Study Program WiSe 2012/2013

This course is designed to encourage students to a close study of mass media texts using contemporary critical theory. Living, as we do, in a mediatized society (Voigts-Virchow, 2005: 5), where the majority of information and knowledge is not perceived through a first-hand experience, i.e. somatically, but information that came to us via a medium, in other words, symbolically (Ott and Mack, 2010: 1), one question seems of paramount importance: What is the relationship between media and power in society? In an attempt to mediate on this question, we will comprehensively engage with key critical approaches to mass media and popular culture in the context of audiences and authorship, messages, meanings and representation. With the help of various theoretical and analytical essays we will explore the major divisions within the field of critical media studies, including mass society theory, the media effects tradition, political economy, the public sphere, cultural hegemony, feminism, and "new" audience research. The requirements as formulated below may vary depending on your overall degree program. Please check the learning compact (requirements, weekly schedule, select bibliography, modes of assessment) in the "Dateien" folder in week 1.

Required Reading before the first session (you will need a copy of these books in class):
Ott, Brian L. and Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction (Paperback). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Voigts-Virchow, Eckart. Introduction to Media Studies. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett, 2005.

All books will be available in the Universitätsbuchhandlung on campus (phone 0421 218 2768 or mail info@unibuch-bremen.de)

Assessment:

- regular attendance, informed participation in class discussion,
- in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material,
- homework assignments
- presentation of research paper; response paper or presentation summary (media labs)
- term paper