Global News Cultures (L6312E)

15 credits, Level 5

Autumn teaching

On this module, you’ll explore news as a cultural and social practice, examining how it is produced, circulated and interpreted within diverse political, technological and media environments. Drawing on anthropological approaches, you’ll investigate the everyday worlds of journalism, from newsroom routines to the transnational movement of images, texts and data. Attention is given to:

• the symbolic power of news
• the social lives of media artefacts
• the cultural logics that shape journalistic norms and storytelling.

You’ll engage critically with concepts such as:

• representation
• framing
• mediation
• infrastructure.

You’ll develop skills in ethnographic and visual methods to analyse news production and reception as culturally situated practices.

You’ll learn to analyse platform logics and datafied news flows. You’ll build on your skills through:

• reflexive practice
• wellbeing-centred ethics
• case studies in climate communication and just transitions.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.