Media Studies

The media are a source of information and entertainment, criticism and praise, pleasure and scorn and, as such, the course encourages students to consider the media and the products it produces, media organisations and those who own them, and the regulators who oversee the media.

This means that the media are analysed from a variety of perspectives - political, economic, cultural and philosophical, in order to gain a wider understanding of the media and its role and functions within society.

Why study Media Studies at Warrington?

Media Studies provides an opportunity to study the most influential and ubiquitous product of the 21^st century. Media is everywhere and everyone has a view about how it should operate, what it should or should not do, who owns it and where we consume it. Many, from audiences through to governments, owners through to distributors, seek to have influence over it, to influence or control what we see, hear or read and how.

Media Studies provides an exciting range of modules that ask critical questions about the media industry and offers the opportunity to develop a wide range of essential, transferable abilities that will be welcome in many graduate roles.

Features:

The Media courses at our Warrington campus have developed an impressive reputation during the past decade for high quality teaching and facilities. The Combined Honours Media Studies degree is designed to enable students to build upon their existing interest in, and knowledge of, the media. The course investigates a wide variety of media institutions, texts and audiences.

Students can develop their own specific areas of interest, focusing on television and radio, but with some reference to print and the Internet too. The central role of the media in our everyday lives will be explored, and the common sense assumptions that surround it challenged.

The course enables students to understand how and why various media institutions operate, the representation or exclusion of some groups and issues by the media, and the consumption of particular media products by audiences. The Department of Media continues to benefit from its links with broadcasters and content providers of regional, national and international reputation, and through its range of programmes is developing further formal relationships with a range of media content providers, most recently our partnership with the BBC, Connect and Create.