Journalism

We investigate how emerging technologies, digital platforms, and cultural influences reshape news, public debate, and everyday life. Using methods from technology studies, social sciences, philosophy, linguistics, and cultural research, our projects examine how digital change impacts both the communication sectors and broader social systems, politics, the economy, law, and the environment. 

Our researchers analyse how mass communication influences debates on public policy, human rights, environmental protection, gender identity, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Projects range from local community media and regional news outlets to global platforms and digital start-ups, with a strong focus on the Global South, where issues of inequality, governance, and media sustainability are especially pressing. 

A key part of our research investigates how journalism is being transformed by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. We study the effects of AI-driven tools on newsroom practices, employment, media ethics, and the diversity and trustworthiness of news coverage. 

We ask critical questions about whether technological innovation can rebuild public trust in journalism or risk deepening disinformation and polarisation. Our research also informs industry debates on the ethical and sustainable use of AI in journalism and communication. 

Our research examines how news is made from global war and conflict. We study how news coverage shapes public understanding, political emotion, and the possibilities for social justice, solidarity and peace. Working at the intersection of media, society, and politics, our research explores how journalists navigate violence, censorship, exile, and symbolic borders both online and offline. 

A core strand of our work focuses on peace and human rights journalism, and decolonising war and conflict reporting - foregrounding journalistic practices that centre recognition and the agency of affected communities. Methodologically, our research draws on media ethnography, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, digital media analysis, and computational analysis. 

Our researchers investigate new storytelling methods — from long-form and literary journalism to interactive, cross-platform, and social media narratives. Projects like Miles Franklin Undercover (Kerrie Davies) demonstrate how history and public memory can be reimagined through innovative journalistic approaches that combine scholarship and creative practice. 

Podcasting is an evolving platform for media innovation and research. Our work investigates podcasting as a space for journalistic experimentation, learning, and transparent media practices. 

Through practice-based research, we examine how creating and analysing podcasts facilitates critical reflection, creative independence, and ethical reimagining among students and emerging journalists. We also consider how audio storytelling is transforming the modern media landscape and fostering audience trust. 

In an online world saturated with commentary, our research creates new frameworks for analysing opinion journalism. Using linguistic and rhetorical analysis, we examine how columnists, bloggers, and influencers build partisanship, and, alternatively, open-mindedness. 

This work contributes to debates on media ethics, public discourse, and epistemic responsibility, and improves tools for assessing fairness, reasoning, and transparency in public argument.