Media and Communication Studies
About the Programme
Media and Communication Studies is a Master of Arts program with thesis, and it is based on analysing practical and theoretical means of mass communication and new media and the quantitative and social effects of their activities. In general this program focuses on the structure, function and effects of communicative action on persons and institutions through analysing the structure and function of the media.
The objective of this program is to educate students who will be able to understand the basic concepts of communication, adopt a scientific approach, evaluate the relation between the media and the society using interdisciplinary means, identify the problems and find solutions for them.
The program will mediate the recruitment of candidates oriented to different areas of the communications industry, such as journalism, public relations expertise or television production and it will also mediate the enrolment of candidates planning an academic career.
Graduates of the programme will gain the ability to approach social communication through the mass media with a critical point of view, learn to develop research design in the field of social sciences, learn research methods and recognize basic research trends in the field of media and communication studies.
Application Process
Please visit Ankara University’s Graduate School of Social Sciences website for more information about the application process: http://gradsocialsci.en.ankara.edu.tr/
Courses
To be able to gain their MA degree, students must collect 120 ECTS through enrolling (minimum) seven courses, one seminar, and thesis writing. 120 ECTS should consist of 60 ECTS worth course work and seminar, and 60 ECTS worth thesis project and supervision from advisers.
Must Courses:
Media and Communication Theories
This course aims to provide an understanding of communication theories in a social frame and to explain the institutionalized dimensions of them. The course introduces the approaches, theories and models in communication and media studies within their relation to general social theory. The fundamental concepts and arguments of theories are put forward and their historical, cultural and intellectual context is identified. Hence, the course informs the students about the potentialities and limitations of the approaches, theories and models in the area of communication and the media.
Media and Society
This course, in accordance with communication technologies, is aimed to discuss technological developments and their interaction with social changes. On other hand, it aims to bring in a critical approach in field of social relations and understand social relations by boundedness and opportunities of technological determination. The course introduces the main theoretical approaches concerning the role of media in modern societies and aims to provide a general perspective about the relationship between media institutions, media content, audience and society.
Research Methods in Media Studies
The course is aimed at introducing specific methodology in the field of social sciences in general and communication and media studies in particular. The methods used in communication studies and the techniques of data collection are reviewed and their compatibility with the research problematique is assessed.
Elective Courses:
Academic Reading and Writing
This course aims to provide critical literacy to the individuals who will carry out the academic studies. The aim is to improve the writing skills of the graduate students in academic texts such as dissertations, articles and papers. These students will develop their skills of researching, organizing and discussing with reading and writing applications by learning to combine and express the information derived from different sources and to discern the organization strategies of different forms of academic writing.
Journalism in Context
This course discusses the functions and roles of rapidly changing technologic and social instruments in field of media industry. Moreover, journalism practices are analysed in context of technological, political and cultural issues. The course aims to bring in a critical approach to the changes in journalism and analysing the meanings and limits of journalism practices. The course will address the current crisis of journalism, problems of political power, public sphere, ownership as well as issues concerning audience, regulations and representation.
Media Economics
The aim of the course is to analyse the economic operating systems of mainly communication industries and particularly media sector. In this context, the economic concepts related to the sector, the decision makers in the sector and the market structure will be examined and the main approaches and methods about the effects of national and global production relations on the sector and the effects of socio-economic changes on these media structures will be reviewed. The students gain the ability to analyse the objectives of news organizations, the conditions, structures and processes of finance and the market as well as being informed about local and transnational political, economic, cultural, social and legal operations.
History of Media in Turkey
The objective of the course is to explain the structure of the media industry in Turkey in the context of its historical development. In this context, the major shifts in Turkish media policy will be explained in the course of their historical development in different milieu and thus the position of media in Turkey within the whole social formation will be assessed. The important turning points and breaks in the development of both new media and traditional media will be evaluated starting from the introduction of first newspapers to the development of radio and television broadcasting.
Ethical Issues in Media
The course’s aim is to analyse the sources and frameworks of the ethical issues in media sector. Through the analysing the origins, limitations and contemporary manifestations of ethical issues, the course has the goal of exhibiting the main ethical issues in the media and to provide a critical perspective regarding these issues. The course is aimed at formulating a discourse and language in media content which does not exclude differences, encourages democratic participation, and is not conflictual or polarizing though review of various philosophical approaches which explain the relationship between ethics and human existence.
Media and Public Sphere
This course aims to equip students with different theories of public sphere, public opinion, publicity and the media by taking into account their historical nature. Also, the course addresses the issue of alternative publics in the scope of their relation to media.
Public Relations Theories
The objective of the course is to introduce the theoretical debates and approaches that stand out in public relations literature. The course will aim at informing the students about the mainstream understanding in public relations and the objections directed by critical tradition to the accumulated knowledge, type of work, forms of organization in public relations, and to exemplify the differences between two approaches through specific applications of theory.
Public Relations in Turkey
The aim is to inform students about the development of public relations in Turkey from past to present in the light of the basic concepts and theoretical discussions of the field. The course examines the development of public relations in Turkey throughout the initial years of the Republic with a historical perspective. The course includes public relations activities both in public and private sectors and will focus on the points of connection between such activities and the political, social and cultural developments in Turkey.
Film Analysis
The purpose of the course is to introduce the theoretical and practical instruments of film analysis through the main theoretical approaches and methods that shape the theories of film criticism. Important examples of world cinema will be analysed through various methods of analysis (feminist critique, sociological analysis or psychoanalytic critique). Form and content will be evaluated in unison and the meaning formed by the cinematographic devices such as camera angles and music will be examined. Thus, the students’ scholarly understanding of movies will be formed and their analytical abilities will be developed.
Turkish Cinema
By considering the Turkish cinema in its historical development path and explaining the relations with political, economic and industrial structure of the cinema and discussing the theoretical discussions on the “genre system”, the film types and the cinema in Turkey, which emerged within the development of Turkish cinema, this course aims to explain the relationship of cinema with political, economic and industrial structure and to evaluate the cinematic traditions brought about by these developments. Hence, the course aims to ensure that the students will be aware of the specificities of the unique characteristics of the cinema in Turkey. The course will demonstrate how the industrial structure of Turkish cinema works and how the relationship between the political and Turkish cinema is established. Also, the opportunities for production, distribution and screening are analysed.
Comparative Media Systems (Seminar)
The objective of this seminar is to enable students to discuss, research and produce academic materials on a scientific subject through discussions on comparative media systems. The discussion of media systems is an efficient and fundamental field in which students are able to produce academic materials as one of the main topics of recent communication studies. The aim of the seminar is to analyse the media systems in different countries with regard to the historical, cultural, political and economic factors that shape them. The seminar aims to integrate the information derived from the students about the media systems in their countries with the course content about the non-Western media systems, their institutional practices, legal regulations, content, reception and interpretation and occupational practices. During the development of these materials, it is aimed to gain experience for students’ thesis studies by learning and fulfilling both theoretical and methodical requirements.
Current Issues of Turkish Media (Seminar)
The aim of the course is to enable students to connect the media field and country’s problems and to gain a critical perspective by focusing on the transformation of media in Turkey after 1980. The problems encountered in Turkish media in the levels of content, production, occupational practices and institutional/legal practices are addressed. Each student is expected to conduct a study on a certain aspect of Turkish media.
Staff