52703 Media Influence

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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Description

Media influence shapes individual, social and work environments raising questions about who or what wields this influence. In this subject, students consider content creators/co-creators, owners of media organisations and platforms, algorithms, and government and influencer roles. Students explore the place of media influence in enacting citizenship, investigating fake news and conspiracy theories, fact-checking and source credibility, new voices and media entrepreneurs. Working in teams, students apply media studies concepts to current debates over privacy, trolling, cyber-dating, cyber activism, misinformation, participation, ownership and diversity. They investigate key aspects of media users, publics, fans, entrepreneurs, and creatives and explore their practice and professionalism. Analyses of media production, distribution or consumption reveal patterns and trends in the distribution of discursive influence and shed light on how these are manifested in economic, social and business contexts. Students strengthen their practical media research skills to inform their professional communication practice.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

• Apply theoretically informed understandings of communication industries to independent and collaborative projects across a range of media (1.2)
• Employ appropriate research and inquiry skills to independently gather, organise and analyse information across diverse platforms (2.1)
• Act as reflexive critical thinkers and innovative creative practitioners who evaluate their own and others' work (2.2)
• Demonstrate a strong awareness, knowledge of, and sensitivity to, diversity, equity and global contexts (3.1)
• Apply knowledge of Indigenous issues in professional practices and engage responsibly in communicating with and about Indigenous people and communities (4.1)
• Analyse and act ethically in the personal, political and professional contexts of civil society (5.1)
• Exemplify effective and appropriate communication in different communication industry contexts (6.1)

Teaching and learning strategies

In this research-integrated subject, students prepare for workshops, tutorials, and assignments by watching concept videos, lectures, and online resources on media studies concepts, research, and methods. Students are expected to read and discuss media studies scholarship from the subject reading list and the students’ choice of real-world media research. Drawing on these resources, students collaborate in teams to present in-class debates. The debates are designed to encourage students to engage with media influence concepts and media examples and deploy them in the debates.

Practice debate activities are held before the census date to provide formative feedback so students can develop their ability to deploy concepts, research, and real-world examples to support their arguments. Learning activities may include pop-up research, quizzes, critical appraisal tasks, and discussions about designing projects, choosing concepts and samples, and considering ethics and diversity in media studies research.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Debating media influence

Assessment task 2: Project progress report

Assessment task 3: Media Influence Project

Minimum requirements

Attendance at classes is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor to build capacities towards meeting the subject learning objectives. A roll will be taken at each class (whether on campus or online). Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused marking of their final assessment (see Rule 3.8).

Attendance for the scheduled day of the debate is required and is considered an essential presentation event. Students who cannot or do not attend for their scheduled debate must submit an application for special consideration to be considered for alternative assessment.

Required texts

Required readings will be available to students via Canvas and the library.

References

Aral, S. (2020). Your brain on social media. In S. Aral (Ed.), The hype machine - How social media disrupts our elections, our economy and our health - and how we must adapt (pp. 94-111). London: Harper Collins.

Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., Flavián, M., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2021). Building influencers' credibility on Instagram: Effects on followers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward the influencer. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 61, 102585.

Browning, M., & Arrigo, B. (2021). Stop and Risk: Policing, Data, and the Digital Age of Discrimination. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(2), 298-316.

Carson, A., Farhall, K., Gibbons, A., & Wright, S. (2021). Weaponizing Fake News: An Examination of Political Elites and the Discourse of Fake News. PUBLISHER?

Demertzis, N., Mandenaki, K., & Tsekeris, C. (2021). Privacy attitudes and behaviors in the age of post-privacy: An empirical approach. Journal of Digital Social Research, 3(1), 119–152-119–152.

Endong, F. P. (2020). Body Abjectification as a Tool to Represent Poverty in Black Africa: A Semiotic Study of #BringBackOurGirls Posters. In F. Endong (Eds.), Deconstructing Images of the Global South Through Media Representations and Communication (pp. 67-86). IGI Global.

Forest, J. J. (2021). Political Warfare and Propaganda. Journal of Advanced Military Studies vol, 12(1).

George, & Leidner, D. E. (2019). From clicktivism to hacktivism: Understanding digital activism. Information and Organization, 29(3), 100249–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2019.04.001

Gjerald, & Eslen-Ziya, H. (2022). From discontent to action: #quarantinehotel as not just a hashtag. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2051806

Hung, K. (2020). Celebrity and Influencer in a Fan Economy: Unfolding the Fans' Roles in Enhancing Endorsement Effects. In R. Dunn (Eds.), Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Media Fandom (pp. 323-340). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3323-9.ch018

Kanozia, R., Arya, R., Singh, S., Ganghariya, G., & Narula, S. (2021). A Study on Fake News Subject Matter, Presentation Elements, Tools of Detection, and Social Media Platforms in India. Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research, 9(1), 48-82.

Luisi, T. (2021). “But, He’s So Serious”: Framing of Masculinity Among Western Hemisphere Indigenous Peoples in Disney Animated Films. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 10608265211018816.

Mehta, A. M., Liu, B. F., Tyquin, E., & Tam, L. (2021). A process view of crisis misinformation: How public relations professionals detect, manage, and evaluate crisis misinformation. Public Relations Review, 47(2), 102040.

Modica, C. A. (2020). The associations between Instagram use, selfie activities, appearance comparison, and body dissatisfaction in adult men. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(2), 90-99.

Molitorisz, S. (2020). It’s hard to opt out of a service you’ve never used. In S. Molitorisz (Ed.), Net Privacy: How Kant and Consumer Law Can Save Us and Our Secrets (pp. 58-80).

Myers, A., Waller, L., Nolan, D., & McCallum, K. (2021). Expanding Boundaries in Indigenous News: Guardian Australia, 2018–2020. Journalism Practice, 1-21.

Omar, & Dequan, W. (2020). Watch, share or create: The influence of personality traits and user motivation on TikTok mobile video usage. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(4), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.3991/IJIM.V14I04.12429

Pando-Canteli, M. J., & Rodriguez, M. P. (2021). New Feminist Studies in Audiovisual Industries, “Menvertising” and the Resistances to New Masculinities in Audiovisual Representations. International Journal of Communication, 15, 21.

Solorio, T., Shafaei, M., Smailis, C., Bushman, B. J., Gentile, D. A., Scharrer, E., Kakadiaris, I. (2021). White Paper--Objectionable Online Content: What is harmful, to whom, and why. arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.03903.

Vaterlaus, & Winter, M. (2021). TikTok: an exploratory study of young adults’ uses and gratifications. The Social Science Journal (Fort Collins), ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2021.1969882

Wang, X., Reger, R. K., & Pfarrer, M. D. (2021). Faster, hotter, and more linked in: managing social disapproval in the social media era. Academy of Management Review, 46(2), 275-298.

Zhang, & Liu, X. (2021). Media representation of older people’s vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. European Journal of Ageing, 18(2), 149–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-021-00613-x