Introduction to Media Studies
Massey University, Wellington
Since media are at once entertainment, art, technology as well as business enterprises, they need to be studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Therefore, this course discussed the social, cultural, political and economic role of the media.
We introduced students to various ways of analysing and understanding media texts and the factors that shape their production and consumption. Through an interdisciplinary comparative and historical lens, the course explored the myriad ways media texts, media production, and consumption have
been transformed in the context of technological change, globalisation and the forces of postcolonialism. Through the lectures, readings, discussions and their own writing and oral presentations, students engaged with critical debates in the field as well as the role of media in their own lives. Introduction to Media Studies is a course designed for students who have grown up in a rapidly changing global multimedia environment and want to become more literate and critical consumers as well as producers of this culture.