Staff profile

Dr Mary Debrett

Senior Lecturer, Postgraduate Coordinator

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry

HU2 322, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BA (Monash); Dip Ed (Melbourne); Dip Br Comm (Auckland); MLitt (Distinction) Auckland; PhD (La Trobe).

Membership of professional associations

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Professional Member); Australian New Zealand Communications Association (ANZCA)

Area of study

Australian Studies
Media Studies
Strategic communication

Brief profile

Mary Debrett has a professional background in television and video production having worked in broadcasting and in the independent sector as a researcher and documentary-maker. Mary’s academic research interests include the media and the public sphere, documentary theory, broadcasting policy, public service broadcasting in the digital era and media coverage of climate change.

In addition Mary is the coordinator of the Melbourne Media Map – an online directory of Melbourne’s expanding media sector developed by media studies and journalism students in their third year. Mary is also the author of Reinventing Public Service Television for the Digital Future, which was published in July 2010.

Mary’s Big FAT Idea (Focused-Ambitious-Transformative) on the media and climate change can be viewed at: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/big-fat-ideas/series-3/the-media-on-climate-change-a-perfect-storm-of-miscommunication

Research interests

Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies

- Public service broadcasting in the digital era

Film and Television

- Documentary theory and production

Media Studies

- Media and climate change

- Media and cultural policy

- The media and democracy

Teaching units

  • MST3MIN - Media Industries;
  • MST3MPD - Media Project Development;
  • MST4/5PGC - Public Service Broadcasting in a Global Context.

Recent publications

Books

  • Debrett, M 2010, ‘Reinventing Public Service Television for the Digital Future’. Bristol: Intellect.

Refereed Publications

  • Debrett, Mary 2011 Reporting Climate Change: An Australian Perspective, International Journal of Science in Society, 2 (2) pp. 149-160.
  • Debrett, Mary 2011 Post Network and Post Broadcast: Television’s Third Age, Review Essay, New Media and Society, 13 (1) pp. 169-175.  
  • Debrett, M 2009, ‘Riding the Wave: public service broadcasting in the multiplatform era’. Media Culture & Society 31 (5) 807-827.
  • Debrett, M 2009, ‘Leveraging trust: The politics of accountability and risk taking at the ABC’. Refereed conference paper. Proceedings of the Australia & New Zealand Communication Association Annual Conference 2009, ed Terry Flew, QUT, Brisbane.
  • Debrett, M 2008, ‘Reinventing public service television: From Broadcasters to Media Content Companies’. Proceedings of the Australia & New Zealand Communication Association Annual Conference, Centre for Media and Law, University of Melbourne, July 5-7 2007.
  • Debrett, M 2007, ‘Professionalising Documentary Production: Third Way cultural policy conundrums in Australasia’. International Journal of the Arts in Society, 1(3) 93-99.
  • Debrett, M 2006, ‘Representing Cultural Diversity or Serving Local Industry? An Exploration of the Future Prospects of Subsidised Documentary on Television’. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 5 (3): 94-101.
  • Debrett, M 2005, ‘Extreme Makeover: The recurring motif of New Zealand broadcasting policy’. Media International Australia incorporating culture and policy. No. 117 (November).
  • Debrett, M 2004, ‘Branding documentary: New Zealand's minimalist solution to cultural subsidy’. Media Culture & Society 26 (1) 5-23.
  • Debrett, M 2003, ‘Reclaiming the personal as political: Three documentaries on East Timor’, Metro Magazine 138:76-82. 

Book Reviews

Other