Matthew Alford

Dr. Matthew Alford’s PhD thesis applied Noam Chomsky's Propaganda Model to contemporary Hollywood, laying the foundation for research on the intersection of film studies, international relations, and political communication. His work explores how power is exercised and concealed through media narratives, with a focus on state influence, propaganda, and censorship.

Matthew co-produced the feature documentary Theaters of War (2022), which revealed how the Pentagon and CIA have influenced thousands of Hollywood motion pictures and network television shows. The film is based on his co-authored book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood (2017), and draws on his research trips to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. His earlier feature The Writer with No Hands (2014) explored the disappearance of screenwriter Gary Devore; it premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto and its stage adaptation was livestreamed from the Edinburgh Fringe.

Both films won multiple Best Documentary awards at international festivals.

Matthew has engaged extensively with public audiences, reaching the district finals at Toastmasters and the regional final of Cheltenham Festival's FameLab. He stood for Parliament on an antiwar platform and has presented talks on media reform at public events, including a TEDx talk titled Why We Need to Fix the Media – and Save the World.

His work has been translated into Chinese, Persian, and French. In 2023 he presented on Julian Assange’s legal case at the United Nations in Geneva.

He has taught widely and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.