Dr Richard Jones
Faculty of Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy (VA)
Current positions
Director of Media, Film, Journalism and Creative Technology
Biography
Richard oversees four subject areas: Broadcast Media, Creative Technology, Film and Journalism.
He joined the University of Salford in 2023 as Director of Journalism, Politics and Contemporary History. His role expanded and changed in 2026 to include Broadcast Media, Creative Technology and Film. This created one of the largest departments for media industry training and research in the country, based at both the MediaCity and Peel Park campuses. Richard oversees more than 80 permanent academic and practitioner colleagues, supported by technical demonstrators, visiting tutors and administrative staff, teaching about 2,000 students.
His central research interests are the working practices of journalists and, in turn, how public institutions are scrutinised during a time of dramatic change in the media industries.
Richard is the author of two monographs with Routledge, Reporting the Courts (2024) and Sports Journalism in the UK (2026).
He launched his first book at the Journalism and the Courts symposium at Salford's MediaCity campus in 2025. He is the editor of a further forthcoming book with Routledge, Journalism and the UK Courts (2027), which will feature research contributions from a wide variety of scholars, many first presented at the conference.
Richard is also the editor of a new open access textbook, Introduction to Journalism, involving dozens of international contributors and created in partnership with the University of Salford Library. Again, this will be published in 2027.
Previously, Richard spent ten years at the University of Huddersfield, latterly as Subject Area Leader for Media, Journalism, Film and Drama. While working at Huddersfield, he completed a PhD part-time through Cardiff University. He has also taught at the University of Leeds.
Before becoming an academic, Richard was a journalist for Sky News, the BBC and a range of radio stations. He also established the award-winning Saddleworth News hyperlocal website.
Areas of Research
Journalism, local journalism, local newspapers, court reporting, media law, local democracy, sports journalism, sports media, media work, journalism history.
Areas of Supervision
Richard is interested in supervising PhD candidates in areas such as, but not limited to: journalism, media work, court reporting, media law, sports media, local journalism, hyperlocal media and media history.
Current PGR students:
Jeremiah Agenyi (PhD) - From Reactive to Anticipatory: Social Media Analytics, Disease Outbreak Misinformation and Public Trust in UK and Nigerian Public Health Communication
Sam Dogitimi (PhD) - Social Media and Reputation Management in Selected Nigerian Organisations
Taiba Qayyum (PhD) - From Witnesses to Evidence: The Ethical and Verification Challenges of Citizen Journalism in Kashmir’s Digital Siege
Maryam Farooq (MPhil) - Women in Journalism: A Comparative Study of Representation and Progress in Political Reporting in the UK and Pakistan
Richard has designed and taught a wide range of modules on topics including the use of social media and online tools for journalism, radio and audio production, media law and ethics, political reporting, investigative journalism and entrepreneurship in journalism.
Qualifications
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PhD
2014 - 2021 -
MA International Politics
2008 - 2009 -
BA Broadcast Journalism
1999 - 2002
Recognitions
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External Examiner - York St John University
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Judge, Royal Television Society Awards