Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Media and Communication)
ObjectivesStudents who complete the postgraduate diploma should be able to: * complete the equivalent of fourth year honours with a research component and obtain a recognised qualification. * demonstrate understanding of the changing nature of media industries and professional practices in the contemporary world and how these inform and influence diverse social, cultural and political processes. * demonstrate understanding of major theoretical and methodological approaches deployed in the media and communications subject and research field. * demonstrate skills in conducting a sustained advanced research project in a specialised aspect of media and communications and bringing this to successful completion and in conformity to protocols of academic presentation.
Academic titlePostgraduate Diploma in Arts (Media and Communication)
Course description * five core subjects
* Media and Communications Thesis
or
* four core subjects
* one optional subject
* Media and Communications Thesis
Total 100 points - subjects are 12.5 points each, unless indicated otherwise.
Core subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
100-415 Journalism: Conflict and Society
This subject examines the diverse roles that journalism plays in communicating conflicts in different national and international contexts. It focuses mainly upon the news media, both broadcasting and the press, though occasionally other forms of jour... Semester 1 12.50
100-416 Researching Audiences and Reception
This subject examines diverse notions of audience power and introduces various research approaches to investigating forms of audience practices and patterns of consumption in an ever-changing mediascape. It provides a detailed understanding of differ... Semester 1 12.50
100-417 Media and Everyday Life
This subject is designed to provide students with a detailed understanding of various developments, perspectives and issues in the study of media and everyday life. Students begin by looking at the time-space arrangements of daily social life, before... Semester 1 12.50
100-418 Media Policy and Regulation
This subject encourages students of media and communications to recognise the importance of investigating the changing regulatory regimes that structure media organisation and delivery and how these relate to surrounding interests and the play of pow... Semester 1 12.50
100-583 History and Philosophy of Media
When, how and why do media change? In an epoch of increasingly rapid innovation, our crucial resource for answering this question is our knowledge and ideas about previous transitions and
innovations. This subject investigates the intertwined histori... Semester 1 12.50
100-419 Public Relations and Corporate Power
This subject examines the practice of public relations in a globally corporatised environment and pays special attention to its historical and theoretical development in the context of large business corporations. The role of public relations as a hu... Semester 2 12.50
100-420 Journalism: Practice and Theory
This subject aims to provide students with an informed understanding of news organisation and professional practice, their informing determinants and impact on news representations. The course reviews and evaluates a wide range of theoretical framewo... Semester 2 12.50
100-422 Media Writing: Rhetoric and Practice
Developed from at least the fifth century BCE onwards, the metalanguage of rhetoric (writing on writing, or discourse on discourse) is today inextricably imbricated in both practices and critiques of media language. This subject examines the highly c... Semester 2 12.50
Internship subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
100-421 Media and Communications Internship
In this subject, students will acquire practical experience in one or more media and communications environments, under the guidance of a workplace mentor. Academic supervision and support will be provided in the form of on-campus lecture/workshops a... Semester 1, Semester 2 25
Thesis subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
100-581 Media and Communications Thesis
The Media and Communications Thesis provides students with an opportunity to originate, under supervision, a study on a topic of their own choosing and to pursue this over a sustained period of time to successful completion. The thesis will be expect... Semester 1, Semester 2 37.50
Note: All postgraduate diploma students must pursue at least four core modules, or two core modules and the Media and Communications Internship.
Optional subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
100-507 Global Media Governance
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
106-402 Cultural Policy and Power
This subject introduces students to cultural policy studies as a distinct domain of cultural studies. It examines the stakes involved in defining and operating within cultural policy studies by working through the characterisations of creative indust... Semester 1 12.50
106-474 The Contemporary Publishing Industry
This subject provides an overview of the major factors affecting the local and global production, marketing and distribution of books, magazines and electronic publications. It considers the impact of political, social and economic conditions, techno... Semester 1 12.50
106-475 Business and Professional Communications
This subject is concerned with the elements of successful communication in business and professional contexts. It introduces students to key business communications skills, focusing on both written and oral communications. The subject explores pertin... Semester 1 12.50
107-409 Indigenous Photography, New Media, Film
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
107-421 Contemporary Film Theory
This subject will examine the development of contemporary film theory of the post-1968 period. Students will be expected to critically evaluate the significance and applicability of some of the following theoretical approaches: formalism and structur... Semester 1 12.50
121-545 Understanding Development
This subject forms an introduction to the main past and current theories of development, involving the approaches of several social science disciplines. It also considers many of the major issues in development, including the environment, gender, hum... Semester 1 12.50
166-444 The Emerging World (Dis)Order
This subject provides students with an opportunity to think about some of the major issues in contemporary international politics. An underlying theme is the extent to which contemporary international politics can be seen in terms of the emergence of... Semester 1 12.50
166-413 Communication and Governance
This subject critically investigates the changing forms of governance in democratic polities in the wake of the informational age. Using communication as a central analytical category, the subject considers how democratic political systems are coping... Semester 1 12.50
106-477 Writing and Editing for Digital Media
This subject focuses on the communication techniques required to publish effectively in the digital environment, in particular for professional websites in the public domain. It examines the communication techniques used for... Semester 2 12.50
107-429 Ethnographic and Documentary Cinema
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
107-414 Film, Censorship & The Media
This subject examines the history of film and media censorship, its relationship to morality and the public sphere. Students will gain a theoretical understanding of the key debates surrounding the controversial area of censorship. They will also stu... Semester 2 12.50
106-409 Celebrity Cultures
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
106-428 Media, Politics and Cultural Diaspora
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
100-506 Media Ethics
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
131-545 Writing and Making Histories
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50