MEDIA
There is no such thing as bad publicity
vol. 53, no.
Published by NTEU
2, 2011
ISSN 0818–80 68
AUR
Australian Universitie s’Review
(except your own obituary)
Ian Dobson Editor Australian Universities’ Review
T
he words above are attributed to Irish dramatist Brendan Behan (1923–1964, ‘...a drinker with a writing problem’). Is it reasonable to presume that publicity is also a good thing for a scholarly journal and the papers published within its covers? The answer is a definite ‘yes’, and it is unlikely that the publicity would be ‘bad publicity’. Some scholarly writing has limited impact on people outside the specific discipline: outsiders might not understand the subject matter at hand. This applies to most journals, in fact. However, this rule is less relevant for higher education policy and practice journals such as Australian Universities’ Review (AUR). Higher education writing is more likely to be publicised because there are supplements, stand-alone papers and websites that focus specifically on higher education. Ones that spring to mind are The Australian’s Higher Education Supplement, Campus Review Weekly, and online media, such as University World News and The Funneled Web. Other outlets such as The Age/Sydney Morning Herald and the Herald Sun (Melbourne) also publish a limited amount of higher education material, but not in the systematic manner of The Australian. However, there is more to a paper being publicised in the media than merely publishing it. First, the media need to know a paper has been published. The best way to ensure this is to tell them. I do this just before every issue of AUR, and over time it is possible to build up a relationship with some journalists. Second, the journalists or editors need to see a ‘story’ in the published article, and something with which they can interest the reading public. Third, the journalist needs to have enough space to write a media piece about the published article. It is always helpful if a journal is published in an otherwise ‘low news’ week. Even in a journal such as AUR, not everything we publish will have instant media attraction, but some papers do. Papers on international students seem to have more attraction to journalists than others, and papers about the transition from school to university are also very popular. Papers on both topics are guaranteed publicity at some level. Both these topics are of interest to a readership wider than people that work in post-secondary education, explaining why they are conNOVEMBER 2011 www.nteu.org.au
sidered to be ‘more newsworthy’ than others. Within higher education circles, papers on workloads and staff terms and conditions also find themselves publicised in the media. Another aspect that can lead to publicity is based on how wellknown an author is. Papers by controversial authors such as Bob Birrell, or acknowledged higher education spokespeople such as Simon Marginson and Ross Williams also attract journalistic attention. Looking briefly at the last few years’ offerings from AUR, internationalrelated papers by Paul Rodan (2008, 2009), Bob Birrell and Fred Smith (2010) and Alison Owens (2011) received considerable coverage. Katie Dunworth’s paper on English language proficiency (2010) also got a run. Schools and access to university papers by Georgina Tsolidis (2009) and Daniel Edwards (2009) were ‘of interest to the press’. AUR, as the scholarly publishing organ of the NTEU, is an excellent place for papers on staffing issues; Harkness and Schier (2011), Lazarsfeld-Jensen and Morgan (2009) and Dobson (2009) all had media coverage. Sometimes journal articles will stimulate local media interest. An example that caught the eye of the Sydney press is Tim Anderson’s paper (2010) that questioned the academic independence of the University of Sydney’s US Studies Centre. Perhaps AUR’s media ‘stars’ over recent years have been first, Jeff Goldsworthy’s 2008 paper on ‘research grant mania’. This was probably the first time any Australian academic had suggested in a scholarly journal that academics in some disciplines don’t need to, or don’t want to, apply for competitive research grants, but are cajoled into doing so by their status-conscious deans and DVCs (research). Second, there was the paper from earlier this year on ERA journal ranking by Cooper and Poletti (2011). Their paper received standard journalistic coverage, followed by a broadsheet opinion piece by Ann Poletti, and extensive coverage in the electronic media. Readers will not have forgotten that the ERA journal ranking was an unscientific and opaque ‘system’ for ranking journals, and it received a lot of media coverage and opposition from all except the universities themselves (‘best not rock the boat!’). In the end, Minister Carr announced that the scheme would be scrapped. This result was perhaps a good example of how sustained pressure via the media – and unions like the NTEU – can lead to ministerial mind changing. There is definitely no such thing as bad publicity, and it is likely that more authors will submit their work to journals that are ‘known’ by the media (especially following the demise of ERA journal ranking). Another positive outcome. Please consider writing for AUR; we want the publicity! A Australian Universities’ Review c www.aur.org.au 27