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.
Four laws that need urgent reform to protect both national security and press freedom
Jun 19, 2019 02:06 am UTC| Insights & Views Law
In a perfect world, Australia would introduce constitutional protections for freedom of the press. But since the chances of that are next to zero, it might be more productive to look instead at what might be done to make...
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...
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...
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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