Who am I?
I am Professor of Political Communication and Journalism at the University of Oslo, Norway. I am author of four books: Childlessness in the age of communication: Deconstructing silence (Routledge 2020); Politicians, personal image and the construction of political identity: A comparative study of the UK and Italy (Palgrave, 2014); Understanding terrorism in the age of global media: A communication approach (Palgrave, 2012); and Explaining news: National politics and journalistic cultures in global context (Palgrave, 2010). I won the 2008 Denis McQuail Award for innovating communication theory.
Outside academia I am still a researcher: I dance salsa, train cardio and strength in the gym, hike outdoors, and love watching disaster documentaries.
What are my research interests?
Although the topics I work on at any single time might appear completely different—they are, in many respects, accidents of life and circumstances—I am, in reality, always addressing the multifaceted intersection between communication, politics, and society, particularly questions of theory and method: How do we explain the mediated reality we live in? How and why do we know what we know? I have written about: the relationship between political actors and journalists; international news and foreign correspondence; public diplomacy; strategic communication; terrorism, the media, and radicalization; the silence and taboo that surround infertility.
What am I working on at the moment?
Theoretically, I am rewriting Political Communication theory for a post-COVID-19 world. Methodologically, and related to this, I am exploring the role of creative practices, including evocative writing, poetry, and performance, in research.
