Department of Media and Communications

The Global Kids Online project, launched on 2 November 2016 at the Children’s Lives in the Digital Age seminar held at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, aims to build a global network of researchers investigating the risks and opportunities of child internet use. The Global Kids Online website makes high quality, flexible research tools freely available worldwide.

Speaking at the New York launch event, Principal Investigator Professor Sonia Livingstone observed: “As the internet reaches more children in more countries, it is vital to extend the evidence base to guide policy makers as they balance children’s rights to participation, provision and protection online.”

For more information, visit www.globalkidsonline.net.

Professor Livingstone writes about the project in The Conversation.

LSE’s inaugural Excellence in Education Awards were made in June 2016, to a total of 5 members of faculty from the Department of Media and Communications:

• Dr Myria Georgiou, Associate Professor
• Dr Ellen Helsper, Associate Professor
• Dr Shani Orgad, Associate Professor
• Dr Alison Powell, Assistant Professor
• Dr Damian Tambini, Associate Professor
• Dr Sadie Wearing, (convenor of MSc Gender, Media and Culture, co-taught with the Gender Institute)

Read an interview with Dr Damian Tambini about his teaching on LSE’s Education Blog.

Film Screening: Fire at Sea/ Fuocoammare

Friday 18 November 2016 | 6-8pm | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, LSE

Oscar nominated documentary with Q+A with director Gianfranco Rosi

Free and open to all on a first come basis

Upcoming Media & Communications Public Events

On 23 November, Jim Macnamara will argue in his talk The Lost Art of Listening that increased organisational listening is key to reinvigorating civil society, whilst Herman Wasserman and Bingchun Meng will discuss China’s media in Africa: expansion, perception and reception on 28 November.

Professor Nick Couldry (@CouldryNick), Head of the  Department of Media and Communications, was featured in The Conversation  on 23 September in an article focusing on ‘The price of connection: ‘surveillance capitalism’. Professor Couldry’s article explores the risks to freedom, autonomy and democracy posed by living in a society which increasingly relies on connecting individuals through internet platforms. The article is part of a wider project on The Price of Connection that Professor Couldry is undertaking for The Enhancing Life Project, funded by the University of Chicago.

Charlie Beckett, Director of Polis has written a report in collaboration with Tow Centre for the Digital Journalism in New York. Entitled ‘Fanning the flames: reporting on terror in the networked age’.

The report looks at the problems facing journalism around terrorism: the increasing speed of the news cycle; new technologies and the limits on resources; the challenge of verification, definition, proportionality; and dealing with spin and propaganda.

Professor Beckett launched the report at an event at Columbia Journalism School in New York City on 17 October.

Associate Professor Dr Ellen Helsper provided input to the Barclays Digital Development Index, which benchmarked 10 countries around the world on their readiness to compete in the digital economy.

Launched in July 2016, the report, which can be found here, highlights that the UK, one of the most active online consumer markets globally, lags behind other countries when it comes to being able to create new digital technologies.             

During the 2016 POLIS conference in April, researchers from Media and Communications department’s European Migration Crisis and the Media project presented their preliminary findings for the first time.

A panel consisting of Dr Myria Georgiou and Dr Rafal Zaborowski along with student researchers Antonis Dimitriadis, Lisa Elkhoury, Afroditi Koulaxi, Sadichchha Pokharel and Pauline Vidal discussed their research on European media coverage of the migration crisis. See here for powerpoint presentation and audio.              

NEW - MSc Global Media & Communicatons (with University of Cape Town)

In our ever more globalised world, gaining international experience is invaluable and gives students a great knowledge and experience base to work from. This unique two year programme enables students to study for one year at LSE in London, the UK’s media capital, and one year at the University of Cape Town – the highest-ranked university on the African continent with close links to Cape Town’s media and film industry and NGO sector.

MSc Programmes

We offer several MSc degree programmes:

• MSc/MA Global Media and Communications (with Year 2 in either University of Southern California, Fudan University or University of Cape Town)
• MSc Media and Communications
• MSc Media and Communications (Research)
• MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society)
• MSc Media and Communications (Governance)
• MSc Media, Communication and Development
• MSc Politics and Communication
• MSc Gender, Media and Culture - co-taught with LSE's Gender Institue.

PhD Programmes

Interested in our doctoral programmes in Media and Communications or Data, Networks and Society? Submit your details here, including any prospective research proposals that you wish to gain feedback on from academic staff.