Rationale

Why study media studies?

The media shapes our understanding of the world, reflecting and communicating aspects of our public and private lives and contributing to the creation of personal, social, cultural, and national identities.

Discover how to make sense of the media.

Media studies challenges and empowers students to analyse and interpret media content and to become more informed and think critically about the media and its role in everyday life.

The media is often controlled by powerful corporate interests. Media makers interpret events and shape how we view the world. Students learn to recognise the things that influence the media.

The media is constantly changing. The progress of technology, mobility, connectivity, and digitisation is generating new channels and media formats. Students are increasingly participating in this dynamic new environment. Through active engagement with the media, they will deepen their awareness of the nature and purpose of these changes.

Create and innovate.

Students develop and project their creativity, learning how to entertain and influence audiences and communicate powerfully using media technologies.

Students contribute to New Zealand culture, expressing their ideas and identities by creating their own media products. They learn to appreciate the aesthetic values of media products and their wider historical and cultural context.

Media studies prepares students for the future.

Students develop the skills to become informed, discriminating citizens in a constantly changing, interconnected world. Through media studies, students explore career pathways in the rapidly growing information, knowledge, entertainment, and communications industries.

Learning pathways in media studies

Last updated July 19, 2010

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