Media and Society

COMS101 explores the relationship between society and media - including social media, print, broadcasting, and all kinds of online spaces. It asks how our understandings of the world and people around us are mediated, how media have shaped society, and how society is reflected and produced through media. We will explore topics like media audiences, technologies, ownership and work; the frames of representation, power, and identity; and analytical tools like semiotics, discourse, and narrative. COMS101 is a stage one course that does not require any prior media study, but it builds on everything you have ever watched, listened to, interacted with, and produced. This course has on-campus and distance options. It includes weekly written exercises and requires active in-class engagement on campus, or in the distance stream to develop core university skills and learn effectively from the teaching staff and from each other.

15 points

Introduction to News and Journalism

This course provides students with an understanding of how news journalism works and why it looks the way it does. The course includes practical work designed to help students understand news practice from the inside and outside. The focus will be on Aotearoa New Zealand cases and particularly on the representation of te ao Maori in the news.

15 points

Introduction to Strategic Communication

This course examines the role of strategic communication in society as an economic and political force. Strategic communication attempts to persuade and argue for a particular position that one is advocating for - whether that be on behalf of a business, a governmental policy, or a social cause. Obvious examples from within media are public relations and advertising, however, this course will examine how sponsored messaging has affected social institutions, from education to politics to media to health to philanthropy. The second half of the course is focused on building the skills necessary to create effective strategic messages. This course has on-campus and distance options, and requires active participation.

15 points