Media Studies? Vital or wasteful?

[Vintage Paw]

from their inane chatter it seems they're studying MSN

I'm sure there are a lot of very interesting things to come out of a debate on the use of technologies like instant messaging. To study them as a growing phenomenon might be to understand how communication has changed over history, as well as what it means for the future of communities. That is just one way it might be looked at, of course. Without sitting in on their lectures and seminars I could only guess. As could you.

 

[subversplat]

Mark Kermode has got a degree in horror films, and that's good enough for me.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Mark Kermode has got a degree in horror films, and that's good enough for me.

Only because they didn't offer a degree in Skiffle though.

 

[Orang Utan]

Since I taught media studies I have become more suspicious and cynical about pretty much everything to do with the media industry.

Well surprise surprise - it's no different from any other 'industry' or business - it eats souls

 

[nino_savatte]

you make it sound quite interesting.

But my actual experience of media students (the ones doing media and advertising, who are in my writing for effect class) is that they are cuntwits.

I take it you've never met any fashion...or even, medical students? Why medical students? Because they're the single biggest group of substance abusers on campus.

 

[pk]

You want a job in the media?

Then start from the bottom, making tea and running errands for 11k a year if you're lucky, then if you have an aptitude for one of the more senior roles then learn how to do the job in your own time, ask lots of questions, don't be afraid to work 12 hour days every day, then within three years you'll have a job and a career path.

Alternatively you could spend three years in lectures taken by people who don't have a fucking clue about modern media then wonder why nobody is giving you a job when you've that huge student loan to pay off.

Yes, nepotism is rife, if you're the son or daughter of a powerful player then of course you'll be swept quicker up the ranks, but if you're not you'll have the pleasure of knowing when the shit hits the fan and the clueless rude spoiled media brat needs help before they lose a £150,000 commission, they'll be begging you to save their arses because you're the only one who bothered to find out what the backroom boys and girls actually do for a living.

Media Studies - wasteful.

Do an Open University course if you must, whilst working for a little pay in a busy facility, but don't bother with a full-time degree, it isn't worth shit.

Universities have been churning out "qualified" media graduates for decades and they've all pretty much had to start at the bottom like everyone else.

 

[starfish2000]

I did a Media Degree a few years ago and to be frank a lot of it was shit. I could have learnt the same in 2 years rather than 3, also I'm pretty sure non of my employers have ever taken it seriously. SWhich given the time it took and the sheer levels of fucking debt I had to get into to survive Uni makes it a bit of a swizz.

I was naive though, didnt really know what to study and so went for it cos it sounded interesting rather than a career option. But PK is absolutely right.

 

[pk]

I take it you've never met any fashion...or even, medical students? Why medical students? Because they're the single biggest group of substance abusers on campus.

This is true.

 

[Orang Utan]

You want a job in the media?

Then start from the bottom, making tea and running errands for 11k a year if you're lucky, then if you have an aptitude for one of the more senior roles then learn how to do the job in your own time, ask lots of questions, don't be afraid to work 12 hour days every day, then within three years you'll have a job and a career path.

Generally, yes, that's the way to do it, but I didn't have to

 

[nino_savatte]

Just to clarify: there are media studies course which teach you how to read the media and may involve a little practical work. Then there are media production or media arts courses that actually train you to work in the industry (usually film or television).

 

[scifisam]

You want a job in the media?

Then start from the bottom, making tea and running errands for 11k a year if you're lucky, then if you have an aptitude for one of the more senior roles then learn how to do the job in your own time, ask lots of questions, don't be afraid to work 12 hour days every day, then within three years you'll have a job and a career path.

Alternatively you could spend three years in lectures taken by people who don't have a fucking clue about modern media then wonder why nobody is giving you a job when you've that huge student loan to pay off.

Yes, nepotism is rife, if you're the son or daughter of a powerful player then of course you'll be swept quicker up the ranks, but if you're not you'll have the pleasure of knowing when the shit hits the fan and the clueless rude spoiled media brat needs help before they lose a £150,000 commission, they'll be begging you to save their arses because you're the only one who bothered to find out what the backroom boys and girls actually do for a living.

Media Studies - wasteful.

Do an Open University course if you must, whilst working for a little pay in a busy facility, but don't bother with a full-time degree, it isn't worth shit.

Universities have been churning out "qualified" media graduates for decades and they've all pretty much had to start at the bottom like everyone else.

I don't think media studies has ever claimed to be vocational, though - except the ones which include a substantial amount of practical work, and then they usually have a different name.

Media studies is pretty much never the only subject someone will study at uni, either. It's only really offered at new unis, most of which have modular degree schemes where you'll have a major subject and one or two minors, or, alternatively, joint majors. Lots of media studies students do have something more practical as their other subject.

 

[nino_savatte]

I don't think media studies has ever claimed to be vocational, though - except the ones which include a substantial amount of practical work, and then they usually have a different name.

Media studies is pretty much never the only subject someone will study at uni, either. It's only really offered at new unis, most of which have modular degree schemes where you'll have a major subject and one or two minors, or, alternatively, joint majors. Lots of media studies students do have something more practical as their other subject.

Exactly, you can do media with law or media with politics etc.

 

[tangerinedream]

You want a job in the media?

Then start from the bottom, making tea and running errands for 11k a year if you're lucky, then if you have an aptitude for one of the more senior roles then learn how to do the job in your own time, ask lots of questions, don't be afraid to work 12 hour days every day, then within three years you'll have a job and a career path.

Alternatively you could spend three years in lectures taken by people who don't have a fucking clue about modern media then wonder why nobody is giving you a job when you've that huge student loan to pay off.

Yes, nepotism is rife, if you're the son or daughter of a powerful player then of course you'll be swept quicker up the ranks, but if you're not you'll have the pleasure of knowing when the shit hits the fan and the clueless rude spoiled media brat needs help before they lose a £150,000 commission, they'll be begging you to save their arses because you're the only one who bothered to find out what the backroom boys and girls actually do for a living.

Media Studies - wasteful.

Do an Open University course if you must, whilst working for a little pay in a busy facility, but don't bother with a full-time degree, it isn't worth shit.

Universities have been churning out "qualified" media graduates for decades and they've all pretty much had to start at the bottom like everyone else.

So everyone who does English becomes a writer then? By your logic, English is wasteful and not worth bothering with in 98% of cases.

 

[tangerinedream]

Well surprise surprise - it's no different from any other 'industry' or business - it eats souls

Yes, but a lot of other industries don't have the power or sway to form and shape public opinion do they? Nor are other industries the conduit through which flow essential messages that hold together the fabric of society. Therefore my sceptisism is a bit more than 'ooh, it's a nasty place to work' - cos, too be honest, it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things - it's more like 'fuck, I never realised how I can't actually trust anything I read or see that masquerades under misnomers like 'news' or 'entertainment' - why did no one tell me this stuff ten years ago instead of teaching me fucking triganomatry or something......'

 

[DotCommunist]

So everyone who does English becomes a writer then? By your logic, English is wasteful and not worth bothering with in 98% of cases.

I don't think studying English should automaticaly suppose that the student become a writer. Nor should media studies assume that the student will work in media.

Tbf there are many things one can do with an english degree. I feel a bit harsh with my hangover fueled rant about the Meedja degree, but I know why it is cuz I have thort about it.

Media and advertising are more conjoined than Chang and Eng were, and I hate advertising. Plus it's 90% crap, you can't trust the churnalists or the so-called news (PR,PA, or Rueters vertabim usually).

The fictions are just as bad (tele ones) and documentaries are getting dumber if you ask me.

When did it become essential for any history/science prog narrator to have a doom-laden voice? who decided they should have those stupid piano oises


My dissatisfaction with almost the entire sector of these lying shitehawks leads me to mistrust and dislike its practitioners.



I has a piffany

 

[starfish2000]

When I was at Uni doing Media, 90% of the students were into Mainstream Cinema and mainstream Culture, the vast majority of them would have thought Noam Chomsky to be a type of Sausage. Our lecturers would try to push them into new areas only to be utterly horrified by their bland conservatism, both intellectually and as people.

 

[jbob]

Mark Kermode has got a degree in horror films, and that's good enough for me.

<pedant>His thesis was on an aspect of horror films</pedant>

 

[tangerinedream]

I don't think studying English should automaticaly suppose that the student become a writer. Nor should media studies assume that the student will work in media.

Tbf there are many things one can do with an english degree. I feel a bit harsh with my hangover fueled rant about the Meedja degree, but I know why it is cuz I have thort about it.

Media and advertising are more conjoined than Chang and Eng were, and I hate advertising. Plus it's 90% crap, you can't trust the churnalists or the so-called news (PR,PA, or Rueters vertabim usually).

The fictions are just as bad (tele ones) and documentaries are getting dumber if you ask me.

When did it become essential for any history/science prog narrator to have a doom-laden voice? who decided they should have those stupid piano oises


My dissatisfaction with almost the entire sector of these lying shitehawks leads me to mistrust and dislike its practitioners.



I has a piffany

Maybe some study will bring you answers?

 

[pk]

Generally, yes, that's the way to do it, but I didn't have to

With respect mate - is what you currently do the job you (I assume) spent time in uni to do?

Or are you looking to do something else later?

 

[scifisam]

<pedant>His thesis was on an aspect of horror films</pedant>

It's the same kind of thing where people talk about 'doing a degree in soap operas.'

A module on a degree - could be any degree at all, actually, if it's first-year level. Or a thesis on that topic. Not a whole degree!

 

[Agent Sparrow]

One of my A-Levels was Media Studies - was meant to be one of 4 (when 3 was still the norm) but due to an, ahem, miscalculation in starting my 6000 word history project, it became one of 3. Didn't stop me getting into a good uni with high grade requirements, and my experience of it was totally positive. Yes it did feel like a bit of a doss writing a 3000 word critical analysis of Northern Exposure (fun though ), but generally I found it interesting and practical, and with it being 70% coursework it fitted in nicely with the 80% and 100% exam based other A-Levels I took. And as with my other A-Levels, whilst a lot of it is forgotten, there are still important elements I remember which have shaped how I view things - what makes a newsworthy story for example. So on the basis of it being interesting, informative and introducing the idea of critical thought, for me it wasn't a waste of time.

Mind you, despite me wanting to go for journalism in those days, I wouldn't have dreamed of doing it as a degree. But I can't remember how much of that was influenced by it being seen as mickey mouse, and how much was due to me just not being interested enough in doing it at that level.

 

[Orang Utan]

With respect mate - is what you currently do the job you (I assume) spent time in uni to do?

Or are you looking to do something else later?

No, I did English, hardly a vocational degree!


I still don't have a clue what to do next!

 

[pk]

No, I did English, hardly a vocational degree!


I still don't have a clue what to do next!

I thought you meant you were a media graduate, thereby bypassing the need to start at the bottom...

 

[Orang Utan]

I thought you meant you were a media graduate, thereby bypassing the need to start at the bottom...

Nah, I got in through a friend - cronyism!

 

[pk]

Sweet!

(Do I know him?)

 

[Orang Utan]

Sweet!

(Do I know him?)

Probably not

 

[pk]

If he works in your dept there's a fair chance no?

 

[Citizen66]

Then start from the bottom, making tea and running errands for 11k a year if you're lucky, then if you have an aptitude for one of the more senior roles then learn how to do the job in your own time, ask lots of questions, don't be afraid to work 12 hour days every day, then within three years you'll have a job and a career path.

A mate of mine who is now a producer started off as a runner.

 

[Orang Utan]

If he works in your dept there's a fair chance no?

He doesn't work here anymore - name was Ade

 

[Fuzzy]

my wife has worked in the media for 20 years and barely managed two o levels, let alone a degree. as PK has said if you're prepared to get involved and work your socks for little money to begin with you dont really need a degree.