Dr Sally Young
Senior lecturer, Media and Communications
Qualifications
BA Hons., University of Melbourne, PhD, University of Melbourne
Biography
Sally completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the Political Science Department at The University of Melbourne. Her PhD was on political advertising in Australia. During her PhD, Sally worked as a research assistant and as a tutor in Australian politics, American politics and media politics. Prior to that, she worked for the federal public service for seven years and also had brief stints working as an electorate officer and a volunteer on election campaigns.
Sally has taught in both the Media and Communications Program and the Politics Department. In 2006, she was the Rydon Fellow in Australian Politics and Political History at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, London. In 2001, she was one of the National Library of Australia's Norman McCann Summer Scholars.
In 2008, Sally was an invited keynote speaker for the Australasian Parliamentary Library Association and the Australasian Study of Parliament Group. She delivered a plenary on ‘Media, Politics and Political Scientists' at the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) annual conference hosted by the University of Queensland and was awarded the Australian Political Studies Association Henry Mayer Prize. On 11 July 2008, she delivered the Senate Occasional Lecture at Parliament House, Canberra on ‘Politics and the Media in Australia Today'.
Sally is a regular media commentator on Australian politics, elections and the media. She has been published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Good Weekend, The Canberra Times and The Herald Sun. She has also appeared on Lateline, The 7:30 Report, A Current Affair, SBS, JJJ, RRR and ABC Radio National.
Teaching
- 100-222 Understanding Australian Media
- 100-208 Politics, Communication, Media
- 100-577 Strategic Political Communication
Full subject descriptions are available on the University of Melbourne Handbook.
Current research
Sally is currently writing a book on political communication methods in Australia including election campaigns and how they are reported in the media. This arises from her research into media coverage of Australian election campaigns funded by an ARC Discovery Project grant.
Sally recently edited a book on government communication in Australia for Cambridge University Press. In October 2007, she created a new website of election-related political communication resources including speeches, debates and political ads - called the Soapbox. She also has an ongoing interest in government advertising and, in 2005, appeared as an expert witness before a Senate Inquiry into Government Advertising. In 2006, she completed a co-written report with Joo Cheong Tham on political finance in Australia for the Democratic Audit of Australia.
In 2001, Sally founded the Political Advertising Archive (PAA). The PAA is the largest dedicated archive of Australian election material. It holds thousands of political advertisements and newspaper articles as well as campaign ephemera such as buttons, badges, posters, t-shirts, hats and brochures. The material dates from 1843 to 2002. Sally's work on the PAA is ongoing as new resources are sought and collected on an ongoing basis. A CD Rom of political ads from 1972-2001 is available.
Sally is on the editorial board of the refereed journal Communication, Politics and Culture and is also an editorial board member of the refereed Blackwell journal Sociology Compass.
Key Research Interests
Sally's research is primarily focused on media and politics in Australia. Her main interests are within the field of political communication including news management, political and government advertising, political PR, the use of consultants, advisers and "spin-doctors", political marketing, political speeches, government communication, election campaigns and political reporting. Sally is also interested in incumbency, political finance, party politics, electoral behaviour and informal voting.
Publications
Books
- (Editor) (2007) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- (2005) From Banners to Broadcasts: A Collector's Book of Political Memorabilia, Canberra: National Library of Australia.
- (2004) The Persuaders: Inside the Hidden Machine of Political Advertising, North Melbourne: Pluto Press.
Commissioned reports
- (With Joo-Cheong Tham) (2006) "Political finance in Australia: A skewed and secret system?", Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra: Australian National University.
Journal Editions
- (editor with Younane, Stephanie) (2008), Communication, Politics, Culture special edition on Politics and the Media (vol 41.no.2).
Book chapters
- (2007) "A History of Government Advertising in Australia" in S.Young (ed) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- (2007) "Innovations in Australian Government Communication" in S. Young (ed) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- (2007) 'Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Government Communication in Australia" in S. Young (ed) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- (2007) "Conclusion: The Future of Government Communication" in S. Young (ed) Government Communication in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
- (2005) "Political Advertising: Hey Big Spender!?" in M. Simms and J. Warhurst (eds), Mortgage Nation:The 2004 federal election, Perth: API Network.
- (With David Tucker) (2001) "Public Financing of Australian Election Campaign" in G. Patmore (ed), The Big Makeover: A New Australian Constitution, Sydney: Pluto Press, Sydney, pp.60-71.
- (2000) "Why Australians Hate Politicians" in G. Patmore and D. Glover (eds), For the People: Labor Essays 2001, Sydney: Pluto Press, pp.171-82.
Journal articles
- (2008) “Equivalence and Difference in the Reporting of Election Campaigns: Sky News and the 2007 Election”, Communication, Politics and Media, vol 31 (2).
- (2008) “The Broadcast Political Interview and Strategies Used by Politicians: How the Australian Prime Minister Promoted the Iraq War”, Media, Culture & Society 30 (5): 623-40.
- (2008) (With Saskia Bourne and Stephanie Younane), "Contemporary political communication: audiences, politicians and the media in international research", Sociology Compass. 1 (1): 41-59.
- (2007) "Following the money trail: Government advertising, the missing millions and the unknown effects", Public Policy 2 (2): 104-118.
- (2007) "The regulation of government advertising in Australia: the politicisation of a public policy issue", Australian Journal of Public Administration. 66 (4): 438-452.
- (With Lisa Hill) (2007) "Protest or error? Informal Voting and Compulsory Voting", Australian Journal of Political Science 42 (3): 515-21 (Research Note).
- (2007) "Policy-making in a 'cold climate' of ruling party benefit: Party government and the regulation of government advertising in Australia", Australian Journal of Political Science 42 (3): 489-502.
- (2007) "Political and parliamentary speech in Australia", Parliamentary Affairs 60 (2): 234-52.
- (2006) "Australian Election Slogans, 1949-2004: Where Political Marketing Meets Political Rhetoric", Australian Journal of Communication 33 (1): 1-20.
- (2006) "Biting the Hand that Feeds? Media Reporting of Government Advertising in Australia", Journalism Studies, 7 (4): 554-74.
- (2006) "The Convergence of Political and Government Advertising: Theory Versus Practice?", Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 119: 99-111.
- (2003) "Killing Competition: Political Communication in Australia", AQ: Journal of Contemporary Analysis, 75 (3): 9-15.
- (2003) "A Net Opportunity: Australian Political Parties on the World Wide Web", Melbourne Journal of Politics, 28: 10-26.
- (2003) "A Century of Political Communication in Australia, 1901-2001", Journal of Australian Studies, 78: 97-110.
- (2002) "Spot on: The Role of Political Advertising in Australia", Australian Journal of Political Science, 37 (1): 81-98.
Conference proceedings
- Younane, SL and Young, SA (eds) (2008), Proceedings of the Politics/Media Conference, 12-13 February 2008. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne. http://thesoapbox.unimelb.edu.au/pages/proceedings.html
Other refereed contributions
- (2007) "Political Advertising" in Galligan, B. and Roberts, W. The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- (2007) "Review - The SAGE Handbook of Political Advertising", Australian Journal of Political Science, 42 (1): 178-79.
- (2005) "Theories for Understanding Government Advertising in Australia", Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra: Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
- (2004)"Wasted Votes?: Informal Voting and the 2004 Election", Democratic Audit of Australia, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, November.
- (2003) "Democracy, Communication and Money", Democratic Audit of Australia. Canberra, Australia: Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
Multimedia
- The Soapbox (website)
- Australian Political Advertising, 1972-2004. (CD Rom).
Recent conference papers
- "Political discourse in the age of the soundbite", Australasian Political Science Association Conference, 7-9 July 2008. Brisbane: University of Queensland.
- "Sound bites of war: John Howard's mediated rhetoric in announcing the Iraq War", Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Annual Conference. 5-6 July 2007. Melbourne: La Trobe and University of Melbourne.
- "Reform and Resistance: The Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia", Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference. 25-27 September 2006, University of Newcastle, City Hall, Newcastle.
- (With Lisa Hill) 'Compulsory Voting and Informal Votes: What is the Real Relationship?' Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference. 25-27 September 2006, University of Newcastle, City Hall, Newcastle.
- "Media Reporting of Government Advertising in Australia". Australian Media Traditions Conference, Old Parliament House, Canberra (Hosted by the University of Canberra), 24-25 November 2005.
- "Money Talks: Australian Elections and Political Communication", Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference, University of Adelaide, 29 September-1 October 2004.
- "Incumbency Benefits", Political Finance Law Workshop, Griffith Law School/Socio-Legal Research Centre, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, 22 January 2004.
- "Metacoverage and Political Reporting of Election Campaigns in Australia", "New(s) Times: Journalism Production and Practice, University of Melbourne, 1-2 December 2003.