Bill Birnbauer is a senior lecturer of Journalism at Monash University, and is one of Australia’s most senior journalists with more than 30 years experience working across a range of major publications including The Age, The Sunday Age and The Herald. He is a member of the invitation-only International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a committee member of the Melbourne Press Club, and member of the New Media Australia Editorial Board.
Peter Browne edits the Institute for Social Research’s new website, Inside Story, which publishes essays, journalism and commentary from academic researchers and journalists. He co-edits Australian Policy Online, Creative Economy and UNSW Press’s Briefings series, and is a member of the Democratic Audit of Australia. He is former editor of the monthly magazine Australian Society and was the humanities and social sciences publisher at UNSW Press from 1997 to 2001.
Dr Andrew Dodd has been a journalist for over twenty years, working in radio, TV, print and on-line. He has worked with community radio, ABC radio and television, Radio Netherlands, The Age and various magazines. He was a media and business writer with The Australian and a broadcaster with ABC Radio National, where he presented many of the network's programs and founded the Media Report. He also writes for Crikey and is a senior lecturer at Swinburne University.
Dr Margaret Simons is also a member of the Public Interest Journalism Foundation Board, scroll down to view biography.
Belinda Hawkins has 25 years experience in TV, radio and print journalism with a focus being on long form television current affairs. Her work with both ABC and SBS has included long stints as a foreign correspondent as well as many years in the daily grind of news and same day current affairs. For the past 8 years Belinda has been working as a full time permanent senior journalist with ABC TV’s documentary current affairs program ‘Australian Story’ and is based in Melbourne.
Dr Nick Richardson has been a journalist for more than 25 years and is Group News Editor at Leader Community Newspapers. He has taught journalism at RMIT University and is still a senior associate with that program. His career has spread across metropolitan dailies, weekly news magazines, tabloids, broadsheets, reporting, writing columns and editing. He has written or co-written three non-fiction books.
Baria Bol completed a Bachelor of Media Studies at LaTrobe University in 2006, majoring in print journalism. Continuing her studies at Swinburne University, she later completed a Master of Arts in Media and Communications. Having worked for a range of ethnic community publications and broadcasters, Baria returned to university to complete a Diploma of Education at LaTrobe University. Taking part in the Department of Premiere and Cabinet’s Media Internship Program, Baria gained industry experience at Leader Community Newspapers. She currently reports for Leader across a broad range of readership and is a Media and English/ESL teacher.
Tara Peck is completing a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) at Swinburne University of Technology, majoring in Literature with a focus on the topics of citizen journalism and new media. She is Project Officer for the Public Interest Journalism Foundation and point of contact for all YouCommNews enquiries.
Professor Michael Bromley is currently the Head of the School of Journalism and Communication (SJC) at The University of Queensland and a former journalist. Michael has experience of journalism as a scholarly activity, in education and training and as a practitioner over more than 40 years in a number of countries. He has published extensively on Journalism and the media and is a member of the editorial boards of Australian Journalism Review and Media International Australia.
Ms Bronwen Clune has worked in traditional print newspaper as a journalist at the West Australian and is founder and CEO of Norg media, a company dedicated to creating people-powered news sites around the world. She has spoken at conferences both nationally and overseas on the future of the media and its content.
Ms Diana Gribble AM is the Director of Private Media Pty Ltd, a media investment group. Diana is also Publisher of Crikey.com.au and of SmartCompany.com.au Pty Ltd. Founding shareholder and director of The Text Media Group 1990-2004 (non-executive chairman 2000-04) and Director of Care Australia and Lonely Planet Publications between 2004-2008. She has served on advisory committees for the Australian Book Publishers Association, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the Centre for Philosophy and Public Issues at the University of Melbourne. Diana was awarded an AM for services to publishing and the promotion of Australian literature in 1993.
Elaine Henry, CEO of The Smith Family, is passionate about the power of education to transform lives. In her efforts to influence public policy she has served on public committees at the state, national and international levels. Current appointments include the Australian Government’s Financial Literacy Advisory Board; the Australian Statistics Advisory Board; the Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Board of the University of Wollongong; the Australian School of Business Advisory Council, University of NSW; the Dean’s Advisory Board, Faculty of Education & Social Work, University of Sydney; the Sydney Advisory Council of the Centre for Social Impact, The Board of Governors of CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia). Elaine is also a Trustee of the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Mr Gerard Noonan has been a journalist for more than 30 years, at both the Australian Financial Review, where he was editor for five years between 1988 and 1992, and at the Sydney Morning Herald. He represented Fairfax Media on the Australian Press Council for five years. While he was AFR editor, Gerard was elected chairman of the industry superannuation fund JUST Super, covering journalists and actors. He was instrumental in the recent successful merger of JUST with the printing industry fund to create Media Super.
Dr Julianne Schultz AM is the founding editor of Griffith REVIEW, the award-winning literary and public affairs quarterly established by Griffith University in 2003. She is a professor at Griffith’s Centre for Public Culture and Ideas, a member of the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Arts Minister’s Creative Australia Advisory Group. Schultz is the author or editor of more than twenty books and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2009 for her services to the community as a journalist, writer, editor and academic.
Dr Margaret Simons is a freelance journalist, author and lecturer at Swinburne University, Simons began her journalistic career on a country newspaper in South Australia before doing a cadetship at The Age, where she worked for almost ten years. During that time she reported on the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland, and then became a consultant to the inquiry to aid in writing its report. Simons has also worked for The Australian, and is currently a media commentator for Crikey.com.au. She has written seven books and numerous essays and articles, and been short listed in the Walkley Awards three times.
Ms Melissa Sweet is one of Australia’s most experienced health journalists, and has worked at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Bulletin magazine and Australian Associated Press. She has been freelancing for the past decade, and her work appears in many professional and general publications. She is the author or co-author of four books, and was awarded a Dart Centre Ochberg Fellowship for “Inside Madness” (Pan Macmillan, 2006). She is a founding member of the Crikey Health and Medical Panel and holds honorary appointments as a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, and in the School of Medicine at Notre Dame University (Sydney campus).
Professor Julian Thomas is Director of the Institute for Social Research and Professor of Media and Communications at Swinburne University of Technology. Before coming to Swinburne in 2000, he taught new media at RMIT University, and worked on the staff of the Productivity Commission's Broadcasting Inquiry. Julian is an Associate Editor of the website Australian Policy Online, and was co-editor with Peter Browne of Briefings, a public policy book series published by UNSW Press. He is also a member of the Consumer Forum of the Australian Media and Communications Authority, and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation.
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