I’m Gary Dickson. I’m a journalism researcher based in Canberra, Australia.

I currently work as a Policy Officer at the Local & Independent News Association (LINA) and I’m an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne.

I’m a part-time PhD student at the News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, where my research is looking at regional information ecosystems and water issues. I’m still pre-confirmation – terrifying!

From 2022-2025 I was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Media Transition, University of Technology Sydney. I predominantly worked on the Regional News Media project, looking at the flow of information from the country into the cities, and how metropolitan newsrooms can improve coverage of rural issues. In 2025 I worked on the future of global professional standards and regulatory schemes and on coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.

I taught media ethics and law to journalism students at Monash University between 2017-2025.

Between 2019-2025 I was a researcher at the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, where I established the Australian News Data Project. This was the first ongoing, systematic project to collect data about the Australian news industry and informed both considerable further research and media policy.

In April 2025 I launched the Public Interest Publishers Index (PIPI), a spiritual successor to my previous work. The project is focussed on the print and digital news sectors in Australia and is updated quarterly.

I’m from Melbourne.

Birding

I’m also a keen birder and photographer. I post my bird photos to Instagram and to eBird. Many I make available on a CC-BY license on my Flicker. My life list is here and my illustrated life list is here. I occasionally write trip reports.

Within Australia, most of my birding has been in Victoria and southern New South Wales. I made my first trip to the Northern Territory in August 2025 and the Coorong in March 2026.

 

Outside of Australia I’ve birded in southeast England and, to a very limited degree, northern Germany. I’ve got historical records from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Peru.

I’m a member of the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) – thankfully they accept interested amateurs as well!

In Melbourne I’m a member of the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater and the Friends of the Merri Creek. With Jonathan Tickner I conducted monthly bird surveys for the Abbotsford Riverbankers. I’ve led birding groups for Mappa / the City of Yarra, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and for the Birding in Yarra Facebook group.

My favourite bird is the chestnut-quilled rock-pigeon, and I’m partial to columbiformes generally – bit of a dove guy.