Murray Dick

Murray is Convenor and Admissions Tutor for Brunel's BA (Hons) in Journalism.

Murray is a freelance technology journalist, and a consultant to the news industry in; online search, SEO, social media, data journalism and Computer Assisted Reporting. He is also a member of the editorial board of Journalism Practice, a leading peer-reviewed journal in journalism studies.

Before coming to Brunel, Murray was Information Officer at The Centre for Investigative Journalism, and prior to this he spent five years as a trainer and researcher at the BBC.

He is a keen contributor to the media in his specialisms, having previously contributed to national and local media, trades press and bloggers.

Murray has a BA (Hons) degree in English from the University of York, and an MSc in Information Science from City University, London.

Research Overview

Murray' s areas of research interest mirror his teaching interests. As a practioner-researcher, Murray aims to ground theory in practice; and the working practice of online journalists and online activists is central to his research.

Teaching Activity

Murray teaches and trains in online and multi-platform journalism, with a particular focus on:

Murray has been a training consultant in various specialisms since 2007; today he offers training and expertise to NGOs, the media and charities around the world. 

Some recent examples of such training include:

In January 2011, Murray ran a series of training sessions in Azerbaijan, courtesy of the Open Society Institute Azerbaijan.   These sessions in advanced online search, newsgathering and hoax-busting, were delivered to 30+ investigative journalists from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Khazakhstan, and were translated in real-time into Russian.

In October 2010, Murray ran a one-off Web Investigator training day for the Centre for Investigative Journalism, while earlier in July, he ran three sessions in people-finding and newsgathering at the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School, July 2010.

From Muckraker to misfit: an epistemology of investigative journalism. Presented at the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies Forum on Intelligence Analysis, Brunel University, January 2012.

Rebirth of the beat: a hyperlocal newsgathering model. Presented at the Future of Journalism conference, Cardiff University, September 2011.

Content Analysis 2.0: A Framework for Using Wordle. Presented at the AHRC research network conference: Exploring the language of the popular in Anglo-American Newspapers 1833-1988, at ICOSS, University of Sheffield 14 January 2011.

Vanishing Point: on the consequences of lost online news in the UK. Presented at the Institute of Communications Ethics conference, October 2010.

Funding

In May 2011, Murray led a successful bid for funding from Brunel's Academic Practice Development Unit (APDU) Learning and Teaching Innovation Fund. His team were granted £5,890 to develop an application and training programme.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Dick, M., Rebirth of the beat: a hyperlocal newsgathering model., Journalism Practice

(2012) Dick, M., Vanishing Point: On the consequences of lost online news in the UK, Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics 8 (1/2) : 14- 19

(2011) Dick, M., Search Engine Optimisation In UK News Production., Journalism Practice 5 (4) : 462- 477

Conference Papers

(2012) Dick, M., From Muckraker to misfit: a history of investigative journalism, Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies Forum on Intelligence Analysis, Brunel University

(2011) Dick, M., Rebirth of the beat: a hyperlocal newsgathering model, Future of Journalism

(2011) Dick, M., Content Analysis 2.0: A Framework for Using Wordle. Presented at AHRC research network conference: Exploring the language of the popular in Anglo-American Newspapers 1833-1988., Exploring the language of the popular in Anglo-American Newspapers 1833-1988, AHRC Network, This paper explores the application of interactive web tool Wordle in the framing of content

(2010) Dick, M., Vanishing Point: on the consequences of lost online news in the UK, Institute of Communications Ethics conference

(2010) Dick, M., Newsgathering Online and Finding People online, Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School

(2010) Dick, M., Investigative online search, Open Society Institute investigative journalism conference

Books

(2013) Dick, M., Online Research for Journalists: Theory and Practice. Palgrave MacMillan