My name is Gordon Farrer. I’ve been a journalist for more than 20 years – including 13-and-a-half at The Age, in Melbourne, during which time I edited the Green Guide (the paper’s television, radio and consumer technology section) for more than five years and the Focus page (the daily feature page). I was also the paper’s technology editor for two years (see my tech blog: Untangling the Web) and have written TV reviews for about 15 years. I left The Age almost four years ago and now find myself moving towards academia.

After completing part of a Master of Communication degree at RMIT (Melbourne, Australia) in the second half of 2012, I applied to be admitted as a PhD  candidate in the School of Media and Communication. To my surprise, my application was accepted and I find myself at the beginning of a very long road.

Family (wife, two kids) and full-time+ work commitments (I’m news editor for a stable of community newspapers in Melbourne – plus now tutoring a couple of classes in the Fundamentals of Journalism course at Monash University) will make it a challenge.

Wonder how long it’ll be before I plead for someone to put me out of my misery.