Professor Ian Richards

Welcome to my home page. I am Professor of Journalism at the University of South Australia and chair of the university's Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). I am also an Australian Research Council "Expert of International Standing".

My research interest is journalism and media ethics, an area in which I have published widely, and my publications include Quagmires and Quandaries: exploring journalism ethics (2005, University of NSW Press). I also have a strong interest in the relationship between the media and social capital. I teach print journalism, journalism ethics and journalism theory, and supervise a range of PhD and Masters students.

This year I became the inaugural Dart Australasia Academic Fellow when I was awarded a Dart Foundation Fellowship at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York, USA. The Fellowship incorporates a program focusing on the issues raised when journalists report human tragedy.

In August, 2009, I represented Australian journalism academics at a meeting in Boston, USA, to plan the second World Journalism Education Congress, held in South Africa in July, 2010. I was also an invited presenter at an intensive media ethics colloquium organised by the University of Montreal and McGill University in Montreal, Canada in April, 2009.

I was one of 15 invited presenters at an international communication ethics colloquium in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA in 2008 to mark the retirement of eminent scholar Clifford Christians. I was an invited speaker at UNESCO’s “International Symposium on Media and Ethics” in Ankara, Turkey, in 2006, and one of 15 journalism educators and researchers invited to Paris, France, by UNESCO's Division for Communication Development for the first "Experts' Consultative Meeting on Journalism Education" in 2005.

I have been closely involved with the establishment of the Ethics Centre of South Australia (ECSA), which fosters collaborative research and scholarship in ethics and is a joint venture between UniSA, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide.

Since 2003 I have been editor of Australian Journalism Review, Australia's leading refereed journal in the academic field of journalism. From 2004 - 2007 I represented Australian journalism education on an international committee organising the world’s first journalism education congress, held in Singapore in 2007.

As Chair of UniSA's HREC, I am heavily involved in overseeing major changes to UniSA’s research ethics approval system and UniSA’s response to the revised Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. Much of this work has been conducted through my membership of the Research Integrity, Accountability and Compliance Committee (RIACC), a University-wide committee established as part of a new governance framework for the oversight of issues related to research ethics, integrity and compliance.

In 2008, I chaired a small working party which organised and ran Australia’s first national forum on non-medical research and the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (the national standard which guides ethics committees at Australian universities). Participants in the forum, held at La Trobe University in Melbourne, included experienced humanities and social sciences researchers, senior university managers, and representatives of the Australian Health Ethics Committee (which oversees the National Statement). The success of the forum is an important first step towards developing an ongoing dialogue between non-medical researchers and those responsible for research ethics in Australia.

I was awarded the first PhD in journalism in the state of South Australia. A former newspaper journalist, I have a wide range of journalistic experience extending from general reporting to leader-writing and covering indigenous affairs for a metropolitan daily newspaper. I have worked and studied in Australia and the United Kingdom, and am a past president of the Australian Journalism Education Association.

PhD (UniSA); MA (Leicester); BA(Hons)(Flinders).

• Journalism and communication ethics
• Research ethics
• Journalism education and practice
• Journalism and social capital
• Reporting human tragedy

Books

Richards, I. (2005) Quagmires and Quandaries: exploring journalism ethics. University of NSW Press, Sydney.

Book Chapters

Richards, I. (2010) ‘Journalism’s tangled web: business, ethics and professional practice’. In Meyers C. (ed.) Journalism Ethics: a philosophical approach. Oxford University Press, New York, USA, 171-183.

Richards, I. (in press) ‘The dilemma of trust’. In Fackler M. and Fortner R. (ed.) A Handbook of Global Communication Ethics. Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Richards, I. (in press) ‘The strange case of trust in journalism’. In Fackler M. and Fortner R. (ed.) Ethics and Evil in the Public Sphere: Media, Universal Values and Global Development. Hampton Press, USA.

Richards, I. (2001) 'Public interest, private lives'. In Tapsall S. and Varley C.(ed.) Journalism: Theory in Practice. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 187-197

Richards, I. (1998) 'Ethics: Journalists and Victims'. In Breen M. (ed.) Journalism: Theory and Practice. Macleay Press, Sydney, 141-161

Refereed Publications

Richards I. (2009). ‘Uneasy bedfellows: ethics committees and journalism research’. Australian Journalism Review 31(2), 35-46.

Richards I. (2009). ‘Managing the margins: how journalism reports the vulnerable’. Asia Pacific Media Educator 19(1), 15-22.

Richards I. (2009). ‘To market, to market: journalism’s eternal dilemma’. Media Ethics: From Information to Markets colloquium. University of Montreal-McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Richards I. (2008). ‘Journalism, education and ethics’. Asian Media Information and Communication Centre conference ‘Changing Media, Changing Societies’, Manila, Philippines.

Richards I, Bowd K, Green K. (2008) ‘Blurring the boundaries: when talkback becomes news’. International Association for Media and Communication Research Conference ‘Media and Global Divides’, Stockholm, Sweden.

Richards I. (2007) Disaster news, trust and ethics. Media and Ethics Turkish National Commission for UNESCO. Gazi University. Ankara: 145-152

Richards I, Bowd K, Green K. (2007) 'Reporting Diversity: Journalism in Multicultural Australia’ International Association for Media and Communication Research Conference, Paris, France.

Richards I. (2007) Report on The Age coverage of the 2006 Victorian election. In State of the Newsprint Media in Australia. Australian Press Council, Sydney: 49-58.

Richards I. (2006) 'From codes to corporations: Journalism’s missing link'. Media Asia 33(1), 10-13.

Richards I. (2006) 'When confusion reigns: the ethics of reporting disasters' UNESCO Symposium on the Media and Ethics, Ankara, Turkey.

Bowd K, Green K, Richards I. (2006) 'Reporting Multiculturalism in Australia' International Association for Media and Communication Research conference, Cairo, Egypt.

Richards, I. (2004) 'Stakeholders vs shareholders: Journalism, business, and ethics'. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 19 (2): 119-129.

Richards I. (2004) 'Journalism and trust' Journalism Education Association conference, Suva, Fiji.

Richards, I. (2003) '"Trust me: I'm a journalist": ethics and journalism education' Asia-Pacific Media Educator 14: 194-200.

Richards, I. (2003) ‘Journalism, business, and ethics’. “Ethics Across the Professions” conference, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, USA.

Richards, I. (2003) 'When journalists reveal emotion' Australian Studies in Journalism 12: 162-172.

Sykes, J., Embelton, G., Green K., Hippocrates C., and Richards, I. (2003) 'Covering trauma: suggestions for a more collaborative approach' Australian Journalism Review 25 (2) 73-83

Richards, I. (2002) 'When worlds collide: journalism ethics and the business of journalism'. Inaugural International Media Ethics Conference "Ethics, media credibility and global standards", Canberra.

Richards, I. (2002) 'Leading parallel lives: journalism and professional ethics'. International Institute for Public Ethics. Available via IIPE home page.

Richards, I. (2002) 'Adjusting the focus: levels of influence and ethical decision-making in journalism' Australian Journalism Review 24 (2) 9-20

Richards, I. (2001) 'Respect: journalism’s neglected principle' Paper accepted for presentation at conference Global Media: The Quest for Universal Ethical Standards, Washington and Lee University, Virginia, USA.

Richards, I. (2000) 'Public Journalism and ethics' MIA Media International Australia 95 (May) 171-182

Richards, I. (1999) 'Swirling currents, uncharted waters: journalism ethics in the 21st Century', Australian Journal of Communication 26 (3), 127-138

Richards, I. (1999) 'Uncertain mix: technological change and journalism ethics' Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics conference, Canberra.

Richards, I. (1998) 'Searching for a way out: the imbroglio in journalism ethics' Australian Journalism Review 20(1), 72-81

Richards, I. (1998) 'Public interest vs. public prurience: journalism's line in the sand' Australian Association of Professional and Applied Ethics conference, Sydney.

Richards, I. (1997) 'Assessing our history: two decades of AJR' Australian Journalism Review 19 (1)

Richards, I. (1996) 'Dealing with death: Intrusion into grief and journalism education' Australian Journalism Review 18 (1) December: 99-106

Richards, I. (1994) 'Encountering death for the first time' Australian Journalism Review 16 (1): 115-120.

Richards, I. (1993) 'Recognising reality: journalism education and multicultural Australia' Australian Journalism Review 15 (1) 80-86.

Richards, I. (1990) 'The illiterate literates: journalism students and political literacy' Australian Journalism Review 12: 150-153.

Richards, I. (1988) 'Bridging the cultural gap' Australian Journalism Review 10 (1): 154-157.

Book reviews include:

Richards, I. (2009) Review of Borden S. Journalism as practice: MacIntyre, virtue ethics and the press (2007) in Australian Journalism Review 31 (1), 123-124.

Richards, I. (2007) Review of Adam S. and Clark P. Journalism: the democratic craft (2006) in Australian Journalism Review 29 (1), 158-159.

Richards, I. (2005) Review of B. Zelizer Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy (2004) in Australian Studies in Journalism 14, 168-170.

Richards, I. (2005) Review of V. Alia Media Ethics and Social Change (2004) in MIA Media International Australia 114, 149-150.

Richards, I. (2003) Review of Downie, L. Jr and Kaiser, R. The News about the News (2002) in Journal of Mass Media Ethics 18 (3 & 4), 318-320.

Richards, I. (2003) Review of K. Tester Compassion, Morality and the Media (2001) in Journal of Sociology 39 (2), 205-206.

Richards, I. (2003) Review of K. Sanders Ethics and Journalism (2003) in Australian Journalism Review 25 (1): 219-220.

Richards, I. (2000) Review of R. Keeble Ethics for Journalists (2000) in Asia-Pacific Media Educator 9: 180-182

Richards, I. (2000) Review of Rosen, Jay (1999) What Are Journalists For? in Australian Journalism Review 22 (1), 171-173.

Richards, I. (1998) Review of M. Kieran (ed.) Media Ethics (1998) in Australian Studies in Journalism 7: 286-288.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Journalism

• Journalism ethics
• Journalism education