University of Essex

LT969-6-AU-CO:
Media, Politics and Society

The details

Year: 2024/25

Department: Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Autumn

Level: Undergraduate: Level 6

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 03 October 2024

End date: Friday 13 December 2024

Credits: 15

Last updated: 09 May 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

BA P590 Journalism and Modern Languages,
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 P510 Journalism and English Language,
BA P511 Journalism and English Language (Including Placement Year),
BA P512 Journalism and English Language (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),
BA P595 Journalism and Language Studies

Module description

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.

Module aims

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.

Module learning outcomes

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.

Module information

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

Learning and teaching methods

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.

Bibliography*

Sparrow, B.H. (1999) Uncertain Guardians. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Shoemaker, P.J. and Reese, S.D. (2013) Mediating the Message in the 21st Century. London: Taylor & Francis Ltd. Available at: https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/40947.
Fenton, N. (2010) New media, old news: journalism & democracy in the digital age. Los Angeles: SAGE. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=465106.
Voltmer, K. and EBSCOhost (2013) The media in transitional democracies. Cambridge: Polity. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=653025.
Butsch, R. (2009) Media and public spheres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=339135.
Chadwick, A. (2017) The hybrid media system: politics and power. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190696726.001.0001.
Castells, M. (2013) Communication power. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=620218.
Couldry, N. and Curran, J. (2003) Contesting media power: alternative media in a networked world. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1343785.
McQuail, D. and Deuze, M. (2020) McQuail's Media and Mass Communication Theory. 7th Revised edition. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Available at: https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/408647.
Wasko, J., Murdock, G. and Sousa, H. (eds) (2014) The handbook of political economy of communications. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=510114&site=eds-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_C1.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Essay (1,500 words)	40%
Coursework	Video (3 minutes)	40%
Coursework	Presentation (20 minutes)	20%

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

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Prof Fatima El Issawi, email: feliss@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: Dr Fatima el Issawi

Contact details: LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: Yes

Available to Audit: Yes

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording:* No lecture recording information available for this module.

Further information

Department website: Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.

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Module Directory

LT969-6-AU-CO:Media, Politics and Society