Macquarie University

Australian Media - WMEC104

This unit offers an introduction to the media in Australia. Suitable for students interested in pursuing further media studies the course provides a good general introduction to media issues, organisations and media cultures in Australia that will be useful to any future career in the media. It also caters for those wanting to be better informed and more critical consumers of Australian media. As well as offering an overview of its historical development, the course examines both traditional media (such as the press, radio, cinema, and television) and contemporary issues that affect Australian media and the challenges associated with digitisation, convergence and the impact of globalisation and the internet. Students will explore questions such as: How is Australian nationhood realised through media? What is a media 'imagined community'? What is public broadcasting and does it matter in the deregulated environment of new media? What is the relationship between media and democracy in Australia? How important is quality news and current affairs reporting to democracy in Australia? How important is television and film in terms of knowing who we are? Has national identity or identities been forged through media in the past, and how is this relationship to the national changing with a distributed networked culture?