Einar Thorsen is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University, and Professor of Journalism and Communication.

Chair of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) since 2021, elected member of Executive Committee since 2009 and Editor of MeCCSA's publication Three-D (ISSN 2041-627X) for 12 years between 2009-2021.

Chair of the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement review for Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies (2022-2024).

Board of Trustees member of the Conversation UK.

Member of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) Learned Societies’ CEO Group, and part of the British Academy’s Media Studies Advisory Group for their high-profile state of the field report (2023-2024).

Chair of BU’s REF Committee, which is responsible for the strategies, processes, and preparation for future research assessment exercises - with 13 units of assessment (UOAs) in REF2021.

Prior to taking on the role as Executive Dean, he was Deputy Dean Research and Professional Practice, Head of Research for the School of Journalism, English and Communication, and Associate Director of the Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, at Bournemouth University. Before joining Bournemouth University in 2010, Einar worked at Teesside University (2008-2010), and as a visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol (2005-2007).

He is a former member of the Executive Board of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network and a founding member of its journal Networking Knowledge. He was also instrumental in setting up the MeCCSA Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability Network.

He can be reached on:
Bluesky
Mastodon
Twitter

Research

Einar's research covers journalism and social change, citizens’ voices, news reporting of crisis and politics. He has co-authored and co-edited several reports, including a 2021 UNESCO report on journalism and sexual violence in India (based on the Media Action Against Rape - MAAR project), and national survey reports on the impact of Covid-19 on journalists in Nepal (2020) and Sierra Leone (2021).

His books include Media, Journalism and Disaster Communities (2020, Palgrave, co-edited with Jamie Matthews), Media, Margins and Civic Agency and Media, Margins and Popular Culture (with Jackson, Savigny and Alexander, 2015), India Election: 2014 First Reflections (with Sreedharan, 2015) and two volumes of Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives (with Stuart Allan, Volume 1: 2009, Volume 2: 2014) with a third volume currently in production. He has also published articles on live blogging, journalism role performance, online communication security, whistleblowers in the digital age, public service media online, Wikinews and WikiLeaks.

He has a PhD in Journalism Studies from Bournemouth University, funded by the AHRC. The thesis focused on civic engagement and representation of citizen voices on the BBC News website.

Einar welcomes PhD proposals from prospective students in any of the above areas or generally within the field of journalism studies.

Publications

Grants

Outreach & engagement

This page is a shortened version of a BU academic profile. To view the complete profile, visit our Staff Profiles site.