School of Social & Political Sciences

It is with terrible sadness that colleagues in the School of Social and Political Sciences and the University heard of the death of Professor Greg Philo on Thursday 23rd May.  Greg was Professor of Communications and Social Change in Sociology and co-founder of the Glasgow University Media Group. 

Born in 1947, Kent, Greg moved North to pursue a Sociology degree at Bradford University in 1971 before moving to the fledgling Sociology department at Glasgow in 1973. In 1974, Greg joined a team of researchers on the Glasgow University Media Project led by the late Professor John Eldridge. The project had one central idea: to record and analyse the daily news bulletins across the three main channels, empirically demonstrating the extent of bias and distortion in the reporting of economic and industrial news. The findings of this seminal study were published in Bad News (1976) and More Bad News (1978).  Denounced by many in the media industry, including the Director General of the BBC, Stuart Hall noted: ‘whether they liked it or not, everyone read Bad News’.  

The Group possessed unusual agility in responding to events in British political life. War and Peace News (1985) examined reporting of the Falklands War, and Greg’s own book Seeing and Believing (1991) on coverage of the miners’ strikes, consolidated their reputation nationally and internationally.  Greg emerged in this period as a leading spokesperson for the Group and went on to be Director for over 4 decades until his retirement in 2021.   

During this time, Greg significantly developed the Group’s early content analysis establishing a more holistic approach to understanding media influence. This incorporated audience studies and expanded the focus to issues including the Israel-Palestine conflict, climate change, mental illness, and disability.  His 2004 book with Mike Berry Bad News from Israel, shifted the terrain of public and academic debate on news coverage of the conflict. 

Greg relished a battle. Following the financial crash in 2007, he campaigned for a wealth tax on the richest 1%. In 2015, alongside myself and Chatham House, he promoted a ‘meat tax’ to counter the environmental impacts of meat production, which was later introduced to Parliament by Green MP, Caroline Lucas.  More recently, he led the charge on the failures of political decision-making and the role of news on COVID mitigation efforts. He was a fearless and passionate activist, also donating his time, resources, and money to local causes.  

But Greg believed the real influence of scholars lies in their teaching of the next generation of thinkers, writers, and activists. He prioritised teaching on Level One Sociology even at the height of research activity.  An innovative teacher, Greg often rejected the conventional lecture format for more interactive classes, anticipating advances in L&T scholarship by decades. In the now legendary ‘letters to the editor’ sessions, students arrived at 7am to read and respond to that day’s newspapers.  Sometimes, at Greg’s invitation, they brought their young children with them – a perfect illustration of his generous and supportive approach to students, many of whom have added to tributes in the last few days.  This includes the large number of PhDs and researchers that Greg mentored over the years, who moved into media scholarship solely because of his influence.  

Finally, Greg loved to perform.  As an undergraduate in Bradford, he helped found a political theatre collective. He continued to perform wherever he could, whether singing Karaoke or simply holding a room captive with his anecdotes and observations. Greg will be sorely missed as a colleague, teacher, researcher, and activist. But for all who knew him perhaps his laughter will be missed most of all.  

The School sends its condolences to his wife, Ya, and four loving children. 

By Catherine Happer, Director of the Glasgow University Media Group 

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First published: 4 June 2024