Research in communication spans journalism, public relations and professional writing.
What's meant by 'publics' and how do they operate in the new century? What is democratic citizenship? How have digital archives been politicised?
Researching rhetoric
Deakin leads the way in the developing fields of critical PR and in the critical analysis of news media. The significance of critical public relations is that it overturns established understandings of PR as a politically-neutral technology of persuasion, and locates research in this discipline within broader conceptual frameworks.
Researchers in professional writing critique the constitution of various publics through representational techniques and institutional arrangements that involve gender and racial biases.
Journalism researchers focus on the 'margins' of journalism practice, both geographically and politically, and the ways in which marginalised publics are constituted through problematic representations.