Professor Sarah Niblock

Sarah Niblock is a journalist, author and academic based at Brunel University, London. She began her journalism career on the Birkenhead News, where she studied for her NCTJ proficiency certificate before moving to the Liverpool Echo. While on Merseyside she covered stories that still resonate today including families affected by the Hillsborough disaster and the disappearance and murder of the toddler James Bulger. Sarah then combined lecturing with freelancing news for the national press and writing regular features for Cosmopolitan and Company magazines. Her Masters degree and PhD are in visual culture, the latter focussing on psychoanalytical theory and gender. She founded and leads Brunel University's J-school, training and educating journalists from all over the globe. Many of her graduates are now working for leading news providers in the UK and internationally. Sarah continues to combine journalism with academic life, writing and commentating on media issues. In 2008, she was asked to write questions for the House of Lords Select Committee on Media Ownership based on her research on radio news values. She is a media commentator with a BBC blog on ethics. In 2011, she became an Academic Fellow of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, based at the world-famous J-school at Columbia University, New York.