Katie Cunningham
Katie Cunningham covers entertainment as culture, using films, music and pop culture touchstones to show how stories shape everyday life.
She is a freelance writer and author who works primarily for the Guardian, where she regularly covers culture and lifestyle.
Her background spans more than a decade in media and several years of full-time freelance work, specialising in music, culture, travel and personal finance alongside her entertainment reporting.
Screen Culture and Genre Stories
Cunningham’s film coverage focuses on distinctive projects rather than routine release news, such as her feature on a new Australian horror film that uses queer themes and a “gay demon” hook to gain global buzz.[anchor]
She treats genre work as a way into broader questions about identity, fear and national storytelling, framing horror not just as spectacle but as part of a wider cultural conversation.[anchor]
Her reported features give space to creators and performers, balancing plot and premise with the ideas and anxieties that sit behind them.[anchor]
Music and Pop Culture Profiles
Cunningham brings deep music knowledge to her entertainment beat, drawing on years of specialising in music and culture and her long experience in digital media.
Her profile of singer Darren Hayes, for example, follows his trajectory through homophobia in the industry, the impact of “men in suits” on his career, and his eventual path to happiness, using his story to show how pop history intersects with queer experience.
Across music pieces she focuses on how artists navigate fame, industry expectations and personal identity, tying individual careers to wider shifts in pop and fan culture.
Beyond the Guardian, her work has appeared in outlets including Good Weekend, the Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, ABC Everyday, Frankie Mag and The Big Issue, extending her entertainment coverage into long-form profiles and essays for newspapers and magazines.
Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Objects
Cunningham also writes culture and lifestyle features that use everyday objects and routines as entry points into character and culture.
In the Guardian’s “Three things with” format, she has profiled figures such as Dom Knight, building a piece around personal items and habits – in that case, hair and the reluctance to spend money on it – to sketch a portrait that is more revealing than a straightforward bio.
Her broader freelance work includes travel and personal finance writing, which adds practical angles to her cultural coverage and keeps her focus on how people actually live with the entertainment and products they consume.
Pop Culture History and Longer Projects
As an author, Cunningham has written a book on Australia’s pop culture history, created in collaboration with illustrator Beck Feiner.
That project underlines a strong interest in connecting present-day entertainment to the television, film and music that shaped earlier generations, treating pop culture as a shared memory rather than disposable content.
The same historical sensibility runs through her journalism, where she links contemporary artists and releases to longer arcs in national and global pop culture.
Across film, music and lifestyle stories, Cunningham’s work is defined by clear narratives, accessible language and a consistent effort to show how entertainment intersects with identity, history and everyday life.
4 more entertainment journalists.
Abigail Flores-Johnson
Abigail Flores-Johnson covers food, beer and entertainment for the Coloradoan, with a focus on how people eat, drink and spend their free time. She reports on new restaurants and bars, closures, grocery development, local businesses and the changing dining scene. Her past coverage includes Shake Shack’s first Northern Colorado location, Los Tarascos’ closing after 31 years, national recognition for Social and La Boutique, and guides to local tacos, bars and restaurants. She also covers festivals, live music, cultural celebrations and events such as Taste of Fort Collins, FoCo Fall Fest, Juneteenth, FoCoMX and Dude Dad’s Mini Golf Open. Her reporting is practical and detail-heavy. She uses guides, lists and previews with addresses, hours, tickets, vendors, schedules and activities to help readers decide where to go and what to do.
Ailish Delaney
Ailish Delaney is a news writer at Mamamia who turns entertainment, news, crime and lifestyle stories into emotionally driven narratives that keep women at the centre. She works where hard news, pop culture and everyday life intersect, using clear reporting and vivid detail to show how events and trends land in real people’s lives. Her beat spans women-centred news, crime, safety, social affairs, entertainment and practical lifestyle advice. She profiles women making high-stakes choices, covers relationship dilemmas and revisits stories of resilience and mortality. Her entertainment work translates awards seasons, policy and self-help into everyday terms, including podcast segments and lived experiments. Drawing on experience in regional newsrooms and at 7NEWS.com.au, she reports court, crime and safety incidents with disciplined timelines and verified detail, balancing empathy, practical warnings and accessible, solutions-focused guidance.
Alexandra Del Rosario
Alexandra Del Rosario anchors fast-turn entertainment and culture coverage at the Los Angeles Times Fast Break Desk. She reports breaking news across film, television, music and online celebrity culture, with a real beat at the intersection of celebrities, courts and controversies. Her work covers legal filings, arrests, lawsuits, allegations, social media posts, ratings, casting news and personal milestones, and she also writes on video games and Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in media. She reports in clear, compact summaries that put the key facts first, then add context from a subject’s career, roles or industry trends. Before the Los Angeles Times, she covered TV ratings, casting and development at Deadline and served as an associate editor, with additional experience at The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap.
Amy Lyall
Amy Lyall combines fast-paced celebrity and reality TV coverage with first-person lifestyle and money writing across Nine’s digital platforms. She is an associate entertainment editor at Nine, setting the daily agenda for celebrity, reality formats and movie stories while also reporting. Her beat centres on celebrity relationships, rumours and personal milestones, tracking long-running speculation through to confirmed updates and public discussions of grief and loss. Reality TV is a second focus, following couples and personalities beyond the shows themselves. Alongside this she writes Spend Less, Live More, a recurring lifestyle money series for 9Honey that uses her own budgeting and household habits to show practical ways to save. Her archive also includes wellbeing and relationships pieces and explainer features on language and everyday culture, including terms, names and how people use them.