Dr Omega Douglas
Staff details
Position
Lecturer in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Department
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
omega.douglas (@gold.ac.uk)
Race, diversity, journalism and the role of diasporic communities and international institutions in global communication
Dr Omega Douglas has practiced as a journalist and editor for several decades. She is the convenor of the BA in Journalism. She has worked for Conde Nast, The Guardian, TI Media, Hearst, and the BBC, amongst others. She has also worked as a media consultant for various organisations, including the UN. Omega completed an ESRC funded PhD at Goldsmiths in 2019, where she teaches theory and practice modules.
Omega’s research interests are in race, representation, international reporting, particularly coverage of Africa, media diversity and inclusion, journalism, and the role of diasporic and transnational communities, as well as international institutions, such as NGOs, in global communications.
Omega has recently co-authored a book, 'Journalism, Culture and Society' (Routledge). She has also been engaged in a transnational journalism research project for UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists, investigating online harassment of women journalists in the African region.
Academic qualifications
- PhD Media and Communications – Goldsmiths 2019
Teaching and supervision
Programme Convenor – BA Journalism
Module Convenor – Journalism in Context
Omega is interested in supervising students in the following broadly defined areas: race and representation, international news and development communication, media diversity, journalism and the role of diasporic and transnational communities in global communications, intersectional approaches to the study of media.
Research interests
Omega’s research interests are in race, representation, international reporting, particularly coverage of Africa, media diversity and inclusion, journalism, and the role of diasporic and transnational communities, as well as international institutions, such as NGOs, in global communications.
Her ESRC funded doctoral research addressed the racialisation of mainstream UK news reporting on sub-Saharan Africa, the involvement of journalists of colour and INGOs in this process and the agenda produced.
Through in-depth interviews with journalists and INGO press officers who work for some of Britain’s largest news and aid organisations, the innovative concept of postcolonial journalistic field theory was developed. This interdisciplinary framework importantly adds to theories of representation, black (British) identity, journalism, race, and cultural productions studies.
Featured publications
2022:
Journalism, Culture and Society: A Critical Theoretical Approach to Global Journalistic Practice
Journalism, Culture and Society examines journalism as a democratic necessity that often fails to live up to its promise
2021:
There is a Disconnect Between Expressed Commitments to Diversity and the Experiences of Journalists of Colour
Why and how discriminatory patterns, as well as contradictions, occur and recur in British news production
2021:
The Media Diversity and Inclusion Paradox
The experiences of black and brown journalists in mainstream British news institutions
2019:
Backstories/Black Stories: Black Journalists, INGOs and the Racial Politics of Representing sub-Saharan Africa in Mainstream UK News Media
Unlike much current research on ‘mainstream’ western news coverage of Africa, this study inserts issues of race and racism into the debate
2016:
A Future for Public Service Television: Content and Platforms in a Digital World
BAFTA members’ survey, which formed part of a report on the future of public service television in the UK in the 21st century
Publications and research outputs
Article
Douglas, Omega. 2021. The media diversity and inclusion paradox: there is a disconnect between expressed commitments to diversity and the experiences of journalists of colour. LSE British Politics and Policy,
Book
Douglas, Omega and Phillips, Angela. 2022. Journalism, Culture and Society: A Critical Theoretical Approach to Global Journalistic Practice. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367480240
Conference or Workshop Item
Douglas, Omega. 2024. 'Colonial continuities and discontinuities in British journalism'. In: ECREA Journalism 2024. University of Sheffield, United Kingdom 11 April 2024.
Douglas, Omega. 2023. 'The online harassment of African women journalists'. In: AWiM 2023 Conference. Kigali, Rwanda 30 November - 1 December 2023.
Douglas, Omega. 2022. 'Radical Journalism: Then and Now'. In: Power Without Responsibility 5 - Radical Journalism: Then and Now. Online, United Kingdom 19 May 2022.
Film/Video
Douglas, Omega. 2022. How Racialised Hierarchies are Playing out in the Russia-Ukraine War.
Professional Activity
Al-Kaisy, Aida and Douglas, Omega. Research project on structural racism in UK newsrooms.
Report
Posetti, Julie; Shabbir, Nabeelah; Douglas, Omega and Gardiner, Becky. 2022. The Chilling: A Global Study of Online Violence Against Women Journalists. Project Report. International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), UNESCO, Washington, DC.
Freedman, Des (D. J.)
Thesis
Douglas, Omega. 2019. Backstories / Black Stories: Black Journalists, INGOs and the Racial Politics of Representing Sub-Saharan Africa in Mainstream UK News Media. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London
Media engagements
2022:
How Racialised Hierarchies are Playing out in the Russia-Ukraine War
The Guardian
Conferences and talks
2022:
Radical Journalism: Then and Now
A panel contribution to a workshop on the enduring impact of Power Without Responsibility: Press, Broadcasting and, the Internet in Britain, by James Curran and Jean Seaton (Routledge)
2021:
Black Lives in the Media
Media Democracy Festival. Panel discussing race and racism in dominant western media.
2021:
Foreign News Coverage at the Guardian Newspaper
Panel discussion on The Guardian’s coverage of international affairs.
2020:
Media, Race and Religion: Silences and Scapegoats
Discussion on the racialised silences and scapegoats the media propagate and what we can do about them
2015:
Postcolonial Perspectives on Development Achievements, Future Relevance and Possible Directions
Paper delivered at the 3rd Joint Nordic Conference on Development Research: ‘A Changing Global Development Agenda’