Did you know that the skills you gain from studying Media and Cultural Studies opens up so many different opportunities for your future careers. We have students who go into occupations in the media industry, but we also have students that move into marketing, communications, PR and also teaching. Some of the skills that you gain by doing this course include creative and logical thinking – skills that employers value.
So much has been happening over the summer regarding the media, with Murdoch and the Arab Spring and the role of new media in the riots. Surely these examples highlight why it is important to study the media!
I have been reading about Hume and morality in relation to programmes that focus on cosmetic surgery. Some fascinating ideas about how television promotes norms regarding body image and if we don’t fit that ideal, we can feel shame and want to adapt and change our body – hence the focus on cosmetic surgery. It promotes the superficial and external.
The producer of Midsomer Murders has said that the programme wouldn’t be English if there were minority ethnic characters in this programme. Surely, it would be useful if programmes like this challenged the notion of a romantic, white version of rural Britain. As a minority ethnic person myself, who actually watches such programmes, it would be fantastic to see minority ethnic characters as part of the community.
I have been watching the listening to the news with interest – particularly how the Internet is allegedly being used to stimulate activism. Is television now an outdated mode compared with new media?
As Christmas approaches, the number of advertisements aimed at children seems to increase – perhaps targeting so called ‘pester power’. A pity there are not many advertisements that are not commercial – which could encourage children to think about others and to give rather than to think about receiving.
Trend (2007: 122-3) notes that: ‘Violent representations are ingrained in our media environment and they need to be understood.. . Messages that depict violence are powerful because they project a societal view . . .and in doing this media naturalizes violence, making it seem more normal.’ (Trend, D. 2007. The Myth of Media Violence, Oxford, Blackwell).
So it is not the direct influence in terms of imitation and copying violence, but perhaps the ideology that may influence us e.g. desensitisation to violent images etc.
I have just come back from the Association for Journalism Education conference – which has been eye opening! The topics included the impact that global media and 24 hour news has – particularly the issues that are focused on. Other papers were discussing online journalism as well as investigative reporting. All very topical and interesting.
I have been reading, yet again, how people who look attractive earn more and are more successful in getting jobs. Surely it is more important what a person is like at doing their job, rather than how they look? Also, there are certain stereotypes that can work against people . Hence, my current research interest – newsreaders and attractiveness!
