Author Annalee Newitz is using her online newsletter, The Hypothesis, to publish an a series of articles based on an introductory course in media studies that she taught at the University of San Francisco.
The first article is titled What is "media"? A primer for Americans.
I owe a lot to my USF colleagues and students, who taught me how to teach media in the twenty-first century. My students asked unexpected questions and spurred me to rethink my approach and the topics I covered. They also introduced me to pop culture and perspectives I never would have discovered on my own, outside the classroom. With these letters, I hope to extend that classroom experience to you, my reader.
Each letter will be loosely based on a lecture from my course. I’ll also include some in-class exercises we did, to suggest ways you might explore media analysis on your own. In today’s letter, I’ll introduce you to the big themes of this series, and give you a fun introductory exercise.
Media studies gives us insights into what media is, and where it comes from. But most importantly, it teaches us how to challenge and change the messages that our media carries.
I'm very much looking forward to this. I've read a several of Newitz's novels and enjoyed them and plan on reading her history book, Four Cities. Her latest book, Stories Are Weapons, is a history of psychological warfare.
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