Rate My Professor Tai Neilson

Tai Neilson is a Senior Lecturer in Media and the Major Coordinator for Journalism and Nonfiction Writing in the School of Communication, Society and Culture, Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University. He earned his PhD in cultural studies from George Mason University in Virginia, an MA in sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York, and a BA (honours) in sociology and media studies from Victoria University of Wellington. Neilson's research specializations encompass journalism, the political economy of digital media, and critical cultural theory. His current investigations focus on journalists’ work practices, professional ideologies, and the power relations shaping media labor, including critical analyses of digital platforms, data collection practices, and emerging modes of capital accumulation in the media industry. He explores pressing issues related to online lives, work, and the environment.

Neilson is the author of the book Journalism and Digital Labor: Experiences of Online News Production and co-editor of Research Methods for the Digital Humanities. Notable publications include "'A part of our work disappeared': AI automated publishing in social media journalism" (2025, with Petruccio and Stöcker, Journalism and Media), "Journalism unions and digital platform regulation: a critical discourse analysis of submissions to Australia's News Media Bargaining Code" (2025, with Heylen, Media International Australia), "Platforming media work" (2025, Palgrave Macmillan), and "The labor of news work and journalism" (2025, Oxford Encyclopedia of Communication). His scholarship has appeared in Journalism, Triple-C, Fast Capitalism, and Global Media Journal. As Primary Chief Investigator, he has led projects such as "Big Tech and News: A Critical Approach to Digital Platforms, Journalism, and Competition Law" (2019–2023) and "Social Media Editors and the Future of Journalism" (2018–2023). Neilson supervises postgraduate research on journalism, digital platforms, and political economy. He teaches courses on media, technology, and news production, co-developed Australia's first autism-friendly journalism course featured on ABC's The Assembly, and received the inaugural Faculty of Arts Teaching Award for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. He has provided 24 press/media contributions and serves as a peer reviewer for Media and Communication and Routledge.