Professor Andrea Carson

Professor Andrea Carson was a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Visiting Academic Associate at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. She is a Professor of Political Communication in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University.

Professor Carson is a political scientist and journalism scholar who examines the news media’s role in politics. She researches media and political trust; campaigns and elections; fake news and mis and disinformation during elections; and media regulation and business models.

Her publications focus on information quality (both high and low) with special interests in investigative journalism (evidence-based information) and mis- and disinformation (low quality information). She undertakes comparative work on the regulatory environments of digital platforms and mitigation measures to tackle mis- and disinformation such as fact-checking. Her work is published in political science, journalism and communications journals and her recent books include Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age (2020), Undercover Reporting, Deception, and Betrayal in Journalism (2023, co-edited with Denis Muller). She co-edited Australian Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Old Institutions, New Challenges (2018).

Andrea is the 2023 recipient of La Trobe University’s Vice Chancellor’s overall research excellence award. She holds three Australian Research Council grants and several industry grants, including with Meta to study mis and disinformation, and the 2023 Australian referendum. She advises governments, think tanks and other stakeholders on mis- and disinformation and is a 2023 Australian Higher Education emerging leader finalist in the Australian Financial Review Awards. She is an invited research fellow with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia Research (WLIA). She is a past recipient of La Trobe University’s top researcher (mid-career) and researcher industry engagement awards.

She holds a PhD in Political Science and an MA in International Politics from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She teaches courses on political communication, media and politics, and campaigns and elections. She has previously worked as a journalist with 13 years’ experience in print journalism (The Age, Melbourne) TV and radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).