MEDIA STUDIES Making sense of the world of communication
Year 12 student Jack Crossland believes media studies should be a compulsory subject for everyone, especially in our technologically driven age where communications bombard us from every angle.
we are told or shown, it is so easy to influence the viewer with hidden messages targeting the viewer.” “Television channels, too, are often financed by corporations who can skew the news to suit their political views.’’ Media Studies Head of Department Mr Peter Hewson has taught a wide variety of other subjects, but his belief in the value of media studies led him to decide to focus on teaching the subject. “More than any other subject, media studies hooks into a range of other subjects, not to replace any of them in terms of content and knowledge, but to supplement them.” “We learn most about our world from the media, so it is important
he says. Now there is a much bigger outlook on events and so many avenues for people to express their ideas, opinions and values. “Media studies helps us to look objectively at some of the information and opinions we are receiving and to recognise that many people who are not qualified are giving their opinions as if they were facts.’’ Benji Clark says boys who don’t do media studies see it as an easy option, but in reality, it takes a large amount of effort. “Last year we studied modern film and made one ourselves,’’ he says. “It has made me so aware of messages and the fact that, as humans, we are influenced by what
He says media studies has given him a wider view of the world he lives in, more than any of the other subjects he has studied. It has given him a deeper appreciation of how the differing media are trying to persuade and influence him and this has made him less naïve in accepting what is being presented to him as fact. “By analysing the means by which people communicate in our media- driven world, we can understand how much media impacts on all of us,’’ he says. “It influences how we perceive politics, world events and influences our choices. Yet often we accept it all without looking at it critically.’’ Previous generations were informed by the main news media, newspapers, radio and television,
“Now there is a much bigger outlook on events and so many avenues for people to express their ideas, opinions and values.’’ Jack Crossland
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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