media studies 1 #MAC201

robert.jewitt@sunderland.ac.uk

MODULE OVERVIEW

Module leader: Rob Jewitt •  robert.jewitt@sunderland.ac.uk •  @rob_jewitt

•  0191 515 3431

•  MC205

•  Office hour: Weds 3-4pm •  MAC201 assessment surgeries: Weds 4-5pm

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

CONTENT SYNOPSIS Mainstream media act as the dominant means by which the general public encounter and makes sense of the wider social world. International, national, regional and local media serve a variety of different and often competing, interests as news organisations and publishers disseminate messages across a range of platforms in a bid for the public’s attention. The module will consider factual output encompassing news, current affairs, investigative reporting, documentaries and discussion shows. It will also examine the interplay between the media, its audiences and wider society. A holistic approach to tackling the practices and policies that inform the production and consumption of factual media output will be central to this module. The roles played by media institutions, from the press and broadcasters through to media regulators, will be explored in order to examine the relationship between the public, politics and society.

2 x lectures per week 1 x seminar per week 1 x weekly drop-in tutorial

NOTE-TAKING

WEEKLY SCHEDULE Week 1: Critical pedagogy 1 - Module overview and assessment preparation 2 – News values, news frames and shifting debates Week 2: News, governance and regulation 1 – Issues of objectivity, impartiality and balance 2 – Regulation vs self-regulation Week 3: Debates and public opinion 1 – The public sphere, public opinion and plurality 2 – Constructing the public: platforms for public participation Week 4: Online news and ‘engagement’ 1 – ‘Comment is free’: public opinion and ‘below the line’ feedback 2 – Data journalism, visualization and infographics

WEEKLY SCHEDULE Week 5: Factual output and personalization 1 – Representing the public: the celebrity journalist 2 – Are we being served? Dumbing down, infotainment and social media. Week 6: Global media events 1 –Wikileaks: the age of transparency? 2 – Social media revolutions: the arab spring Week 7: Test and moral panics 1 – Class-based test 2 – Querying contemporary moral panics and media panics Week 8: Critical media discourses 1 - Querying media effects: discourses of blame (high school killings) 2 - Critical approaches to documentary and investigative journalism

WEEKLY SCHEDULE Week 9: Documenting facts? 1 – Representing race, religion and immigration across factual media 2 – Are You for Real? The politics of reality TV and infotainment. Week 10: Agenda setting media 1 – When Will I be Famous? Cultures of Celebrity in reality TV 2 – Reality TV and the ideologies of capitalism: neoliberalism and The Apprentice Week 11: Entertainment or exploitation? 1 – The class-based politics of reality TV: reality or fiction in Benefits Street? 2 – ‘Poverty porn’, duty of care and media responsibility Week 12: Gender, ideology and representation 1 – Lifestyle TV and social surveillance of classed and gendered bodies 2 – Because I’m worth it: making over masculinity

RECOMMENDED BOOKS •  Allan, S. (2010) News Culture 3rd Edition, Buckingham: Open

University Press •  Albertazzi, D. and Cobley, P. eds (2009) The Media: An

Introduction 3rd Edition, Harlow, Pearson Education Limited. •  Burton, G (2004) Media & Society: Critical Perspectives,

Maidenhead: Open University Press •  Cushion, S (2012) Television Journalism, London: Sage •  Hodkinson, P (2011) Media, Culture and Society: an

introduction, London: Sage •  Lunt, P., & Livingstone, S. (2012) Media Regulation, London:

Sage •  McNair, B. (2009) News and Journalism in the UK 5th Edition,

London: Routledge

RECOMMENDED JOURNALS

•  Media, Culture & Society •  Journal of Media Practice •  Journalism Studies

•  Journalism Practice

•  Digital Journalism

•  European Journal of Cultural Studies

RECOMMENDED LISTENING

ASSESSMENT 1 – TIME CONSTRAINED TEST

Wednesday 11th of March Prospect PR009 at 11am In week 7 of term students will be expected to complete a time-constrained test. This test will be worth 40% of the total module grade. It aims to assess student knowledge and comprehension of the material covered on the module to date.

ASSESSMENT 1 – TIME CONSTRAINED TEST The format of the test will be as follows: - 2 hour test paper - students must answer 4 from a maximum of 10 questions - each question will be equally weighted (ie worth 25% of this assessment grade or 10% of the overall module grade) - the test will be a ‘seen’ paper - the questions will be provided to students 7 days in advance of the test - the questions will be published on Sunspace and an email will be issued to all students registered on the module. -  the test will not be an ‘open book’ paper (ie no books can be

brought into the test room)

ASSESSMENT 1 – TIME CONSTRAINED TEST

Students will not be required to recite lengthy quotes Responses are not expected to be longer than 500 words per answer (eg up to 3 paragraphs)

Students can answer any of the questions

Any students with SpLD should contact the module leader directly and in private so that appropriate arrangements can be made (asap!)

ASSESSMENT 2 - ANALYSING FACTUAL TEXTS

Wednesday 27th May 2015 by 3pm (physical and digital submission) This assignment requires students to assess and critically analyse one or two of the key issues, concepts, keywords or themes raised across the module in some detail. The assignment must address the above by paying specific reference to examples drawn from one of the following formats listed below. Students must apply a concept to a textual example: - Broadcast news (eg The Channel 4 News, PM) - Political discussion shows (eg Question Time, Any Questions) - Current affairs (eg Newsnight, Today) - The talk show (eg The Jeremy Kyle Show) - Documentary (eg Dispatches, The Report) - Reality television (eg The X-Factor) - Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked)

NEXT…

Thursday 11am PR009 – News values lecture Seminars will proceed as standard

Students could read:

Harcup, T. & O’Neill, D., 2001, ‘What is news? Galtung and Ruge revisited’, in Journalism Studies 2: 261-280. Link in module guide and on Sunspace