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Denis Muller

Denis Muller

Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne

Denis Muller was born in New Zealand in 1948 and emigrated to Australia in 1969. He was educated at Rosmini College, Auckland, and at the University of Melbourne.

After three years on suburban newspapers in Auckland, he joined The Sydney Morning Herald as a sub-editor in 1969. In 1978 he joined The Times, London, also as a sub-editor, before returning to take up the position of Chief Sub-editor of the Herald in 1980.

He subsequently held the positions of Night Editor, News Editor and Assistant Editor (Investigations) at that newspaper, until joining The Age, Melbourne, as Associate Editor in 1986.

At both newspapers, his responsibilities including representing the papers as an advocate before the Australian Press Council.

From 1984 until he left newspapers in 1993, he worked closely with Irving Saulwick, one of Australia's leading public opinion pollsters, in the management and writing of the Saulwick Poll which was published in The Age as AgePoll and in the Herald as HeraldSurvey.

In 1990 he was accepted as a mature-age student into the Public Policy program at the University of Melbourne. He completed a Postgraduate Diploma in 1992 and a Master's degree in 1994.

In 1993 he left The Age to take up a position as Group Manager, Communications, at the Board of Studies, Victoria.

In 1995 he established the research consultancy Denis Muller & Associates, and was appointed a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Melbourne.

In 2006 he completed a doctoral thesis on media ethics and accountability, and was appointed a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Public Policy, where he has taught in the Public Policy program since 1997.

He has also taught research methodology at RMIT University, and teaches defamation law to practising journalists through the Communication Law Centre.

Lies, obfuscation and fake news make for a dispiriting – and dangerous – election campaign

Apr 27, 2019 06:02 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The integrity of Australias electoral processes is under unprecedented challenge in this federal election. The campaign has already been marred by fake news, political exploitation of social media falsehoods and...

A tale of two media reports: one poses challenges for digital media; the other gives ABC and SBS a clean bill of health

Dec 16, 2018 12:56 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Two reports out this week one into the operations of Facebook and Google, the other into the competitive neutrality of the ABC and SBS present the federal government with significant policy and political...

Michelle Guthrie's stint at ABC helm had a key weakness: she failed to back the journalists

Sep 25, 2018 09:32 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

Michelle Guthries departure as managing director of the ABC, while a shock, is not surprising. In the face of sustained pressure from the government and Rupert Murdochs News Corp, she has seemed incapable of mounting a...

Australian media are playing a dangerous game using racism as currency

Aug 13, 2018 14:08 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

It has been quite a week for race-laden discourse in the Australian media. There was Blair Cottrell, a notorious pro-Hitler extremist, appearing on Sky News and calling for a race-based immigration policy. There was...

Why the ABC, and the public that trusts it, must stand firm against threats to its editorial independence

Jul 14, 2018 10:53 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

The people who are turning up at Save the ABC rallies around the country are defending a cultural institution they value because they trust it. In particular, they trust its news service. Public opinion polls going back...

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Economy

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

The Mattei Plan: why Giorgia Meloni is looking to Africa

Since coming to power, Giorgia Melonis government has been remarkably orthodox in its foreign policy. Unwavering support for Ukraine, loyalty to the Atlantic Alliance and full participation in the European Union - these...

Politics

Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board

To say that the Labour party is flying high in the polls is something of an understatement. But despite its consistent lead against the Tories, the opposition finds itself in a rather odd position: on the cusp of power but...

History for sale: what does South Africa’s struggle heritage mean after 30 years of democracy?

One of my favourite statues is the one of Nelson Mandela at the Sandton City shopping centre in Johannesburg. Larger than life, its oversized bronze shoes shimmer in the evening light, polished by the hands of many...

Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight

In the early hours of April 15 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a Sudanese paramilitary force attacked the military airstrip in the town of Merowe and deployed troops across strategic locations in Sudans capital,...

Military conscription is returning to Europe, but is it really a more equal way of mobilising? What history tells us

The idea that conscription, defined as the compulsory enlistment of citizens for military service, can increase equality and instil a sense of solidarity that transcends traditional societal divides has echoed throughout...

The 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution

Across Portugal, a number of photography exhibitions are currently on display that commemorate the ousting of the Estado Novo, the dictatorial, authoritarian and corporatist political regime that had ruled the country...

Science

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson, has died aged 94. He was always a modest man, especially when considering that he was one of the greats of particle physics the area of...

Could a telescope ever see the beginning of time? An astronomer explains

The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST for short, is one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. Planning for JWST began over 25 years ago, and construction efforts spanned over a decade. It was launched into space on...

US media coverage of new science less likely to mention researchers with African and East Asian names

When one Chinese national recently petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become a permanent resident, he thought his chances were pretty good. As an accomplished biologist, he figured that news...

Technology

Bitcoin Dips 4% Below Cost, Stirs Panic Among Short-Term Investors

In a startling decline, Bitcoin plummeted 4% below its average purchase price, sparking potential panic among short-term holders, who, according to analyst James Check, are now facing a 3% unrealized loss. Recent...

Google Axes 200 ‘Core’ Workers, Transfers Jobs to India and Mexico Amid Restructuring

Google LLC is reducing its workforce again in its latest restructuring efforts. The tech company announced it would axe at least 200 staff from its core teams. According to CNBC, this core unit is responsible for...

Analyst Sees Shiba Inu Hitting $0.00007 Despite Major Token Dump

A Shiba Inu whale recently dumped massive SHIB tokens on Coinbase, one of the worlds top cryptocurrency exchanges. The enormous volume of SHIB offloaded quickly sparked a gloomy feeling among crypto market aficionados...

Casio Joins NFT Trend with Astar zkEVM, Unveils Anniversary Collection

Casio, one of the worlds leading watch companies, has joined the battle for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in partnership with Astars zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine. The Casio watch NFTs will go online on May...
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