I’m an associate professor in the Department of Journalism, Media Studies and Public Relations at Hofstra University where I teach journalism in the undergraduate and graduate program with a focus on social, data and digital journalism. I have created several new courses in the department to help students prepare for the newer media industry and these courses include both undergraduate and graduate curriculum on social media, data journalism and multi-platform storytelling.
My research agenda is focused on the intersection between social media, journalism and politics and draws from Andrew Chadwick’s Hybrid Media System and I am currently pursuing a PhD which explores the 2016 Irish and U.S. general elections through the lens of social media, specifically Twitter. As part of this research I have already made several well-received presentations in the U.S. and Ireland.
In 2010, I founded Hofstra’s award-winning student news site, Long Island Report drawing on my experience as the founding editor of IrishCentral. com, the industry-leading U.S.-based Irish web site, and also my non-profit work for organizations such as the Rory Staunton Foundation, the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and the Irish charity GOAL, where I created websites and social media strategies for the organizations.
With more than 25 years of senior editorial experience in both print and online media, I am a contributor to both Poynter and Education Shift which cover changes in the media industry and media education.
Before switching to digital in 2000, and then academia in 2008, I worked at international newspaper titles including the Australian Financial Review (Fairfax) and Sydney Telegraph (News International) in Sydney; the Sunday Independent, Irish Independent and Evening Herald in Ireland and the Irish Voice newspaper and Irish America magazine in New York.
