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What is Media Studies?

In New Zealand, Media Studies is part of the Social Sciences family of subjects, along with History, Geography, Economics, Business Studies, and so on.

Media Studies is made up of 3 different strands:

Media in society

Explore how the media operates within societal contexts and how to understand the place of media in society. These contexts can include historical, economic, social, cultural, and political perspectives.

You will learn to understand your own relationship with the media in order to act as 'critical, active, informed and responsible citizens' .

Reading media texts

You will study, and apply, media language and media texts. The analysis of the content of media texts, using appropriate media terminology, gives you the ability to understand how meanings are created in texts.

You will look at groups of texts (genre), structures of texts (narrative), and you'll learn the skills of close reading so you can respond to the products of others as well as your own.

Media production

You will learn to make media products that can entertain, inform, and challenge. You'll explore, develop, and communicate ideas through the development of skills in the use of media technology. In the process, you will use language, symbols, and structures to create meaning. In reflecting on your own and others’ products, you develop your production and analysis skills.

If you want to find out more, including career opportunities and skills you gain, you can go FULL GEEK on the "Why Study Media Studies?" page at the Ministry of Education.