Associate Professor Sally Young

School of Social and Political Sciences

Qualifications

BA Hons., University of Melbourne, PhD, University of Melbourne

Biography

Sally completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the Political Science Department at The University of Melbourne. Her PhD was on political advertising in Australia. During her PhD, Sally worked as a research assistant and as a tutor in Australian politics, American politics and media politics. Prior to that, she worked for the federal public service for seven years and also had brief stints working as an electorate officer and a volunteer on election campaigns.

Sally has taught in both the Media and Communications Program and the Politics Department. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the University of Melbourne. In 2006, she was the Rydon Fellow in Australian Politics and Political History at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College, London.

In 2008, Sally delivered a plenary on ‘Media, Politics and Political Scientists' at the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) annual conference hosted by the University of Queensland and was awarded the Henry Mayer Prize. On 11 July 2008, she delivered the Senate Occasional Lecture at Parliament House, Canberra on ‘Politics and the Media in Australia Today'.

Sally is a regular media commentator on Australian politics, elections and the media. She has been published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Good Weekend, The Canberra Times and The Herald Sun. She has also appeared on Lateline, The 7:30 Report, A Current Affair, SBS, JJJ, RRR and ABC Radio National.

Teaching

Strategic Political Communication

Full subject descriptions are available on the University of Melbourne Handbook.

Current research

Sally latest book is How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media (Cambridge University Press, 2011). This book is the result of a five year study of political reporting specifically, how federal election campaigns are reported in the Australian media. This research was funded by an ARC Discovery Project grant and an Arts Faculty Early Career Researcher Grant.

Sally has also been researching the future of journalism in Australia including changes in newspaper company structures, shifts in news and current affairs audiences and the changes brought about by 24-hour news. She has published journal articles in each of these areas in 2009-10. She has also continued to pursue her research interests in government communication and political finance.

Sally is on the editorial board of the refereed journal Communication, Politics and Culture and is also an editorial board member of the refereed Blackwell journal Sociology Compass.

Key Research Interests

Sally's research is primarily focused on media and politics in Australia. Her main interests are within the field of political communication including election campaigns, political and government advertising, political PR and marketing, political speeches and government communication. She also conducts research on journalism and the Australian media including news media and political reporting. Sally is also interested in electoral politics including incumbency, political finance, party politics, electoral behaviour and informal voting.

Publications

Books

(2011, available December 2010) How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(Editor) (2007) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(2005) From Banners to Broadcasts: A Collector's Book of Political Memorabilia, Canberra: National Library of Australia.
(2004) The Persuaders: Inside the Hidden Machine of Political Advertising, North Melbourne: Pluto Press.

Commissioned reports

(With Joo-Cheong Tham) (2006) "Political finance in Australia: A skewed and secret system?", Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra: Australian National University.

Journal Editions

(editor with Younane, Stephanie) (2008), Communication, Politics, Culture special edition on Politics and the Media (vol 41. no.2).

Book chapters

(in press) ‘Disclosure, Accountability and the Role of the Media’ in Tham, J., Orr, G. and Costar, B. (eds), Electoral Democracy: Australian Prospects, Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing.
(2010) ‘Audiences and the Impact of 24-Hour News in Australia and Beyond’ in Lewis, J. and Cushion, S. (eds), The Rise of 24-Hour News Television: Global Perspectives, Peter Lang, New York: 243-62.
(2007) 'A History of Government Advertising in Australia' in S.Young (ed.) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(2007) 'Innovations in Australian Government Communication' in S. Young (ed.) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(2007) 'Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Government Communication in Australia' in S. Young (ed.) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(2007) 'Conclusion: The Future of Government Communication' in S. Young (ed.) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
(2005) "Political Advertising: Hey Big Spender!?" in M. Simms and J. Warhurst (eds.), Mortgage Nation:The 2004 federal election, Perth: API Network.
(With David Tucker) (2001) 'Public Financing of Australian Election Campaign' in G. Patmore (ed.), The Big Makeover: A New Australian Constitution, Sydney: Pluto Press, Sydney, pp.60-71.
(2000) 'Why Australians Hate Politicians' in G. Patmore and D. Glover (eds.), For the People: Labor Essays 2001, Sydney: Pluto Press, pp.171-82.

Journal articles

(2010) ‘The Journalism “Crisis”: Is Australia Immune or Just Ahead of Its Time?’, Journalism Studies, 11(4):610-24.
(2009) 'The Decline of Traditional News and Current Affairs in Australia', Media International Australia 131: 147-59.
(2009) 'Sky News Australia: The Impact of Local 24-Hour News on Political Reporting in Australia, Journalism Studies 10 (3): 401-16.
(with Lisa Hill) (2009) 'Uncounted Votes: Informal Voting and Political Exclusion in Australia', Australian Journal of Politics and History 55 (1): 64-79.
(2008) 'Equivalence and Difference in the Reporting of Election Campaigns: Sky News and the 2007 Election', Communication, Politics and Media, vol 31 (2).
(2008) 'The Broadcast Political Interview and Strategies Used by Politicians: How the Australian Prime Minister Promoted the Iraq War', Media, Culture & Society 30 (5): 623-40.
(2008) (With Saskia Bourne and Stephanie Younane), 'Contemporary Political Communication: Audiences, Politicians and the Media in International Research', Sociology Compass. 1 (1): 41-59.
(2007) 'Following the Money Trail: Government Advertising, the Missing Millions and the Unknown Effects', Public Policy 2 (2): 104-118.
(2007) "The Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia: the Politicisation of a Public Policy Issue", Australian Journal of Public Administration. 66 (4): 438-452.
(With Lisa Hill) (2007) 'Protest or Error? Informal Voting and Compulsory Voting', Australian Journal of Political Science 42 (3): 515-21 (Research Note).
(2007) 'Policy-Making in a "Cold Climate" of Ruling Party Benefit: Party Government and the Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia', Australian Journal of Political Science 42 (3): 489-502.
(2007) 'Political and Parliamentary Speech in Australia', Parliamentary Affairs 60 (2): 234-52.
(2006) 'Australian Election Slogans, 1949-2004: Where Political Marketing Meets Political Rhetoric', Australian Journal of Communication 33 (1): 1-20.
(2006) 'Biting the Hand that Feeds? Media Reporting of Government Advertising in Australia', Journalism Studies, 7 (4): 554-74.
(2006) 'The Convergence of Political and Government Advertising: Theory Versus Practice?', Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 119: 99-111.
(2003) 'Killing Competition: Political Communication in Australia', AQ: Journal of Contemporary Analysis, 75 (3): 9-15.
(2003) 'A Net Opportunity: Australian Political Parties on the World Wide Web', Melbourne Journal of Politics, 28: 10-26.
(2003) 'A Century of Political Communication in Australia, 1901-2001', Journal of Australian Studies, 78: 97-110.
(2002) 'Spot on: The Role of Political Advertising in Australia', Australian Journal of Political Science, 37 (1): 81-98.

Conference proceedings

Younane, SL and Young, SA (eds) (2008), Proceedings of the Politics/Media Conference, 12-13 February 2008. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne. http://thesoapbox.unimelb.edu.au/pages/proceedings.html

Other refereed contributions

(2007) 'Political Advertising' in Galligan, B. and Roberts, W. The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2007) 'Review - The SAGE Handbook of Political Advertising', Australian Journal of Political Science, 42 (1): 178-79.
(2005) 'Theories for Understanding Government Advertising in Australia', Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra: Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
(2004)Wasted Votes?: Informal Voting and the 2004 Election', Democratic Audit of Australia, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, November.
(2003) 'Democracy, Communication and Money', Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra, Australia: Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.

Multimedia

The Soapbox (website) (closed until further funding secured)
Australian Political Advertising, 1972-2004. (CD Rom).

Recent conference papers

‘The Political News Audience’, Australian Political Studies Association (APSA), University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 27 September 2010.
'The Crisis in Journalism: Is Australia Immune?' Future of Journalism Conference, Cardiff University, 9-10 September 2009.
'Political Discourse in the Age of the Sound bite', Australasian Political Science Association Conference, 7-9 July 2008. Brisbane: University of Queensland.
'Sound bites of war: John Howard's mediated rhetoric in announcing the Iraq War', Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Annual Conference. 5-6 July 2007. Melbourne: La Trobe and University of Melbourne.
'Reform and Resistance: The Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia', Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference. 25-27 September 2006, University of Newcastle, City Hall, Newcastle.
(With Lisa Hill) 'Compulsory Voting and Informal Votes: What is the Real Relationship?' Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference. 25-27 September 2006, University of Newcastle, City Hall, Newcastle.
'Media Reporting of Government Advertising in Australia'. Australian Media Traditions Conference, Old Parliament House, Canberra (Hosted by the University of Canberra), 24-25 November 2005.
'Money Talks: Australian Elections and Political Communication', Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference, University of Adelaide, 29 September-1 October 2004.
'Incumbency Benefits', Political Finance Law Workshop, Griffith Law School/Socio-Legal Research Centre, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, 22 January 2004.
'Metacoverage and Political Reporting of Election Campaigns in Australia', "New(s) Times: Journalism Production and Practice, University of Melbourne, 1-2 December 2003.

Faculty of ArtsSchool of Social and Political Sciences

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