Stephanie Brookes

Dr Stephanie Brookes is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Monash University’s Faculty of Arts and serves as Deputy Director of the Constructive Institute, Asia Pacific Hub. She is actively involved in research and supervises PhD students, with a strong focus on media, politics, and journalistic practices.

Her research interests include political journalism, election campaign coverage, journalistic identity, fact-checking, editorial cartoons, and questions of national identity and belonging in media and political discourse. She explores these themes through both Australian and comparative U.S. contexts, with additional interest in celebrity politics, populism, and humanitarian journalism.

The recent scholarly output reflects a sustained engagement with fact-checking as a journalistic practice and the cultural significance of editorial cartoons. Her publications analyze communities of practice in fact-checking, strategic concessions in verification work, and the fragility of Australia’s cartooning archive, indicating a trajectory focused on the evolving challenges and cultural dimensions of contemporary journalism.

• Chief Investigator, ARC Discovery Project: Australian Journalism, Trauma and Community (DP240101293)
• Chief Investigator, ARC Discovery Project: Cartoon Nation: Australian Editorial Cartooning - Past, Present and Future (DP230101348)
• Primary Chief Investigator, JERAA Project: Checking the facts: The impact of new sources of political information on 'legacy' election coverage

Dr Brookes is actively engaged with the academic community through leadership in research projects and professional service. She has contributed to policy discussions via submissions to government inquiries and holds memberships in key academic organizations, including the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association and the Australian Political Studies Association. She previously served as Reviews Editor for ANZCA (2013–2014) and as Victorian Representative (from 2014).

She co-edited a special issue of Media International Australia on press gallery journalism and authored the book Politics, Media and Campaign Language: Australia's Identity Anxiety (Anthem Press, 2017), establishing her as a significant voice in Australian political communication scholarship.