertise
to combat disinformation. He took part in the Horizon 2020 Project SOMA (Social
Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis) against disinformation, setting
up the Aletheia Centre of Excellence, and Media Futures, 'Data-driven innovation hub for
the media value chain'. He co-directed a project at Luiss on coordinated disinformation
operations in Italy with Harvard University and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is on the
Advisory Board of NewsGuard and EDMO.
Gianni Riotta was Professor of Logic at the University of Palermo, Professor of
Communication at the Media Lab of the University of Bologna founded by Umberto Eco,
visiting professor of social media and digital humanities at IMT Lucca.
A columnist for La Stampa, La Repubblica, Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, and The
Atlantic, he was director of Tg1 Rai and Sole 24 Ore, deputy director of La Stampa and
Corriere della Sera. He has been a correspondent and columnist for Corriere della Sera and
L'Espresso based in New York. In 2015, Riotta founded the digital start-up Catchy, which
received funding from Google's Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund to study the spread
of fake news.
Gianni Riotta is a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the editorial
board of Foreign Policy. He contributes to the BBC World Service. His editorials have been
published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, Wall Street Journal,
Financial Times, The Guardian, El Pais, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Foreign Affairs. His books
have been translated into numerous languages. Il principe delle nuvole (Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2000), a novel, was a finalist at the 'Prix Médicis' in France, won the 'European
Florio Award 2002' in the United Kingdom and was selected by BOL.COM as 'Book of the
Year 2001'; Cambio di stagione (Feltrinelli, 1992) was included in the Meridiano Mondadori
Anthology of the best short stories of Italy 1900-2000. His latest books are Il web ci rende
liberi? (Einaudi, 2013) and Il mondo di McCurry (Mondadori, 2015). Foreign Policy and
Prospect listed Gianni Riotta as one of the 'World 100 global thinkers'.

Riotta graduated in Logic from the University of Palermo and holds an MS from Columbia
University, Graduate School of Journalism. In 2011 he was awarded the Laurea Honoris
Causa by the Archivio di Stato, Rome, for his work in protecting Italy's cultural heritage. In
2014, President Giorgio Napolitano appointed Gianni Riotta Commendatore all'Ordine della
Repubblica Italiana motu proprio. Riotta is a member of the board of directors of the
Fondazione Memoriale Caduti per la Pace, the Fulbright Commission and the Italian
Academy at Columbia University. He lives between New York and Rome. One of the best
known international top influencers, Gianni Riotta is active on Twitter (@riotta), Facebook,
Instagram (@gianniriotta) and runs the website www.riotta.it.