Discuss the role of media studies in making sense of the political, economic, and cultural meaning of everyday life

The term 'media' is defined by the Australian Oxford Dictionary as 'mass communications, especially newspapers and broadcasting, regarded collectively.' More specifically, the media is made up of the mass circulation press, the cinema, radio, television and recently, the Internet. The media constantly exposes us, as the audience, to an enormous quantity of ideas about elements of everyday life. Among other things, we are exposed to ideas about politics, culture, and economics, both voluntarily and …

…description rather than analysis. References Cunningham and Turner, The Media and Communications in Australia, 2002, Allen & Unwin Bazalgette, G. "Why Media Studies is Worthwhile" in D. Fleming (ed.), Formations. A 21st Century Media Studies Textbook, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2000, pp.5-14. Thompson, J.B. "Self and Experience in a Mediated World", The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1995, pp.209-219 Australian Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press Australia, 1996