PhD (University of Massachusetts), MA (Caius College, Cambridge University), MA (Pennsylvania State University), BA, Hons (Caius College, Cambridge University)
My research focuses on media audiences, media users, and the politics of popular culture. It is informed by British and American Cultural Studies and the North American Mass Communication tradition. Methodologically, I use ethnography, cultivation analysis, quantitative survey research, content analysis and online thematic discourse analysis, guided by grounded theory. Many recent projects focus on social media. I welcome postgraduate inquiries in all of these areas. If you would like to know more about my writing and other research activities, please click the hyperlinks below, indicated in blue.
I am author of three books: Youth and Media, Investigating Audiences and Understanding Audiences. All 3 titles are with Sage Publications.
Other studies of media audiences, youth, mass communication theory, research methods, social media, reality television, violence, school shootings, celebrity, alcohol, politics, sport fans, pornography, media education and the politics of comedy have been published in several anthologies and scholarly journals. I’m best known for my work on Cultivation Analysis.
I regularly write analysis and opinion pieces for The Conversation, Australia’s largest independent news website. I have also written for the Sydney Morning Herald and On Line Opinion: Australia’s e-journal of social and political debate, and provided commentary for television, radio and press outlets including: ABC News 24, ABC News Radio, ABC Drive Time, BBC Radio 4, the Australian Associated Press, the Herald Sun, Metro, SBS Radio and Triple J.
As well as lecturing in Communications and Media Studies, I am the Coordinator of the Film, Media and Communications Postgraduate Program, and Vice Chair of the International Communication Association’s Popular Communication Division. I serve on the editorial boards of Communication Theory, Sociology Compass, Particip@tions and the Journal of Public Affairs, and have reviewed papers for numerous international journals including Communication, Culture & Critique, Continuum, Media International Australia and Sociology.
I have taught at universities in the US, the UK, New Zealand and South Korea, and have delivered postgraduate seminars at the Communication University of China in Beijing
For anyone who may be interested in teaching resources, I maintain a Youth and Media Blog.
You can also follow me on Twitter.
My new book, Youth and Media, is now available from Sage. Click the link below for more details. Youth and Media Read more- Here’s something I wrote about the Ding Dong the Witch is Dead! controversy that followed the death of Margaret Thatcher. The piece uses some of the ideas from Youth and Media Click below. Will history remember the ‘Ding-Dong!’ over Margaret Thatcher Read more
- Fascinating new research has come out about UK soccer fans’ attitude to gay football players. Click below for a piece I did on these studies for The Conversation Soccer and homophobia: why even homophobes are sick of it Read more
- Football, fascism, racism.Please click below for a piece I did on new research on football and racism. Fascism and racism: does it really matter what Sunderland’s Paolo Di Canio thinks Read more
- Sample Chapter from new book, “Youth and Media”Read a sample chapter from my new book, Youth and Media, here: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book233371/toc#tabview=samples Read more
- On video game violence.Here’s an article on video game violence. What I’m trying t do, here, is explain why video game violence might play a positive role when gamers ask how shoot-em-ups fit into wider cultures of violence. https://theconversation.edu.au/violent-videogames-should-worry-us-but-shouldnt-be-banned-11490 Read more
- On James Bond and media violence.Click below for a piece I did for the Sydney Morning Herald on Skyfall and the media violence debate. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/brutal-bond-restarts-debate-20130103-2c6zv.html Read more
- Sandy Hook and research on media violenceClick below for a news opinion piece on how media research informs current controversies about the reporting of the Newtown tragedy. https://theconversation.edu.au/from-copy-cats-to-child-witnesses-the-ethics-of-reporting-school-shootings-11405 Read more
- On the 2DayFM controversyHere’s a piece I wrote for The Conversation on the furore surrounding 2DayFM. Click the link. https://theconversation.edu.au/jacintha-saldanha-is-the-latest-victim-of-a-media-saturated-world-11247 Read more
- On the effects of pornography.Here’s an opinion piece I wrote about understanding research on pornography consumers. It’s based on a work in progress; a book chapter on pornography research for an edited collection on the adult industry. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14423 Read more
School Shootings: Mediatized Violence in a Global AgeI’ve contributed a chapter on school shootings and media performances of gender in this collection, edited by Glenn Muschert and Johanna Sumiala. My piece analyses the role of media in Jared Loughner’s attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords. Read more- On political celebrity.I’ve written a few things about political celebrity, including a few things about London Mayor Boris Johnson. Here’s a link to a radio interview I did a few years back, where I explain the value of thinking of politicians as celebrities. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed_20051012.shtml Read more
‘Four more years’: that Obama tweet and the politics of intimacyOn politics and social media, here’s a recent news commentary piece on Barak Obama. The article showcases some of the ideas from my forthcoming book, Youth and Media. See on Scoop.it – Youth Media It’s been quite a year for tweeters. First we had the Twitter Olympics. See on theconversation.edu.au Read more
