Media studies |
Media studies is a social sciences that studies the nature and effects of mass media upon individuals and society, as well as analysing actual media content and representation (arts). A cross-disciplinary field, media studies uses techniques and theorists from sociology, cultural studies, psychology, art, information theory, and economics.
=Development=
Media studies pioneers include Marshall McLuhan, Stuart Hall (cultural theorist), Ien Ang and Jean Baudrillard. Walter Benjamin s 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction marks one of the first major interrogations of the play between technical Media and culture.
In the UK, media studies emerged in the 1960s from the academic study of English studies, and from literary criticism more broadly. It tended to grow through colleges and polytechnics, rather than through established universities. Nevertheless, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), founded by Richard Hoggart at the University of Birmingham in 1964, was a notable exception.
Media studies can partially be understood as a response to the Joseph McCarthy paranoia of the influences of the mass media. In the UK, Mary Whitehouse s right-wing National Viewers and Listeners Association was concerned at the growing permissiveness of broadcasting, and in the US a number of pressure groups have campaigned against the supposed corrupting influence of popular media - in particular on children.
The critical paradigm was formed in the early 1970s, raising questions about media and power. The CCCS was pivotal in developing the field, producing a number of key researchers. Under the directorship of Stuart Hall (cultural theorist), who wrote the seminal Encoding/Decoding model, the centre produced key empirical research about the relationship between texts and audiences. Amongst these was The Nationwide Project by David Morley (academic) and Charlotte Brunsdon.
For several decades, discussion of popular media was frequently dominated by the debate about in which participants are invited to make media artefacts themselves, a reflective process which is said to produce more nuanced insights.
=Strands=
In addition to the interdisciplinary nature of the academic field, popular understandings of media studies encompass:
Although most production and journalism courses incorporate media studies for contextual purposes (see Fourth estate), the terms are not interchangeable.
Separate strands are being identified within media studies, such as Media audience studies, Television Studies and Radio Studies. Film studies is a separate discipline, with a different history and focus.
Critical media theory looks at how the corporate ownership of media production and distribution affects society, and provides a common ground to social conservatives (concerned by the effects of media on the traditional family) and liberals and socialists (concerned by the corporatization of social discourse). The study of the effects and techniques of advertising forms a cornerstone of media studies.
Contemporary media studies includes the analysis of new media, of course, with emphasis on the Internet, video games, mobile devices, interactive television, and other forms of mass media which developed from the 1990s. Tom McPhail s theory of electronic colonialism has gained some international recognition.
=Derogatory attitudes=
In the United Kingdom, Media Studies is regularly the victim of jokes and cynical attitudes, often being labelled as a Mickey mouse degrees. Perhaps ironically, Media Studies is the victim of the ideology and power relations it attempts to expose. Its relation to polytechnics, and subsequently the Post-1992 universities, are also a target for ridicule. The now annual moral panic in the UK every August when General Certificate of Secondary Education and A-level results are released normally focuses upon Media Studies as an example of the alleged dumbing down of education (Barker, 2001).
However, media studies academics such as Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster, have argued that the interdisciplinary nature of Media Studies means that graduates are knowledgeable in a wide variety of areas.
=See Also=
*Mass media *Multimedia literacy *Journalism **Yellow Journalism *Transparency (humanities)
=References=
*Barker, Martin (with Julian Petley) (2001) On the problems of being a trendy travesty In: M. Barker and J. Petley (eds) Ill effects: the media/violence debate. (2nd ed.) London: Routledge. pp. 202-224. ISBN 0415225132 *Crisell, Andrew (2002) An Introductory History of British Broadcasting. (2nd ed.) London: Routledge. ISBN 0415247926 *Moores, Shaun (1993) Interpreting Audiences: The Ethnography of Media Consumption. London: Sage. ISBN 0803984472
= External links =
*[http://www.theory.org.uk/ Theory.org.uk] media studies website by David Gauntlett *[http://timefound.us/ TIMEfound]: The Interactive Media Education Foundation *[http://terrymockler.blogspot.com Terry Mockler s Journey Through Cyberspace] *[http://www.LanguageMonitor.com LanguageMonitor] - Media Metrics and Analysis|
|