Lawrie Zion

Lawrie Zion is Professor of Journalism and Director of the Transforming Human Societies research focus area that supports interdisciplinary research. Prior to the role he headed La Trobe's Department of Media and Communication at La Trobe University, where he has worked since 2006. He is the co-founder of upstart magazine (www.upstart.net.au) and lead Chief Investigator of the New Beats project (www.newbeatsblog.com) which is a five year study that is exploring the aftermath of journalism redundancies in Australia. His new book, 'The Weather Obsession', is published by Melbourne University Publishing.

In 2014 he co-edited (with David A. Craig) Ethics for Digital Journalists: Emerging Best Practices for Routledge in New York. In 2013 he and his colleague Dr Christopher Scanlon received a citation from the Office for Learning and Teaching “for the development of an authentic learning environment in the discipline of journalism through the website upstart and its integration into the curriculum”.

After completing his PhD about the pop music scene in Australia during the 1960s, he worked for nine years at ABC radio, primarily at Triple J, where he launched the station’s Hottest 100 music poll. He was subsequently a journalist for both The Age and The Australian, and a writer/researcher for two ABC music documentary series - Long Way to the Top and Love is in the Air. He wrote and co-produced the 2007 documentary, The Sounds of Aus, which told the story of the Australian accent. The Sounds of Aus won Chicago’s Hugo prize for best international documentary and was nominated for a Logie.