Kazi Mehedi Hasan, a former seasoned broadcast journalist from Bangladesh, has been awarded a PhD degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts from Southern Illinois University (SIU) in the United States.
His doctoral research explored the evolution of the media environment and its role in driving political polarisation in the US between 2012 and 2024.
His dissertation, titled “Personalized Politics in the Digital Age: How Media Exposure and Social Media Microtargeting Impact Public Agenda Diversity and Widen Partisan Polarization in US Presidential Elections (2012–2024),” posits that the rise of social media and data-driven political campaigns have fundamentally shaped political polarisation and public agenda diversity in recent years.
Dr Hasan’s research specifically found that the customisation of messaging through social media campaigns has increased issue fragmentation, thereby fuelilng political division in the United States.
The research was conducted under the supervision of Professor Dr Kavita Karan. The doctoral committee included Dr Lisa Brooten, Dr Patrick Meirick, Dr Walter Metz, Dr Dong Han, and Dr Yoshua Ryoo.
Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr Hasan earned a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Mississippi, USA. He also holds both an MA and a BA (Honours) in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Before moving to the United States, Dr Hasan had a distinguished career as a broadcast journalist in Bangladesh, where he was widely known as Shujon Mehedi.
During this time, he contributed to prominent television networks including Independent Television, Channel One, and NTV. He is currently serving as a Teaching Assistant at Southern Illinois University.
Born in Faridpur and raised in Keshobpur Upazila of Jashore District, Dr Hasan completed his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) from Sagardari Michael Madhusudan Institution. He is the eldest son of the late Kazi Wohidul Islam and Shirina Islam of Shekpura village in Keshobpur Upazila.
