Dr Saira Ali

Taking on a multi-disciplinary approach, Saira's research focuses on the mediatisation of risk, security and othering; journalistic practices, censorship and emerging media. In 2019, Saira co-authored a book, Public Relations & Strategic Communication, for Oxford University Press, Australia. She has published in top-ranking academic journals such as Global Media and Communication, International Communication Gazette and Media International Australia.

Saira's recent book, Mediatised Terrorism: East-West Narratives of Risk (2022), published as part of Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies series, offers a comparative analysis of the mediatisation of terrorism in the East and West, with Australia and Pakistan as representatives of the two worlds. With a view to presenting a holistic analysis of the mediatised narratives of terrorism, the research takes inspiration from the fields of sociology, political science, security and terrorism studies. The research is significant in that it is the first to consider the inter-connections between East and West in the mediatised war-on-terror, as earlier studies have mainly been West-centric. It is also the first to offer empirical analysis of the construction and production of news about terrorism in Pakistani media and explore the cultural risk of othering in a non-Western setting. Further, the study also highlights the strikingly similar challenges faced by journalists and the media industry in the two worlds.