Why should we and How can we Study the Media?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Why should we and How can we Study the Media?

Media are critically important in our lives. We decide how, and sometimes whether to vote based on TV images of candidates and issues. We learn about other countries and cultures around the world from movies, newspapers and the internet. We may even come to know ourselves and our own cultures - to form our own identities - through interaction with music, film and television. It is essential then, that we understand how media institutions and media images work so that we can become critical and discriminating producers and consumers of media. Media texts are constructed, often by organisations; they use specialised language and have distinctive ways of telling stories. They have distinctive narratives and genres and are primarily commercial. The media have specific ways of looking at the world and consequently construct their own representation of reality. These representations carry messages and values which are interpreted by audiences in a variety of ways, media industries and institutions have an influence on the products created.

I believe that part of the reason why people study the media is because they are interested in the whole intellectual culture,