The Media and Academic
Publication: Lessons From
My PhD Thesis
Mark David Ryan
Queensland University of Technology
2 July 2009
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A Dark New World’s Media
Coverage
My PhD thesis “A Dark New World: Anatomy of
Australian horror films” received almost 40
stories in national broadcast, print and online
news
• Broadcast: Triple J, 3AW, thewire.org etc
• Print: The Age, The West Australian, The
Courier Mail, Brisbane Times, MX magazine etc
• Online: Sky News Online, Yahoo movies,
Bigpond movies etc
•
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A Dark New World’s Media
Coverage
Academic outcomes
The media coverage of my thesis resulted
directly in:
• Invitations to write a journal article and
book chapter
• Invitations to edit a journal theme
• Media commentary
•
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Working with the media
• Pitch the right angles/what you value may not be
what the media find interesting
• To an extent simplify your research
• Be very careful what you go public with, the
media can misconstrue your research
• Even if you think you’ve considered every
possibility, the media will ask you something
don’t expect
•
4

The benefits of media
outcomes
• Immediacy of knowledge diffusion
• Reaches a broader audience (which is both a
pro and a con). E.g. you may become the target
of criticism on blogs etc
• Media coverage legitimates your research
• As research revolves more and more
interdisciplinary partnerships and industry
partnerships, academics can no longer afford to
be insular
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