Andrea Carson is Professor of Political Communication in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University. She is a political scientist and a trained journalist. She has authored book studies on journalism including Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age (Routledge, New York) and has a co-authored book published in December 2022, Undercover Reporting, Deception, and Betrayal in Journalism (Routledge, London).

Andrea examines the media's role in democracies, journalism and political communication. Her studies focus on information quality (both high and low) with special interests in investigative journalism (high quality) and mis and disinformation (low quality information and fake news). She studies mitigation measures to combat mis- and disinformation, including fact -checking and government regulatory environments. She has published top-tier journal articles on journalism, Australian politics, political communication during election campaigns and media trust (especially relating to COVID-19). Andrea is co-editor of Australian Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Old Institutions, New Challenges, published by Cambridge University Press, 2018.

She holds a PhD in Political Science and an MA in International Politics from The University of Melbourne. She has taught courses on political communication, news media and politics and campaigns and elections at The University of Melbourne and La Trobe.

She began her journalism career in print (The Age), and later trained in radio (ABC Melbourne, RRR) and TV (producer 7.30). She is the creator of Below the Line, a 2022 election podcast with The Conversation featuring award-winning broadcaster Jon Faine and political scientists Professor Anika Gauja and Professor Simon Jackman at the University of Sydney.

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