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Dr James Mahon

Profile summary

  • Regional Academic Staff
  • Staff Tutor in Film & Media
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Creative Industries
  • Film & Media
  • james.mahon

Professional biography

Dr James Mahon joined the Open University in September 2024. He has previously worked for institutions in Scotland including the University of Stirling, University of Glasgow and University of the West of Scotland, the latter where he programme led the BA in Sports Journalism/Journalism to top  the NSS in Scotland and amongst the highest performing media courses in the UK.

His doctoral and postdoctoral work explores digital media, mobile journalism and internationalisation in communication studies and subsequent impact for pedagogy and higher education.

He is a senior fellow of the HEA and is currentlly a senior fellow of the John Schofield Trust.

Mahon has worked extensively as a TV reporter and presenter for the last 15 years including for CBS and PBS affiliates in the US, UTV, ITV and ITN in the UK and RTE and TG4 in Ireland.

He has won more than a dozen awards as a broadcast journalist and as a documentary filmmaker and more recently as a podcaster.

 

Research interests

Digital Media

Mobile Journalism

Media and Society

Communication Studies

Practice-Based Research

Curriculum Development

Teaching interests

Feature Reporting

Social Media Storytelling

Documentary Journalism

Creative Practice

Impact and engagement

Mahon's media work and reporting regularly features in regional and national TV outputs along with international film festival runs.

He has written for The Conversation and published in conjunction with the Royal Society in Edinburgh.

His latest journal articles explore media pedagogy and he has presented at the World Journalism Education Council, Global Media Education Summit and at AJE UK national events.

External collaborations

University of Derby, External Examiner, Journalism 

University of Sussex, External Examiner, Film and Media

University of Glasgow, Visiting Lecturer, Digital Media

ITN Productions, Journalist

Bauer Media, Consultant + Trainer

Scottish Qualifications Authority, HN Media Expert

 

University of Sulaimani, Iraq, Visiting Lecturer of Digital Media

Chattanooga State College, TN, USA, Visiting Professor of Journalism

University of Tennessee, TN, USA, Visiting Professor of Journalism

 

Publications

[Book review] Trafficking data by Aynne Kokas, Oxford and New York, VitalSource Bookshelf and Oxford University Press Academic, 2022 (2025)
Mahon, James
Critical Studies in Media Communication ((Early access))

The rise of sports club media in Scotland: Implications for ethics teaching (2024-10-28)
Mahon, James
Ethical Space, International Journal of Communication, 21(4)

Emerging Post-Pandemic Challenges in British Higher Education for Students of Pakistani Origin and Potential Solutions (2024-06-30)
Mahon, James and Alam, Hammad
Journal of Journalism, Media Science & Creative Arts, 4(1) (pp. 18-24)

Reflections and insights from PG pandemic delivery in Scotland (2024)
Mahon, James
Journalism Education, 13(1) (pp. 57-65)

Distributed digital capital: digital literacies and everyday media practices (2021-03-19)
McGillivray, David and Mahon, James
Media Practice and Education, 22(3) (pp. 196-210)

Through Irish Eyes (2016-07-19)
Mahon, James
ISBN : 978-0-992256-9-7 | Publisher : Book Hub Publishing | Published : Galway, RoI

Mental Health For Millennials Vol 3 (2019)
Mahon, James
In: Noone, Phil; MacGiolla Bhuí, Niall and Housel, Rebecca eds. Mental Health For Millennials
Publisher : Book Hub Publishing | Published : Galway, RoI

The rise and rise of the Scottish podcast scene and its implications for media education in the UK (2025-03-22)
Mahon, James
In : Közvetítés/Transmitere/Transmission (22 Mar 2025, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania)

Losing Leisure, Scotland's Community Centre Closures (2024-07-09)
Mahon, James
In : Leisure Studies Association Conference (10-12 Jul 2024, Paisley, UK)

Emerging Challenges in Post-Pandemic British Higher Education for Students of Pakistani Origin (2024-06-24)
Mahon, James
In : Association for Journalism Education, UK Annual Conference 2024 (27-28 Jun 2024, Liverpool, UK)

Media Education and The Devolved Post-Covid Scottish Newsroom (2023-09-04)
Mahon, James
In : MeCCSA 2023 Annual Conference (04-06 Sep 2025, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK)

Insights from the Devolved Post-Covid Newsroom and their Classroom Impact (2023-03-04)
Mahon, James
In : 2023 Global Media Education Summit (2-4 Mar 2023, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)

Is mobile journalism a revolution or an evolution? (2021-11-29)
Mahon, James
In : Global Broadcast and Digital Collaborations in Higher Education 2021 (29-30 Nov 2021, Online)

[Presentation at] Association For Journalism Education Virtual Summer Conference (2020-06)
Mahon, James
In : Association for Journalism Education Virtual Summer Conference (23 Jun 2020, Online)

Untold stories, from the palm of your hand (2019)
Mahon, James
In : Association for Journalism Education 2019 Summer Conference (8-12 Jun 2019, Paris, France)

The Mojo Revolution: A Critical Evaluation of Mobile Journalism Practice and its Impact on Journalistic Identity (2021)
Mahon, James
PhD thesis University of West Scotland