Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

- To enable students to gain a sophisticated understanding of sociological and cultural debates about the media and society through a number of case studies
- To advance students’ knowledge of the changing role of the mass media in a global context
- To provide a critical understanding of the concepts of media globalisation, media ethics, and key theories of the media
- To enable students to gain a comprehensive understanding of social and cultural theories of old and new media
- To provide students with the opportunity to extend their knowledge of the relationship between media production, forms, texts and audiences
- To enable students to comprehend the political economy of the media and the formation of policy and organisational processes and practices
- To enable students to gain an understanding of media representations including the relationship between media texts and readers/audiences
- To provide knowledge of the production, communication and interpretation of meaning in traditional and new media

The module offers students the opportunity to gain an advanced knowledge of key theories, concepts and debates required to analyse the intersection of media and society. Through a series of case studies, students will be introduced to contemporary debates about media, power and publicity through the following topics: globalisation, new media technologies, the political economy of the media, the public sphere and media organisations, and the relationship between production and consumption of media texts. Theories, concepts and debates about media and society will provide students with the analytical tools needed throughout the course to engage critically with contemporary approaches to the media.

Outline Of Syllabus

Topics on the module may include:

Introduction to media analysis
Approaches to media analysis
Media representations, and stereotypes
Discursive approaches to analyzing representations
Media technologies and cultural forms
Social media and changing relationships
The political economy of the media
Media globalisation
Media audiences

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

A student successfully completing the module will have:
K1: Detailed understanding of key approaches to theorizing and analysing media
K2: The ability to distinguish between and debate the different theoretical approaches to understanding media
K3: The ability to provide a comprehensive account of the changing processes and functions of media systems and wider social contexts
K4: Critical grasp of modes of representations and systems of meaning in the ordering of societies
K5: Advanced knowledge of the processes linking production, circulation and consumption in media industries
K6: In-depth understanding of key production processes and professional practices relevant to media, cultural and communicative industries, and of ways of conceptualising production, communication and consumption

Intended Skill Outcomes

Students successfully completing the module will have:
S1: The capacity to critically appraise key academic debates about media, culture, and society
S2: The ability to apply complex theories to changing media organisations, forms, texts and audiences
S3: The ability to independently carry out various forms of research for assignments involving sustained independent enquiry
S4: The ability to independently evaluate and draw upon the range of sources and the conceptual frameworks appropriate to research in media analysis
S5: The ability to deliver work to a given length, format, brief and deadline, properly referencing sources and ideas and making use, as appropriate, of a problem-solving approach
S6: The ability to independently gather, organise and deploy ideas and information in order to formulate arguments cogently, and express them effectively, orally and in written form.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The module aims to advance students’ knowledge and understanding of media analysis through the study of a range of key concepts theories and case studies. Lectures introduce and develop ideas and case study material and the seminars allow students to consider, assess and debate material in further detail. Seminars will involve small-group work and spoken presentations. This will be combined with private study and essay writing.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Assessment 1: Individual Analysis Exercise, Individual analysis exercise of 1000 words, 30%

For the first assessment, students are asked to produce an individual analysis exercise of 1000 words. This assignment allows students to develop the skills needed to analyse a media text. Students are asked to demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of the key concepts and approaches media studies required for such an analysis.

Additional task-specific criteria for Assessment 1 are as follows:

- A theoretically and analytically rigorous definition of the topic, informed by engagement with and understanding of appropriate primary and secondary research (K1; K2; S4);
- Application of research to appropriate media text (K4; K5; S2);
- Analysis of media text using research methods encountered while studying media in order to make meaningful conclusions (K3; S1);
- Coherence and written structure of the research essay, including appropriate academic tone at postgraduate level and effective display of media text and analysis (K5; S5; S6).

Assignment 2: Written Essay 1, 70%

For this assessment, students are required to write an individual essay of 2500 words. Students are asked to analyse an aspect of the media in the context of a topical theme, provided by the teaching team. Students must assess the strengths and weaknesses of approaches and theories in the study of the media, culture and society, and present their findings as a case study. The assessment will allow students to familiarise themselves with theories, problems and issues raised in the module and to develop a critical understanding of the intersection of media and society.

Additional task-specific criteria for Assessment 2 are as follows:

- Quality of definition of a contemporary media issue, informed by engagement with and understanding of appropriate primary and secondary research (K1; K2; S4);
- Quality of discussion of the weaknesses and strengths of methodological and theoretical approaches pertinent to the contemporary media issue at hand (K2; K6; S1; S3);
- Quality of discussion of intersections between media and its broader societal contexts and consequences (S4; K4; K6);
- Coherence and written structure of the research essay, including appropriate academic tone at postgraduate level and effective display of media text and analysis (K5; S5; S6).

General Notes

N/A