Fernando is the research director of Media Cloud (mediacloud.org), and leads the Media Ecosystems Analysis Group (mediaecosystems.org).
His research focuses on media representation, mis/disinformation, audiences, and on the different forms of measuring the Internet—people, content, infrastructure, activity. This interest led to the creation of the Net Data Directory (netdatedirectory.org). He is also interested in the evolution and implications of online advertising, and in the process of commercialization of communication.
For over two decades he has taught in the Communication programs of IE University, and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. He previously worked on applied research as Senior Analyst at the Internet Research Group LLC and Research Analyst at CDNOW Inc. He has also served as regional editor for Latin America on a large scale multi-national research project (Mapping Digital Media), and is a consultant to the media partnerships group at the Gates Foundation.
He is the author of “The Internet Audience: Constitution and Measurement” (Peter Lang, New York) and editor of “On Communicating: Otherness, Meaning, and Information” (Routledge: New York). Fernando holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, and an M.A. from the Annenberg School for Communication (University of Pennsylvania).
