James Morrison

I am an Associate Professor in Journalism at University of Stirling and hold a PhD in Media and Communications, a PG Dip in Journalism Studies from Cardiff University and a BA Honours Degree (2.1) in Archaeology from University of York. My PhD thesis (published by Palgrave Macmillan as the monograph Familiar Strangers, Juvenile Panic and the British Press) focused on the interplay between news media portrayals of children and young people as victims and threats and parental and juvenile attitudes towards risk. I have published two subsequent monographs to date: Scroungers: Moral Panics and Media Myths (Zed Books, 2019) and The Left Behind: Reimagining Britain's Socially Excluded (Pluto Press, 2022). The focus of my current research is on the intersection between media and political discourses, social attitudes and the lived experiences of people from marginalised groups - primarily those experiencing economic and intersectional disadvantages. I am also a senior examiner and member of the Public Affairs Board of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the author of the core Journalism textbook Essential Public Affairs for Journalists (OUP), which is now in its eighth edition. Prior to becoming a lecturer in 2003, I worked for a decade as a full-time journalist - progressing from local newspapers via the Press Association to the Independent on Sunday, where I became Arts and Media Correspondent. As a freelance feature-writer, I have written for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, as well as numerous magazines, ranging from History Today, The Ecologist, Museums Journal and Current Archaeology to Telegraph Magazine and the Times Educational Supplement. I have also worked as a freelance media trainer for the British Council and Periodical Publishers' Association and carried out interview-based research for the DCMS-funded project 'In from the Cold', commissioned by the Collections Trust to explore national museum policies towards digitising 'orphan works'.