Presenters

Dr Will Slauter received a PhD in history from Princeton University and taught at Columbia University and Florida State University before relocating to France. He currently teaches at Université Paris Diderot and is a member of the Institut universitaire de France. His research interests include the history of authorship and publishing, the history of journalism, and the history of copyright law. He is the author of Who Owns the News? A History of Copyright (Stanford University Press, 2019).

Dr Una McIlvenna is Hansen Lecturer in History at the University of Melbourne. She is a literary and cultural historian who works on the history of ballads and the tradition of singing the news, from the early modern period through the nineteenth century. She is currently completing a monograph titled Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1550-1900, and has published articles on news-singing in Past & Present, Renaissance Studies, Media History, and The Huntington Library Quarterly.

Jean McBain is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Melbourne, working on the early eighteenth century English debate over the liberty of the press. Her thesis challenges the accepted timeline for the development of radical accounts of press liberty. Jean has published on the periodical writings of Delarivier Manley and Daniel Defoe. She has recently published a co-authored article on the 'affective typography' of Jonathan Swift's latter poetry.

Professor Megan Richardson is a Professor of Law, Co-Director Centre for Media and Communications Law, and Director Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia at the University of Melbourne. Her books include Fashioning Intellectual Property: Exhibition, Advertising and the Press 1789-1918 (with Julian Thomas, Cambridge University Press, 2012). (Photo: Bernard Lyons)

Associate Professor Andrew Dodd is the director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. He has been a journalist for 30 years, working in radio, television, print and online media. He was a broadcaster at ABC Radio National where he presented many of the network’s programs and launched the long running Media Report program. He was a reporter on the 7.30 Report and a business, media and feature writer for The Australian newspaper. He has a PhD in history from the University of Melbourne and was formerly the director of the journalism program at Swinburne University.

Dan Stinton is Managing Director of Guardian Australia. In this role, he is responsible for the strategy, business planning and leadership of all commercial and operational aspects of The Guardian Australia. Prior to joining the Guardian, he was Head of Digital at Seven West Media.