A/Prof David McKnight

Research Summary

David McKnight is a Senior Research Fellow at the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of NSW. He is the author of three books on topics diverse as contemporary politics, recent Australian history and international espionage. David also contributes regularly to the opinion pages of Australian newspapers.

His book on the cold war in Australia won the 1994 NSW Literary prize for non-fiction. His latest book, Beyond Right and Left: New Politics and the Culture War, was nominated for the Gleebooks prize on cultural criticism. It was also extensively cited by the then Labor MP, later Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd in 2006. He holds a major research grant and is investigating the political commentary of the media owned by the global giant News Corporation. He is also researching the impact of the internet on newspapers and the future of news. He has recently completed another research project on the Australian Security Intelligence Organization 1968-1975.

He has worked as a journalist on the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC TV's Four Corners and on the weekly Tribune.He is also a fellow of the Centre for Policy Development. He previously taught for 12 years in the journalism program at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Publications

Books

Manne R. and David McKnight (Eds) (2010) Goodbye to All That? Black Inc. Melbourne.

McKnight, David, 2005, Beyond Right and Left: New Politics and the Culture Wars, Allen & Unwin, NSW, Australia.

McKnight, David 2002, Espionage and the Roots of the Cold War, Frank Cass and Co., Portland, USA.

McKnight, David 1994, Australia's spies and their secrets, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

McKnight, David 1986, Moving Left: The future of socialism in Australia, Pluto Press, Sydney.

Book Chapters

McKnight D. (2010) ‘Labor’s Market in Public Services’, in David McKnight and Robert Manne (Eds) Goodbye to All That? Black Inc. Melbourne

McKnight, D.C. 2005, 'Murdoch and the Culture Wars' in Manne, R (eds), Do Not Disturb - Is the media failing Australia?, pp. 53-74, Black Inc Agenda, Melbourne, Australia.

McKnight, D.C. 1999, 'The post-war roots of investigative journalism in Australia' in Ann Curthoys and Julianne Schultz (eds), Journalism: Print, Politics and Popular Culture, pp. 1-20, Queensland University Press, Brisbane Australia.

McKnight, D.C. 1994, 'Internal security: Sources' in A. Bergin and R. Hall (eds), Intelligence and Australian National Security, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra.

McKnight, D.C. 1993, 'The Croatian bombings' in Malcolm Brown (eds), Australian Crime, pp. 132-140, Landsdowne, Sydney.

Refereed Journal Articles

McKnight, David. 2010, ‘A change in the climate? The journalism of opinion at News Corporation,’ Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 11 (6) December, 1-14.

McKnight, David, 2010, ‘Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation: A media institution with a mission’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 30, No. 3 September, 303-316.

McKnight, David 2009, ‘The Sunday Times and Andrew Neil: the cultivation of market populism’, in Journalism Studies 10:6, 754-768.

McKnight, D. 2008, ‘Rethinking Cold War History’, Labour History, No. 95, November, pp185-196.

McKnight, D. 2008, ‘Partisan improprieties: ministerial control and Australia’s security agencies’, Intelligence and National Security (London) Vol. 23, No. 5, pp 707-725.

McKnight, D. 2008, ‘Not attributable to official sources’: counter-propaganda and the mass media’, Media International Australia, No. 128 August, pp 5-17.

McKnight, D.C. 2005, 'Western Intelligence and SEATO's war on subversion, 1956-63.', Intelligence & National Security, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 288-303, Routledge, London, UK.
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McKnight, D.C. 2004, 'Australian Film and the Cultural Cold War', Media International Australia, vol. May 2004, no. 111, pp. 118-130, University of Queensland, Brisbane Qld Australia.

McKnight, D.C. 2003, '"A World Hungry for a New Philosophy": Rupert Murdoch and the rise of neo-liberalism', Journalism Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 347-358, Routledge Journals, Oxfordshire, UK.

McKnight, D.C. 2001, 'Facts versus stories: the Sydney Morning Herald’s journey from objective to interpretive reporting', Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture and Policy, No. 99, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

McKnight, D.C. 1998, 'Political Surveillance and the ABC, 1951-1964', Media International Australia, No. 87, no. May, Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.

McKnight, D.C. 1998, 'The Moscow-Canberra cables: How Soviet Intelligence obtained British secrets through the back door', Intelligence and National Security, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 159-170, Routledge, London UK.

McKnight, D.C. 1997, 'The Comintern and the Australian Labor Party, 1935-1941', Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 395-407, Sage Publications, London UK.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and reference works

McKnight, D. 2007, Entry on Michael Bialoguski, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 17, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp. 97-98.

McKnight, D. 2007, Entries on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service in the Oxford Companion to Australian Politics, Oxford University Press, pp. 45-47.

Invitations to speak

Inaugural lecture, ‘Common Ground’ series, Centre for Policy Development, Sydney, April 2008

New Critic Inaugural Lecture, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia, July 2007.

Keynote address, National conference, Green Party of New Zealand, Lower Hutt, 3 June 2007

Keynote lecture, ‘Beyond Right and Left’, Institute of Public Adminstration of Australia (Victorian Branch) annual conference, 12 June 2007.

Speaker, National conference, ‘The future of progressive politics’ Compass, London, June 2006.

Guest speaker, National Archives of Australia: On security, Public Forum, Open Day, Canberra

Old Parliament House: Opening of Exhibition on the Petrov Affair, 17 August 2004.

Guest speaker, British Fabian Society: Rethinking Right & Left, Seminar, House of Commons, London, April 2004

Sydney Institute: ‘The Impact of terrorism: Two Views’, 3 February 2004.

Speaker, Sydney Film Festival: Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture, June 2003.

Journalism and magazine articles

'Investigating Journalism's Future' in The Walkley Magazine, February-March 2010.

‘Philosophy Papers’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November 2008.

‘The winter of journalism’s content’ (with P. O’Donnell) Higher Education Supplement, The Australian, 3 September 2008.

‘The climate change smokescreen’ Sydney Morning Herald, 2 August 2008, also published as ‘Who is behind the climate change deniers?’ in The Age, 2 August 2008
‘I pry with my little spy’ Sydney Morning Herald, May 31 2008.

‘Climate change at the helm of Labor’s next big idea’ Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 2008.

McKnight, D.C. 2006, 'Thinking beyond that coloured label', Sydney Morning Herald January 2006.

‘PM’s values are two pronged’, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Sept 2006

‘Background check on ASIO still needed’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May 2006

‘When money talks, right and left swap sides’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 June 2005

‘Four Legs May not be Better than Two’ Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 12 2005

‘Rethinking Social Democracy’ Labour History, No. 87, Nov 2004.

Book Reviews

‘Murdoch’s Flagship’ Media International Australia, No.132, August.
‘The Case for Big Government’ Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol.44,no.4, December
‘National pride held captive by the Right’ (book review) Weekend Australian, May 31 2008.
Resisting the tide [Book review of B. A. Santamaria: Your Most Obedient Servant: Selected Letters 1938-1996, edited by Patrick Morgan (2007).] The Monthly, April 2007.
‘Confronting the new Conservatism: The Rise of the Right in America’ Democratiya (London) Winter, 2007 http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id=129

Other Information

Co-winner, Henry Mayer Book Prize, Australian Political Studies Association, 2009.

Personal Links

www.beyondrightandleft.com.au