 Description:
| Aims:
This option traces the changing role of the media in German and British society. It begins with the emergence of public service broadcasting and ends with the most recent phenomena of blogging and twittering. Key debates include the question of media ownership, the relationship between media and politics, the increasing sensationalism of the press and the impact of new technologies. The course adopts an explicitly comparative approach. Student seminars will involve comparing media from the two countries.
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit, students will be able to analyse journalistic and televised texts and situate these within wider discussions on the role of the mass media in contemporary Germany.
Skills:
Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument, effective communication in the target language, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are developed and assessed in this unit.
Content:
Theories of the function of the mass media in a democracy; historical developments in the German and British media; problems of increasing commercialisation and cross-ownership patterns of media in Germany and Britain; the impact of German unification on the media; potential of new media particularly the internet; analysis of news reporting in newspapers and television. The unit is taught in German.
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