BJ1S32 - Power and Responsibility: The Theory of Media 10 Aug 2017 - 31 Aug 2026 | Version 2
Associated Module Information
| Module Code: | BJ1S32 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Module Title: | Power and Responsibility: The Theory of Media | ||
| Faculty: | Faculty of Business and Creative Industries | ||
| Faculty Group: | Film and TV | ||
| Faculty Sub Group: | Film and TV | ||
| Module Leader: | Philip Mitchell | ||
| Module Team: | Gwyneth Moore, Kate Chesson | ||
| First Intended Intake: | SEP 2015 | Final Year of Intake: | |
| Date Closed: | |||
| Credit Value: | 20 | Credit Level: | 4 |
| Language: | English | ||
| Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: | 0 | ||
| Equivalent Module: | |||
| HECOS codes: | 100444 - media and communication studies | ||
| HECOS Code Weighting: | 100 | ||
Document Version Information
| Version | 2 |
|---|---|
| Valid From | 10 Aug 2017 |
| Valid To | 31 Aug 2026 |
Module Aims
• Equip students with an introductory grounding in the history, issues and critical debates in relation to the media industries and their interplay with wider society
• Explore the interplay between media, culture and society, referring specifically to notions of power and how media plays a very large (and some would say).controlling part in our lives
• Begin developing transferrable skills in evidence-gathering and analysis
Content Summary
The module will begin with a brief history of broadcasting, examining how it has influenced our lives and our behaviour for over a hundred years. It will bring this history up-to-date by plotting this history up to the current age of convergence and interactive media.
The module will explore media texts (semiotics, representation, ideology, imagined communities, discourse and persuasion, narrative, gender, re-mediation); media institutions (the public sphere, political economy, news values, news agendas, news frames, tabloidization) and media audiences (active audiences, media effects, hypodermic needle model, fandom, uses and gratifications, ethnographic approaches to audience studies etc.) in order to give students a rounded approach to media studies. They will begin to see how media controls almost every aspect of our lives; and how we cannot escape being children of our times.
Students will be introduced to ways of understanding critical media research via key studies of production, text and content, audience and reception, and policy.
They will be encouraged to use these concepts in order to engage with and develop their own academic reading and writing skills.
Lectures, seminar discussions, and workshops focusing on research case studies will be the teaching and learning mode on this module.
Learning and Teaching Methods
| Activity Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 24 |
| Seminar | 24 |
| Independent Study | 80 |
| Directed Study | 72 |
| Total Hours Selected | 200 |
Learning Outcomes
| # | Learning Outcome |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Understand major theoretical and methodological approaches deployed in the critical analysis of issues in media production. |
| LO2 | Ability to identify and communicate key points in debates around production, texts, audiences and policy. |
| LO3 | Begin to communicate an understanding of the above, via academic research and writing skills transferrable across the curriculum and into the workplace. |
Module Requisites
N/A
Assessment Criteria
| Assessment Category | Assessment Type | Description | Duration | Word Count | Weight (%) | Best of? | Pass Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Assessment (CW) | Presentation (CW) 1 | Presentation - Outline, through a presentation, a research project that you would consider developing into a video report, on a topic related to this module | 5 | N/A | 20 | No | 40 |
| Practical Assessment (CW) | Production (Video) (CW) 1 | Appropriately researched and scripted video report that illustrates understanding of a defined media production research topic, that includes correctly referenced archive material. | 10 | N/A | 80 | No | 40 |
Assessment Matrix
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| LO1 | LO2 | LO3 | |
| Presentation (CW) 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Production (Video) (CW) 1 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |