Subject Area: Media, Culture and Technology

This course explores the history and contemporary nature and extent of media power, with a particular focus on media industries and institutions – on media as a business. The media’s influence within social, cultural, economic and political contexts will be examined. We will explore various facets and aspects of media power in relationship to changing techno-social contexts; we will examine how media industries are coming to terms with new media technologies and associated new modes of sociality and communication. Students are asked to develop a critical perspective on issues, together with an understanding of the ways in which contemporary media has come to wield significant power in society and culture.