ObjectivesThe course examines media industries within their historical, economic, political and social contexts. It also analyses the emerging patterns of production, distribution and reception of media products.
Entry requirementsThe new MA course in Media and Communication is designed for those who want to gain a sophisticated insight into the role and function of media in contemporary society.
Academic titleMedia and Communication MA
Course descriptionWhat will you study?
Core modules offer a comprehensive grounding in the theoretical and empirical approaches to studying media institutions and texts. Alongside these, a wide range of optional modules allows students to specialise within this broad field.
Optional modules include those addressing:
-how the economics of European media have been affected by trends towards the internationalisation and globalisation of markets, the concentration of corporations and technological developments;
-the social factors that have shaped the debates on regulation and censorship in various political and cultural contexts; and the implications of those debates not only in terms of the consumption of media texts, but also in terms of political power;
-the main theoretical debates surrounding the interdisciplinary study of intercultural communication and the wider issues surrounding the complex notions such of culture, communication, identity and otherization;
-the key characteristics that define digital media, as well as the history of ideas surrounding technological advances;
-political communication – through an in-depth examination of government forms of political communication, such as spin, campaigning and censorship; how the media and NGOs, for example, use political communication; and new and/or alternative forms of political communication, such as blogs, citizen journalism and political violence; and
-the structure of ‘New Hollywood’ as a social, cultural and commercial institution.
Course structure
Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list.
Core modules
-Theories of Media and Communication I
-Theories of Media and Communication II
-Principles of Intercultural Communication
-Researching Media and Communication
Optional modules
-Digitisation of Media
-Digital Media and Urban Cultures
-Media, Policy and International Politics
-Political Communication
-New Hollywood: From the Mainstreams to the Margins
-Case Studies in World Cinema
-Globalisation, Culture and Media*
-Media and its Audiences
-Explorations into Otherness*
-Language as Discourse*
-Questions of Censorship
-Contemporary European Media and Communication Industries
* Modules marked with this symbol have been developed from staff research interests. They are largely seminar-led, with the content continuously updated. Students taking these modules will undertake an extended essay of 6,000 words, plus a practical (and creative) research project. The content of the practical research project can vary from documentaries to the design of web pages.