Matthew has spent most of his career moving back and forth between journalism and academia, though his first job after completing an Honours degree in English at Monash University in 1980 was as a trainee at the advertising agency D’Arcy MacManus and Masius. He didn’t enjoy this much, apart from co-writing an ad for Ovalteenies (which, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, can be seen here: Ovalteenies). Matthew began his journalism career at Standard News in Cheltenham and has worked on staff at The Age, The Australian, The Sunday Herald and Time Australia magazine covering politics, sport, consumer affairs, and the arts among other things. He joined RMIT to teach journalism, running the program there for 11 years before returning to The Age as Media and Communications editor. In 2009, Matthew was appointed inaugural professor of journalism at the University of Canberra. During his time there Matthew was seconded to work on the Independent Media Inquiry with retired Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein. In 2017, Matthew was appointed professor of communication at Deakin where he also heads the academic group of Communication.