Associate Professor
Stephen Harrington
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Communication
Biography
Stephen Harrington is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication, and a Chief Investigator in the Digital Media Research Centre. His work focuses on popular media (and satire in particular) as evolving forms of journalism practice, and understanding how these contemporary innovations shape and affect the relationships between ordinary citizens and politics. He is author of Australian TV News: New Forms, Functions, and Futures (Intellect, 2013), editor of Entertainment Values: How Do We Assess Entertainment, and Why Does it Matter? (Palgrave, 2017), and co-Author of Politics, Media and Democracy in Australia: Public and Producer Perceptions of the Political Public Sphere (Routledge, 2017). He also writes regularly about the media, politics and popular culture in non-academic outlets, having done so for publications such as The Punch (News Ltd. opinion site), The Conversation, the ABC’s The Drum, Crikey, and Pedestrian. Stephen is a former Chair (2016-2018) of the International Communication Association (ICA) Popular Communication division, and is a member of the editorial board of Journalism Studies.Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Communication
Research field
Communication and media studies, Creative and professional writing
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, CIF (Queensland University of Technology)
- B. of Creative Industries (Honours) (Queensland University of Technology)
Teaching
Stephen has taught extensively into the Journalism, Media and Communication undergraduate program for more than a decade, and has pioneered new approaches to teaching and learning in that time.
Publications
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/s.harrington
Selected research projects
- Title
- Understanding Twenty-First Century Media Uses and Purposes
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP250101051
- Start year
- 2025
- Keywords
- Title
- Understanding and Combatting 'Dark Political Communication'
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP240103362
- Start year
- 2024
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Collaborative Investigative Journalism in Indonesia in the Digital Age
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Aljosha Karim Schapals - Digital media literacy education in Indonesian universities
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Jenny Hou - Exploring Hidden Agendas: "Dark Political Communication" strategies in Taiwanese geopolitics
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Timothy Graham, Dr Ella Chorazy - Representations of radiation: case studies of traditional media reporting, and the cylinders that have driven that reporting
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Michelle Riedlinger - Understanding Twenty-First Century Media Diets: Sports Media and Audiences Diversity
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Amanda Lotz
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Misinformation Claims In Australian News: Lies, Fakes, And Scare Campaigns (2025)
- Framing the Belt and Road Initiative: Australian mainstream media narratives from 2013 to 2020 (2023)
- Meeting People Where They Are at: The Role of Small-scale Gender Advocacy Organisations in Promoting Digital Inclusion in South Africa (2021)
- Superfood Me: Negotiating Australia's Post-Gourmet Food Culture (2021)
- The Metrification of Legacy News: An Analysis of the Attitudes and Practices at Three Australian Outlets (2020)
- What Do Audiences Want from a Virtual Reality Entertainment Experience? (2020)
- Indie-Folk ™: Vintage sensibilities in the 21st century (2019)
- Social Media Governance: Platforms in Conflict - The Strategies of Operators and the Tactics of Users (2019)
- The Logics of Social News: How BuzzFeed, Junkee and Pedestrian.tv are Making News More Engaging, Sociable and Personal (2019)
- "Gateway to the Sideline": Brand communication on social media at large-scale sporting events (2018)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
Supervision topics
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.