Julia Baird

Julia Baird is the opinion editor at the Sydney Morning Herald. She writes a weekly column on a range of topics including politics, religion, celebrity, pop culture, and feminism. She earned her Ph.D. in history from the University of Sydney in 2001. The subject of her research was Housewife Superstars: Female politicians and the Australian Print Media 1970-1990. Her book on this subject was published in 2004. She has also worked in radio and has produced documentaries on subjects as diverse as Satanism, heavy metal, and being brought up by nuns in the 1950s. Her research at the Shorenstein Center focused on the globalization of American opinion in the lead up to the Iraq war, particularly in the major cities of allies such as Britain and Australia.