AMU1277 - Analyzing Media: Why Study Over Consumption?

This essay examines the importance of studying media rather than passively consuming it, emphasizing how media studies provides crucial tools for understanding the relationship between texts, audiences, and producers. It highlights the influence of media on public opinion and the potential for manipulation within the political realm. The essay advocates for critical analysis of media texts, including textual and semiotic approaches, to foster independent thinking and prevent the uncritical acceptance of hegemonic ideas. By studying media, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of societal mechanisms, cultural influences, and the diverse interpretations of media messages, ultimately empowering them to navigate the complexities of the modern world more effectively. The assignment refers to AMU1277 Media Studies at Monash University.

Running head: STUDYING OF MEDIA
Studying of Media
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1STUDYING OF MEDIA
Media refers to communication outlet or the tool that is used for the purpose of the
delivering of information in the society. It refers to a channel of the general communication
that serves the purpose of providing entertainment in the society. This essay discusses why
the studying of media is more important and why it should not be consumed. This essay talks
about the importance of studying media and the approaches that can be used for the studying
of the media in the present age.
There are various forms of the media like the verbal or the written media and the
visual media. The study of the media came about owing to the development in relation to
mass communication. Media studies refers to an academic discipline that helps in binding the
various hybrid disciplines like the semiotics, structuralism along with the sociolinguists. It
has been argued by McKee (2001) that the media can be said to be a crucial aspect in relation
to study as this area of study is contemporary and always evolving. The media studies has an
effect on the everyday life of the individuals as the audiences interacts with the media in the
modern age. Studying media can help in understanding the link that exists between the texts,
audiences along with the producers. News can play an important role in influencing the
audience (McKee, 2001). Internet plays an important part in the present age in transmitting
the information in the present age. It helps in crossing boundaries of the texts along with the
producers that helps the user in getting access to multiple sources of the information. The
messages that are portrayed on the media can have various meanings for different people and
it can help in changing the interpretation of the audience. The media studies can play a
crucial role in forming the opinions of the people. The media has a great influence on the
people and it has an effect on the real life of the people.
It is important to study the media in the deeper level as it can help in making the
people conscious about certain events. It has been argued by Sinclair (2006) that the media
can act as a tool of the analysis that can prevent the people from following hegemonic idea

2STUDYING OF MEDIA
like the masses. Media in the form of a subject can help in understanding the world in various
ways that can help in the understanding of the society and the mechanisms of the world. It is
important to study media in the present age instead of consuming the media as it is influenced
greatly by the political realm that can distort the real facts in the present age. The media plays
a crucial role in forming the perspective of an individual in relation to the political and the
socio-cultural issues. According to Sinclair (2006), media should be studied in a manner that
can help in opening the understanding regarding how the things work and how ideologies can
help in governing the lives of the individual. The audiences are manipulated in the present
age by the using of media and hence media should not be consumed blindly by the people in
the present age. The media makes people consider various kinds of examples and it helps in
opening the minds of the individuals in the society. The media studies helps in reviewing the
theories that helps people in understanding useful of the theories.
According to O’shaughnessy, Stadler and Casey (2016), media should be studied in a
careful manner as it helps people in understanding the society in the social along with the
political context. Media helps in perceiving the self in the form of a product of symbolic
system in the world. The media studies can help an individual in making sense of the world
that acts as an outcome in relation to a symbolic project. It has been stated by O’shaughnessy,
Stadler and Casey (2016), that the messages of the media are not fixated with one particular
meaning that is imposed by the authoritarian figures. There are multiple angles for the
analysis of media and the public becomes more knowledgeable in the modern age with the
help of closer scrutiny of the media. The close introspection of the inner meanings of the
media texts helps an individual in becoming more independent in the society.
Textual analysis can be used for the gathering along with the analysing of information
in relation to the media texts that can help in understanding the pattern of the meanings. The
approach of content analysis can help in breaking components of the program that can help in

3STUDYING OF MEDIA
understanding the inner meaning of the content .The semiotic analysis approach can also be
used that can help in breaking various elements of text. In the realm of media studies, there is
not a correct way that can help in the interpretation of any text. Text can be interpreted by
taking recourse to genre along with the various codes procedures (Sinclair 2006). There is no
correct manner of interpretation of text and it is of crucial importance to understand the
media text within world of the reality. Media studies can help in understanding elements of
the language along with the culture that can help in shaping the meanings in the society.
Media is indicative of tool that is used for the transmission of information within the
society. It is instrumental in communication that provides entertainment within the society. It
is indicative of academic discipline that helps in bringing together the different disciplines
like structuralism and the sociolinguists. Media is evolving in the present age. It affects the
daily life of the people in the event of the audience interacting with the media. The
manipulation of the audience takes place in the present age and media should not be
consumed in a blind manner in the current age. The people considers various alternatives
with the help of the media that opens minds of the people. Textual analysis is used for the
analysis of information pertaining to the media texts that helps in discovering the hidden
meanings of the text. Semiotic analysis helps in breaking down the different elements of a
text. There does not exist correct manner for interpretation of text.

4STUDYING OF MEDIA
References
McKee, A. (2001). A beginner's guide to textual analysis. Metro Magazine, (127), 138-149.
O’shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J., & Casey, S. (2016). Media and society.
Sinclair, J. (2006). Media and Communications; Theoretical Traditions. The media and
communications in Australia, 13-27.