Dr Shani Orgad, STC. S110

This is a compulsory course for students taking the following programmes: MSc Media and Communications, MSc Media and Communications (Media and Communication Governance), MSc Media and Communications (Research), MSc Global Media and Communications (with Fudan or USC), MSc Media, Communication and Development; MSc Politics and Communication. An optional course for MSc Gender, Media and Culture, MSc Political Sociology, MSc Management and certain other MSc programmes. It is also open to other appropriately qualified students with the agreement of the teacher responsible.

This course addresses key theoretical and conceptual issues in the study of media and communications, within a broadly interdisciplinary social science perspective. It grounds the analysis of media and communications phenomena within broader sociological and political theories of social order and social change, thereby revealing the shifting significance of the media environment for relations among the state, market and public sphere in a globalising knowledge society.

The course is divided into two main sections. The first examines key concepts underpinning the analysis of media and communications phenomena in order to understand processes of power and mediation in contemporary societies. The second explores selected critical perspectives which have proved influential in the field of media and communications. As a team taught course that combines weekly lectures and seminars, its purpose is to expose students to a range of research-led debates at an advanced level, and to enable students to develop their understanding and critical appraisal of the relation between media and power at the levels of institutions, culture and social processes.

The course also includes an invited speaker seminar series which addresses the interface between academic issues taught on the Media and Communications programmes and professional issues facing the media and communications industry. Speakers will normally include a mix of journalists and executives working for UK and global media companies in London. The purpose of the seminar is to provide an opportunity for students to relate the topics and themes addressed within their academic studies to the debates and concerns currently facing practitioners.

MC408.1 Lecture (one hour) x 10 MT and x 1 ST (revision)

MC408.2 Seminar (1.5 hours) x 9 MT and x 1 ST (revision)

MC408.3 Polis Media Agenda Talks: Seminar (1.5 hours) x 9 MT

MC408.4 Non-compulsory weekly MCLab sessions, taught by Graduate Teaching Assistants, are provided for students registered on MSc programmes in the Department of Media and Communications.

All students are expected to complete advance reading, prepare seminar presentations, and submit one essay of 1,500 words during MT.

A reading list will be provided for each topic. General works relevant to the course include:
 
Bennett, L. & Entman, R. (Eds) (2001) Mediated Politics: Communication in the Future of Democracy, Cambridge University Press; Bhabha, H. K. (2004) The Location of Culture, Routledge; Briggs, A. and Burke, P. (2002) A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Polity; Butsch, R. (ed.), (2007) Media and Public Spheres. Palgrave Macmillan; Chadwick, A. (2006) Internet Politics: States, Citizens, and New Communication Technologies, Oxford University Press; Chouliaraki, L. (2006) The Spectatorship of Suffering, Sage; Curran, J. (2002) Media and Power, Routledge; Curran, J. & Gurevitch, M. (eds) (2005) Mass Media and Society. 4th ed. Arnold; Dahlgren, P. (1995) Television and the Public Sphere, Sage; Mackay, H. & O'Sullivan, T. (eds.) (1999) The Media Reader: Continuity and transformation. Sage; McChesney, R. (2000) Rich Media Poor Democracy. New Press; Silverstone, R. (2007) Media and Morality. Polity; Calabrese, A. & Sparks, C. (eds) (2004) Toward a Political Economy of Culture, Capitalism and Communication in the 21st Century, Rowman & Littlefield; Tomlinson, J. (1999) Globalization and Culture. University of Chicago Press; Thompson, J.B. (1995) The Media and Modernity: A social theory of the media. Polity.

A formal two-hour examination in the ST: two questions from a choice of five.