Media, Campaigning and Social Change MA

In this module, you will consider the factors that influence social change in the context of current campaigns around the world, and the historical development of campaign techniques and practices. You will apply a critical analysis of concepts such as power, theories of change, ethics, innovation, media representation, narrative and framing to practical scenarios and topical campaigns. This module requires you to monitor and critically evaluate practice in the UK and/or internationally.

20  credits

The module investigates the relationship between media, activism and politics. It offers a critical assessment of the role of media in political mobilisation, social movements, dissent, memes, satire and art, and political and social crises. The module looks at the impact of communications on activism in a range of circumstances from secure democracies through different kinds of political systems. The module combines traditional academic lectures and seminars with attendance at topical events and visits to relevant exhibitions and institutions.

20  credits

In this module you will learn how to research and plan a strategic campaign for social change based on the theories of social change examined in Semester One. You will produce communication material such as news releases, e-alerts, tweets, infographics and/or videos to support your campaign strategy. Where possible, you work to live briefs from campaigning organisations. This is a practical, hands-on module taught through a series of workshops, visits to campaign communication teams in London-based campaigning organisations, masterclasses and guest talks by leading campaigners and social change communicators.

20  credits

MA students only

The module will provide you with the opportunity to undertake independent research in the form of a dissertation that critically, systematically and theoretically develops an understanding and analysis of the role of media in campaigning and social change. Alternatively, you can complete a professional practice project (which can be work based).

60 credits

The contemporary media relations environment revolves around a core understanding of the roles of, and opportunities provided by paid, owned, earned and social media. This module equips students with the professional skills to conduct media relations within this environment, including producing shareable content and media events, presenting work, and communicating with key target audiences. In addition to understanding this largely digital space, the module also stresses the importance of understanding the constituents of a compelling news story, together with the skills of media release writing including understanding the role of AI in this process.

20 credits

The module will critically examine the influence, responsibility, and power of journalism with a focus on broadcast media across a number of genres in reporting on and representing gender, sexuality, age & disability. It employs practical exercises, personal examination and critical media analysis to increase awareness and critical engagement with the issues surrounding the reporting of diversity in society. It will engender a critical engagement with visual media and will train students to develop a self-reflective approach to devising, developing and delivering individual and team work necessary to address these issues through the production of an investigative short piece for TV and a short documentary film.

20 credits

In this module, you will learn how to plan and implement fundraising techniques for progressive social change. The module will look at the range of techniques and platforms used for fundraising. You will produce an evidence-based fundraising plan for a social justice issue, plus supporting digital fundraising content for social media platforms. You will consider the role of fundraising and how this integrates with campaign communications. This is a practical, hands-on module taught through a series of workshops with masterclasses by leading international fundraisers.

In this module, you will learn about the different facets of podcast making, exploring genres (e.g. journalistic/investigative, personal storytelling, fictional narrative, sports, comedy, interest groups) and the production techniques required for specific formats. You will also learn about idea incubation, pitching, marketing and monetisation.

We are surrounded by artificial intelligence (AI) applications, whether we are aware of this or not. From personal assistants to automated news, from facial recognition technologies to self-driving cars, these are just a few examples of how AI is already impacting our lives. This module explains what AI is and offers a systematic overview of what is behind AI. It also looks into the controversies and challenges related to AI. The module teaches you to think critically about AI and assess the societal impact of AI. By mapping a broad range of applications, issues arising, and key debates, the module will equip you with a systematic understanding of current AI developments and their impact on society.

This module is designed to introduce you to some important methods in social and media research. We shall look at how to undertake selective quantitative and qualitative research methods, understanding and exploring the different stages of the research process, from a definition of a research hypothesis, to data design, collection and analysis. We shall also look at the theoretical reasoning behind different methodological approaches to media and society, in particular the politics of social research.

20 credits

The module covers a range of theoretical approaches to studying media and communication in a loosely historical order. Students will acquire an understanding of the historical contexts in which these ways of thinking emerged, be introduced to the leading thinkers driving these approaches and to key concepts associated with them. The focus will be on critically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and students will be encouraged to carefully consider the applicability of each to the current communications landscape. The module will finish with a look at the most recent debates in the field, addressing the question whether new media do indeed require new theory. Students will be assessed in two written essay assignments on their ability to engage with often complex ideas and to test the utility of these for understanding current phenomena. Students will acquire an understanding of what is a history of our field, though it needs to be remembered that this is one possible history of many, and that many non-Western approaches have not been included due to the time constraints of the module.

20 credits

The first part of the module reviews a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, focusing on and critiquing key debates on media audiences. Using a global perspective and different genre-based case studies, the second part of the module is devoted to discussions of digital media, post-modernity and identity.

20 credits

This module provides a broad introduction to the political economy approach to the media, communication, culture and digital media. The module provides an introduction to political economy in general and the political economy of communication in particular, which entails a focus on political economy theories, the history of the political economy of communication-approach, the political economy of media concentration, the political economy of advertising, the political economy of global media, the political economy of cultural labour, the political economy of the Internet and digital labour, and the political economy of the information society.

20 credits

This module provides students with a theoretical understanding of the development, significance and contemporary uses of social media. It fosters both critical analysis and reflective practice in the networked digital media environment. Students will critically engage with key ideas of creativity, sharing and visibility in social media, and will participate in creative and reflective practice using leading social media tools and platforms. This will involve using social media tools to explore course concepts and theoretical materials by, for example, blogging about course readings, making an online video presentation to introduce a weekly seminar discussion, or making a photo essay in response to a key module theory. This module uses a flipped classroom approach through which informational content is made available to learners in advance of the on-campus class sessions, which are dedicated to discussion activities.

20 credits

This module introduces students to the main critical theories of digital media, and provides specific focus on the implications of race and culture on the development, infrastructures and ownership of digital media. This module has a particular interest in the power structures generated by geo-politics and fosters international knowledge of digital media. It uses readings and videos about the ways race, class and gender impact the production and circulation of digital culture and helps breaks down the popular mythologies about a placeless virtual reality and borderless digital culture. Whilst providing students with a theoretical and critical base, practical skills will also be developed through the making of a digital video artefact.

20 credits

This module offers a comprehensive introduction at postgraduate level to the politics of communication technologies, and the role policy plays in shaping their development, deployment and usage. It examines various issues, factors and stakeholders relevant to television, telecommunications, the Internet, platforms and Artificial Intelligence.

20 credits

This module is intended to lay the theoretical foundations when it comes to investigating and understanding how digital data and society intersect. The main focus of this module is on digital data practices and how they shape and are shaped by socio-cultural, political and subjective factors. Students will be introduced to key concepts and theoretical frameworks from an interdisciplinary perspective and engage with those during seminars and independent study. The assessment consists of a creative data project as well as a written essay.

20 credits

Building on Data and Society: Concepts and Applications, this module places an emphasis on methods for researching datafication. This module is intended to provide an introduction at postgraduate level to the methodological tools for collecting, analysing and visualising digital data, both as an object of study and a means for analysis. The focus is on qualitative, quantitative as well as digital data methods. The module consists of a range of lectures and seminars.

20 credits

This module will provide an overview of contemporary developments in the global media and communication industries and their impact on cultures worldwide. It will explore the changing political economy of the media related to questions of collective culture and identity in the new global context. The module will focus on transformations in existing media, with a particular emphasis on broadcasting and the audio-visual media and look at innovations of new information and communications technologies, especially the Internet. The module will examine the complex relation between the global and the local, reflected in the growing ‘glocalization’ of Western media products as well as the increasing globalisation of non-Western media such as Japanese comics, Brazilian soap operas, Arabic news networks and the Indian film industry. In exploring such phenomena, one key aspect of the module will be to analyse how the commercial media ecology impacts on the public media and the public sphere. The module will also analyse the role of the Internet in the development of transnational social movements and civil society.

20 credits

This module provides an overview of the theoretical and practical history of communications within the development process of middle and lower income economies and considers the impact of international institutions in the expansion of western media. It examines the role of new technologies and the role of BRICS/alternative actors (e.g. China/NGOs) in communications policy and development. It concludes by examining the impact of activism on the shaping of policies for public service media.

20 credits

A critical study of the news media in the context of current society. Looking into news creation and the history of journalism, the module aims to link the broader patterns of social change to a critical study of mass media and the techniques to steer them (spin doctors) and thereby explores contemporary journalism and its ethics from a historical and conceptual perspective.

The module covers a range of theoretical debates and approaches to social and cultural diversity, ranging from assimilationism to variants of multiculturalism and examines the conceptual tools devised to make sense of diverse societies as well as related concepts such as social cohesion, integration, pluralism, diversity, super diversity and more current debates on ‘post -multiculturalism’ or ‘post-diversity’. We will conceptually engage with multiple theories on identity formation and the position of different strands of thought in its study; from ethnomethodology, to post structuralism and postmodernism and different strands of feminism. Examples from everyday life and current politics from across the world will be highlighted and used throughout the teaching. While the module engages with conceptual debates, it does so, through the use and analysis of historical examples and current political events. The position advanced in teaching is that engaging and understanding the complexity of our societies is not just a theoretical enterprise but also necessary in understanding the nature of our societies and the politics involved in processes of ‘othering’, and excluding specific groups from citizenship. That social and political change can be best understood as a constant process of struggle for recognition, and acknowledging such struggles, allows for a better understanding of the history and the future of our societies.

20 credits