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MDS-10049 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

MDS-10049 - Media Industries
Coordinator: Elizabeth Poole Tel: +44 1782 7 34968
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 4
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

No

Barred Combinations

No

Description for 2025/26

This module introduces you to key tools you can use to analyse the social contexts, cultures, politics, and economics of media industries. From huge corporations to content creators, go behind the scenes to find out how media is produced, funded, regulated, distributed, and made across the globe. You will learn how media ownership, profit, and work are changing, and the role they play in shaping the media that gets made. The module further develops your academic skills needed for success in your degree.

Aims
The module introduces students to the key tools they need to analyse the social contexts, cultures and politics, and economics of media industries. The module demonstrates how media ownership, profit, and work are changing, and the role they play in shaping the systems of distribution, production and representation. Study skills are also embedded into the module in order to develop core academic skills that students will need throughout their degree.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Describe and analyse the political, economic contexts of media/digital media systems of distribution, production and representation: 1
Analyse and interpret the academic literature on this topic and apply this to appropriate industry case studies: 1
Identify and describe the opportunities and challenges presented by socio-technological developments and how they are developed and adopted in industry settings: 1,2
Develop specific independent academic study skills that are essential for success at degree level, such as research skills and good academic practice: 2
Present research findings and analyse appropriately: 1,2

Study hours

48 hours contact time including 2 x 2 hour workshops for 12 weeks. 1 workshop will be content delivery and discussion, the other research tasks/activities
136 hours independent study, which will involve the critically-engaged reading of texts and working on research skills challenges
116 hours working on assessments


School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Report weighted 50%
Industry case study report
Students select a company or media organisation from a given list and conduct research on its ownership, funding operations and development both commercial and/or technological. Analyse findings through literature examined on the module and present in a report format. 2500 words

2: Portfolio weighted 50%
Research skills portfolio
Present results of a series of academic tasks in an appropriate format. Tasks will include a literature search, annotated bibliography and appropriate use of AI, 2500 words

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025