Humanities and Social Sciences

Media Studies Program

Staff Directory

What I teach in 2009

The Working Journalist (MST5TWJ)
Broadcast Journalism (MST3BEJ)
Dilemmas in Journalism: Legal and Ethical Issues (MST2DIJ)
Audiences and Communication (MST1AAC)

I am also one of the coordinators of the new Master of Global Communications degree, and editor-in-chief of the new online magazine, upstart which showcases student writing, and provides a forum for discussing the careers of emerging journalists.

Lawrie Zion graduated in History from the University of Melbourne in 1981 and went on to write a PhD at Monash University examining the pop music scene in Australia during the 1960s. For much of the last two decades he has worked in the media, including a nine-year stint at ABC radio, where he was based at Triple J.

He also has made several radio documentaries, including a two-part feature on Barry Humphries, and a profile of Crowded House while the band was touring the USA in 1994, and worked as a writer, researcher and interviewer for ABC TV series Long Way To The Top and Love Is In The Air. In 2006, he worked on the Crowded House Farewell to the World DVD, hosting the commentary track and conducting interviews.

From 2004 to 2006 he was the film writer for The Australian, prior to which he wrote for a range of publications including The Age, the US-based trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone Australia and HQ. He was also a regular guest on the Ten Network's The Panel. During 2001-2 he lectured at The University of Melbourne's Media and Communications program, and he continues to appear regularly on ABC radio.

During 2006 and 2007 he joined forces with Princess Pictures to write and research a one-hour documentary about the Australian accent called The Sounds of Aus. The program, which was presented by John Clarke, was broadcast on ABC TV on November 8 and is available on DVD. In 2008 The Sounds of Aus won Chicago's Hugo prize for best international documentary and was nominated for a Logie. It was also a finalist in the category Best Documentary Social & Political Issues in the 2008 Enhance TV ATOM Awards.

A study guide for the program can be found here.

Research areas include:

Journalism education
Broadcasting history and practice
Documentary production
Emerging journalism
Music and the media
Journalism and the English language

Current research project:

Tracking Journalism Graduates: Professional outcomes at a time of media upheaval.

Seminars/papers:

Academy of Humanities Symposium 'The Humanities in Australia: Taking Stock’ 2009 (National Library, Canberra, 19-20 November). The panel I’ve been invited to participate in is called ‘How have we changed the way we communicate the results of research to our audiences?’

“What is journalism education?” Paper delivered at La Trobe University, 21 May 2009. You can hear this talk at www.upstart.net.au/podcasts/

Symposium on educational tourism, Sydney, May 2009.

Panellist on journalist education forum, The MEAA’s Future of Journalism conference, March, 2009.

Missouri School of Journalism 2009 (developing exchange program with La Trobe University and Sounds of Aus screening).

University of Wollongong - Journalism Education Association Conference 2008, ‘Constructing Documentary Storytelling’.

'The Two Lukes: Tracking Journalism graduates at a time of media upheaval', University of Tasmania Comparative Journalism Studies conference, 27 June 2008.

'The Making of "The Sounds of Aus"', La Trobe University Thesis Eleven Centre for Critical Theory, 20 November 2007

'The Sounds of Aus', Victorian Association for the Teaching of English metalanguage, Text and Language professional development conference, 14 September, 2007.

Recent media appearances

‘Lawrie Zion Takes 5 with his highlights of the first Hottest 100 back in 1989’, Triple J Mornings, 12 June 2009.

Interview with Andrew Donohue, the editor of the online news site, Voice of San Diego. This interview was broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Futrure Tense on 21 April, 2009.

Association Memberships

Journalism Education Association (Australia)
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
The Australian and New Zealand Communication Association

Academic Publications include:

'My Hot 100 Summer', Meanjin, 65, 3, 2006, pp.147-54

'Disposable Icons: Pop Music in Australia, 1955-63'. Meanjin, 47, 2, 1988, pp. 285-97. This article has also been published by Popular Music (Cambridge University Press), 8, 2, 1989.

'The Sound of "Australian Music"', in Burgmann, Verity, & Lee, Jenny (eds). Constructing a Culture: A People History of Australia Since 1788, McPhee Gribble/Penguin, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 209-22.

'The Impact of the Beatles on pop music in Australia: 1963-66'. Popular Music (Cambridge University Press), 6, 3, 1987, pp. 297-311.

'Pop Music and Australian Culture: Some Considerations', Melbourne Historical Journal, 14, 1982, pp. 18-33.

Other Publications

A selection of Lawrie Zion's newspaper articles used for teaching purposes at La Trobe can be found on electronic reserve via this library link.

These include:

'Critical situations', The Australian, 7 August 2004, p.B21.

'A matter of perspective', The Australian, 23 June 2004, p12.

'Oz films lift take at the box office', The Australian, 25 January 2006, p.5.

'Room with raw view of family tragedy', The Age, 21 March 2002, p5.

'Screen gods (and why Australia needs more of them): lives, camera, action!' The Australian, 11 December 2004, pp R4-R5.

'Soul mining',The Weekend Australian, 9-10 February 2004, p R21.

'You're in dangerous territory', The Australian, 21 September 2005, p14.

'You're terrific Muriel', The Australian, 18 September 2004.