MSc Media and Communications

You’ll examine key theoretical issues in media and communications within the context of social change.

As you progress, you’ll deepen your understanding of the historical, political, economic, and technological dimensions of the media and a changing society.

The MSc in Media and Communications provides you with a broad-based and critical understanding of the politics of technology, media, representation, and the distribution of power in society. The programme will help you understand and reframe the relationship of digitisation, global politics, and social change within complex media and technological systems. The programme gives you a theoretically grounded approach to understanding our present surroundings, including the influence of platforms on our daily lives, the politics of media labour, and social threats of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision-making.

The programme is taught by world-leading academics – our department is rated top in the UK and second in the world for media and communications. You’ll also have the chance to hear from external speakers such as journalists, activists and media executives.

If you’re looking to undertake an MPhil/PhD or research-related career, you may be interested in the research track for this programme.

• Allen, Stuart (ed). (2010) The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism. Routledge.
• Beckett, Ch. (2008) SuperMedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save The World. Malden, MA: Blackwell/Wiley.
• Briggs, A. and Burke, P. (2002) A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Cambridge: Polity.
• Calabrese, A. and Sparks, C. (eds) (2004) Toward a Political Economy of Culture, Capitalism and Communication in the 21st Century, Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Castells, Manuel. (2009) Communication Power. Oxford University Press.
• Couldry, N. (2012) Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media. Cambridge: Polity.
• Curran, J. and Gurevitch, M. (eds) (2005) Mass Media and Society. 4th ed. London: Arnold.
• Curran, J. and Seaton, J. (2003) Power Without Responsibility. London: Routledge.
• Mansell, R. (2012) Imagining the Internet: Communication, Innovation and Governance. Oxford University Press.
• Mattelart, A. (2003) The Information Society: An introduction. London: Sage.
• McChesney, R (2000) Rich Media Poor Democracy. New York: New Press.
• Papacharissi, Z. A. (2010) A Private Sphere: Democracy in a Digital Age. Cambridge: Polity.
• Silverstone, R. (2007) Media and Morality. Cambridge: Polity.
• Silverstone, R. (1999) Why Study the Media? London: Sage.
• Thompson, J.B. (1995) The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity.
• Wasko, J. (ed.). (2005) A Companion to Television. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Wu, Tim. (2010) The Master Switch. The Rise and Fall of Information Empires. Borzio Books.

You take two courses on media and communications theories and concepts and a course in research methods, and will choose courses from a range of options within the department and across other relevant departments, such as sociology, gender, law, and psychological and behavioural science. In addition, you'll submit a dissertation of 12,000 words.

The Department of Media and Communications is a world-leading centre for education and research in the field. Our department is ranked first in the UK and sixth globally for communication and media studies (2025 QS World University Rankings).

We offer students a wide selection of programmes, including master’s degrees, doctoral research training and short courses. At any one time, we have around 270 master’s students and 30 PhD students from around the world – all varying in age, professional experience and backgrounds.

Within the department, our research is organised around four key themes: media culture and identities, media participation and politics, communication histories and futures, and communication technology, rights and justice. The outputs from our research are shared with organisations such as the BBC, Facebook, Google, UNICEF, Ofcom and the UK/EU governments.

LSE’s location at the heart of London, one of the world's media capitals, allows us to foster close links with media and communications industries and policymakers.

Graduates from our programmes progress to interesting roles in broadcasting, journalism, advertising, new media industries, political marketing, market research, regulation and policy, media management and research in the public and private sectors.

Department of Media and Communications

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified prospective students. At LSE, we want to recruit students with the best academic merit, potential and motivation, irrespective of background.

We carefully consider each application and take into account all the information included on your application form, such as your:

• academic achievement (including predicted and achieved grades)
• statement of academic purpose
• two academic references
• CV.

See further information on supporting documents.

You may need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency. See our English language requirements.

Please note: The applications, intake and ratio values below includes the MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society), MSc Media and Communications (Research) and MSc Media and Communications (Media and Communication Governance).

Applications for this programme are considered on a rolling basis. This means that applications will close once the programme is full.

There is no fixed deadline. However, if you’d like to be considered for any funding opportunities, you must submit your application (and all supporting documents) by the funding deadline. See the fees and funding section below for more details.

For this programme, all students pay the same tuition fees, regardless of their fee status.

For this programme, all students pay the same tuition fees, regardless of their fee status.

All taught courses are required to include formative coursework which is unassessed. It's designed to help prepare you for summative assessment which counts towards the course mark and to the degree award. LSE uses a range of formative assessment, such as essays, problem sets, case studies, reports, quizzes, mock exams and many others. You will be summatively assessed by written examinations (seen and unseen), research assignments, essays and the dissertation, which must be submitted in August.

On graduating, our students enter a variety of careers in the UK and abroad, including broadcasting, journalism, advertising, new media industries, political marketing, market research, regulation and policy, media management and research in both the public and private sectors.

Further information on graduate destinations for this programme

From CV workshops through to careers fairs, LSE offers lots of information and support to help you make that all-important step from education into work.

Many of the UK’s top employers give careers presentations at the School during the year and there are numerous workshops covering topics such as job hunting, managing interviews, writing a cover letter and using LinkedIn.

See LSE Careers for further details.