LT969-6-AU-CO:
Media, Politics and Society
2022/23
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 06 October 2022
Friday 16 December 2022
15
30 August 2022
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA P550 Journalism and Criminology,
BA P551 Journalism and Criminology (Including Placement Year),
BA P552 Journalism and Criminology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P540 Journalism and Sociology,
BA P541 Journalism and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA P542 Journalism and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA P530 Journalism and Literature,
BA P531 Journalism and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA P532 Journalism and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA P570 Journalism with Human Rights,
BA P571 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA P572 Journalism with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA P580 Journalism and Politics,
BA P581 Journalism and Politics (Including Placement Year),
BA P582 Journalism and Politics (Including Year Abroad)
This module is intended to provide students with a broad understanding the main theoretical frameworks of media and journalism to develop their critical appraisal of the interconnected communication world of today.
It is aimed primarily at students looking to develop a research career in journalism or media studies as well as those students looking to acquire a critical approach to journalistic practice. It will also be interesting to students of Government and Sociology who are interested in understanding the big debates around the media and the relationships with politics and society. Each week a current event will be discussed in the seminar as well.
The module will equip students with the knowledge, theoretical frameworks, and critical tools to unpack the complexities of contemporary networked newsrooms. It will provide the conceptual framework required to analyze and comprehend our interconnected communication sphere. The module will be open to students from LIFTS who want to critically reflect on the professional practice and to students from Government and Sociology who would be eager to acquire analytical tools that would support their interdisciplinary research.
The aims of this module are to:
1. Develop students skills to understand the worlds of journalism and differences in roles and perceptions of professional journalism.
2. Prepare students to comment on media & communication fields.
3. Provide students with analytical tools that will enable them to continually critique and re-assess their journalistic – and other professional- practice
4. Develop students’ ability to engage with interdisciplinary analyses.
Students will acquire:
1. An understanding of the rapidly changing fields of journalism and media studies.
2. An insight in the complexities of the hybrid communication sphere of today, blending digital and non-digital practices.
3. Analytical tools that will prepare students to engage a research-intensive environment in their own field and will complement their practical professional training.
4. An understanding of key leading intellectual debates, discussions, and scholarly literature in the field of media/journalism theory.
Indicative syllabus
1. The Political Economy of Communication
2. Media and the Public Sphere in the Digital Age
3. Media, Mediation, and Mediatization
4. Journalism models: Watchdog versus Lapdog
5. In journalism we trust?
6. Globalization, localism & cosmopolitanism
7. Media systems &Democracy
8. Communication, Politics & Power
9. Freedom of expression, Censorship and Self-censorship: Examples from the Global South
This module will be delivered with a weekly two-hour interactive seminar. Each session will consist of a blend of lecturing, Q&A, group, and whole-class discussion, audio-visual screening – the precise blend to depend in part on student numbers.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay (1,500 words) |
|
60% |
| Coursework |
Group Project (Part A): A viral video campaign for a specific organisation, 3 minutes fixed (20%) |
|
20% |
| Practical |
Group Project (Part B): A 10 minute presentation (10%) |
|
10% |
| Practical |
Group Project (Part C): A 1,000 word individual reflection on research and production (10%) |
|
10% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Idrees Ahmad, email: m.i.ahmad@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Idrees Ahmad
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Mr Richard Evans
City, University of London
Programme Director, UG Journalism
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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