Elizabeth Poole

Biography

I studied Media and Cultural Studies at Warwick and Leicester University.  I am a Professor of Media and Communications at Keele University. I am an expert in media and religion, particularly, the media representation of Islam and Muslims but have also studied the production and reception of content on ethnicity. Whilst I specialise in news, I have recently studied digital media and how hate speech can be promoted and confronted on social media. I have written three books on this topic and this work has widely informed research in this area. It has also had an impact on the public sphere through engagement with advocacy groups and contributions to Parliamentary Groups/Commissions on Islamophobia (2012) and religion (2015).

Research and scholarship

I have written widely in the area of the representation and reception of Muslims in the news authoring ‘Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims’ I.B Tauris in 2002 editing, with John Richardson, ‘Muslims and the News Media’ I B Tauris in 2006 and co-writing (with Professor Kim Knott, Lancaster) ‘Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred’ based on an ESRC  research project. As well as writing about representation, I have researched into minority production and audiences, completing a project with Dr Siobhan Holohan (Keele) for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue; ‘Muslims in the European Mediascape’.

I have previously worked with Dr Eva Giraud on a project on hate speech on social media (funded by the British Academy). Other interests include ethnicities, news, digital media and audiences.

I am currently PI on an AHRC funded projected which examines Islamophobia on Twitter #Contesting Islamophobia: Representation and Appropriation in Mediated Activism.

To read about this latest research see: 

• https://www.britac.ac.uk/contesting-stopislam-tensions-around-hate-speech-social-media
• https://www.keele.ac.uk/humanities/study/mcc/research/contestingislamophobia/

Teaching

I am currently teaching some theoretical elements of UG modules including Digital Video, DIY Broadcasting: Digital Culture and You, Making the News and Researching Media on the BA Media.

I also contribute to the MA in Global Media and Culture and Global Media and Management.