Prof Catharine Lumby

Research Summary

Catharine Lumby is the Director of the Journalism and Media Research at the University of NSW. She was the Foundation Chair of the Media and Communications Department at the University of Sydney. She is the author of seven books and numerous book chapters and journal articles. Professor Lumby is a well-known public commentator who has worked as a news reporter, feature writer and columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bulletin magazine. She sits on the Education and Welfare Committee and the Research Committee of the National Rugby League, advising them on gender issues. She is also a member of the Advertising Standards Board. She has been awarded five Australian Research Council grants and is a member of the ARC Cultural Research Network. Her latest book is The Porn Report (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008) co-authored with Alan McKee and Kath Albury.

Research Interests

• The history and contemporary focus of Australian and US television news and current affairs
• The representation of gender in the media, popular culture and advertising
• Young women, self-image and media consumption
• The attitudes and behaviours of professional football players towards women and the role and status of women in the culture of Australian rugby league
• The cultural significance of celebrity in contemporary life
• Media ethics
• The media's role in shaping the contemporary public sphere and public debate
• Censorship, public policy and the production and consumption of pornography in Australia
• The production and consumption of children's media culture
• Contemporary debates around the sexualisation of children

Publications

Books

2008  Alvin Purple , Currency Press, Sydney.

2008    The Porn Report, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne (with Alan McKee and Kath Albury).

2006  Why TV Is Good For Kids: Raising 21st Century Children, Pan Macmillan, Sydney (with Duncan Fine).

2000 Tim Storrier: The Art of the Outsider, Craftman’s House, Sydney.

1999     Gotcha: Life In A Tabloid World, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. 

1997     Bad Girls: The Media, Sex and Feminism in the 90s, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. 

Edited Books:

2003;  Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne. (With Elspeth Probyn).

Chapters in Books:

2008 (in press)  “The Pursuit of Innocents: Children, Representation, and Sexuality”, ed. Paolo Batoloni, Textualising Ambiguity, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana.

2006 “Inside Out: The Contemporary Humanities in Practice”, Creating Value: The Humanities and Their Publics, ed. Probyn, Elspeth, Muecke, Stephen, and Shoemaker, Adam, The Australian Academy of the Humanities, Canberra, pp. 117-128.

2006 "Vanishing Point", The Celebrity Culture Reader, P.David Marshall (ed), Routledge, London and New York, pp. 530-546.

2006 "Media Ethics", The Media and Communications in Australia, ed. Cunningham, Stuart and Turner, Graeme, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, pp. 303-314.

2006 "Women", Sociology: Place, Time and Division, ed. Beilharz, Peter and Hogan, Trevor, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp. 214-218.

2004 “Our Man At the Cultural Studies Cliff Face”, Frank Moorhouse: A Celebration,  National Library, Canberra.

2004  "Outside In: Academics and Public Debate”, The Ideas Market, ed. Carter, D., Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

2003; "Working Girls or Drop-Dead Gorgeous? Young Girls in Fashion and News", Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Identities, Praeger, Wesport, Conn. And London (With John Hartley).

2003 "Real Appeal: The Ethics of Reality TV", Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics, ed. Lumby, C, and Probyn, E., Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.

2002 "Televising the Invisible: Prisoners, Prison Reform and the Media", Prisoners As Citizens, ed. Brown, D. and Wilkie, M., Federation Press, Sydney.

2002 "The Future of Journalism", The Media and Communications in

Australia, ed. Cunningham, S. and Turner, G. Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

2001  "Generation Panics: Age, Knowledge and Power in a New Media Era", Culture in Australia, ed. Bennett, T. and Carter, D., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

2001; "Systemic Murmurs", What Is Installation?, ed. Gezcy, A. and

Genocchio, B., Power Publications.

2001 "Entertaining Sex and Politics", Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the National Interest, ed. Berlant, L. and Duggan,L., New York University Press, New York.

1999 "Mediating Democracy, Politics and the Media in the Postmodern Public Sphere", New Voices for Social Democracy, ed. Patmore, G. and Glover,D. Pluto Press.

1998 Essay on feminism and the media, Australian Feminism: A Companion, Caine, B.  general editor, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. 

1998 "Feminisms", Americanisation and Australia, eds. Bell, P. and Bell, R., University of NSW Press.

1997 "Nothing Personal: Sex, Gender and Identity in the Media Age", Sex In Public: Australian Sexual Cultures, ed. Matthews,J., Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

1997 "Back To The Brady Bunch’, The Retreat From Tolerance, ed.  P. Adams,  ABC Books, Sydney.

1997 "Vanishing Point", Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning, ed.  Re: Public, Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, University of Western Sydney, Sydney.

1995 "Tabloid Television", with John O'Neill, Not Just Another Business:Journalists, Citizens  and the Media, Pluto Press, Melbourne. 

Journal Articles:

2008  Lumby, C. and Albury, K., “Homer Versus Homer: Digital media, Literacy and Child Protection”, Media International Australia, No. 128, August, pp. 80-88

2005 "Playing By the Rules: Off the Field", University of NSW Law Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 312-315.

2004 “Out of the Slipstream: Young girls and Fame”, Griffith Review, Spring 2004, pp. 109-116.

2001 "Watching them Watching Us: The Trouble With Teenage Girls", Continuum, Volume 15, No. 1, April, pp. 49-55.

2000     "Sex, Murder, and Moral Panic: Coming to a Suburb Near You", Meanjin, Volume 58, no. 4, pp.  92-106.

1999     "Genre Anxiety: Media Studies and Popular Debate", Media Information Australia, No.  88, February, pp. 40-47.

1998     'No Kidding: Paedophilia and Popular Culture", Continuum, Volume 12, No.1, April, pp. 47-55.

1997     "Girls and the New Media", Meanjin, Volume 56, No. 1, pp.  105-118.

1997     'Panic Attacks: Old Fears in a New Media Order", Media International Australia, No.  85, November, pp.  40-46. 

Review Articles:

2003"Democratising Cultural Studies", Cultural Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 224-226.

2002 "Teaching Media Studies", Continuum, Vol. 15, Number 1, April, pp. 129-132.