HST61025 Approaches and Methods in Media History

15 credits, Semester one
Module leader 2024-25: David Vessey

Module summary

This module explores approaches and methods in media history. Students will examine how historians narrate media history, and what role the media has played in shaping political culture and mass communications from the Second World War onward. Class discussions will be predominantly based around the case study of modern Britain after 1945, but students will be encouraged to think more widely about the Anglophone world and examine extra-British examples where appropriate. Themes to be studied include: media theory and historiography, including debating the media’s role in political disengagement; the media and mainstream politics, including parties and elections; the media, extra-parliamentary politics and social movements; foreign policy and political violence; and race, racism and migration in the media.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

Demonstrate the ability to distinguish between and critically evaluate different schools of interpretation and historical debate on the media’s role in modern society
Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the ways in which the media have shaped and reflected political culture in Britain and the wider Anglophone world since 1945
Demonstrate an awareness of the contribution made by media studies, sociology, and cultural studies to historical understanding of the media
Demonstrate the ability to navigate theoretical debates in media history and digitised archival materials in developing a practical case study via written coursework
Demonstrate the ability to elaborate and defend an intellectual position to other members of the seminar group as well as presenting scholarly arguments and historiographical debates to them

Assessment methods

Assessment type - % of final mark

3,000 word essay - 100%

You will complete a 3,000 word essay on a topic related to one of the module's key themes. You will define your own essay topic in discussion with your tutor.

Additional learning and teaching information

Teaching and indicative seminar plan:

The module will be taught in five, two-hour classes. You will also have individual tutorial contact with the module tutor in order to discuss your assessment for this module.

Selected reading:

Michael Bailey, (ed.), Narrating Media History (London, 2008)
Martin Conboy, Journalism: A Critical History (London, 2004)
Andrew Crisell, An Introductory History of British Broadcasting (2nd edn., London, 2002)
James Curran, ‘Rival Narratives of Media History’, in J. Curran, Media and Power (London, 2002)
James Curran and Jean Seaton, Power without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and New Media in Britain (7th edn., London, 2009) [ebook]
J.E.T. Eldridge, J. Kitzinger and K. Williams, The Mass Media and Power in Modern Britain (Oxford, 1997)
Colin Seymour-Ure, The Press and Broadcasting since 1945 (2nd edn., Oxford, 1996)
Mick Temple, The British Press (Maidenhead, 2008) [ebook]
Jeremy Tunstall, Newspaper Power: The New National Press in Britain (Oxford, 1996)
Kevin Williams, Get Me a Murder a Day! A History of Mass Communications in Britain (London, 1998)
Kevin Williams, Read all about it! A History of the British Newspaper (London, 2009)

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