Graduate Courses

This course equips students with the methodological tools to critically investigate communication and media industries across multiple levels of analysis – from policy and ownership structures to production practices, distribution systems, and audience engagement. Built around a multi-level analytic framework, the course pairs close reading of key exemplar studies with hands-on exercises that connect theory to research practice. Each unit begins with foundational readings and landmark works of scholarship that illustrate methodological approaches such as political economic analysis, textual and discourse analysis, ethnography, and institutional research. Class discussions will critically assess the design, execution, and limitations of these studies, emphasizing how methodological choices shape the knowledge we produce about communication and media industries. Students will locate scholarship relevant to their capstone project that exemplifies the level of analysis under discussion, preparing and presenting critical overviews to the class. The major assessment culminates in a detailed methods proposal for the student’s capstone project, comparing and justifying their chosen approach in relation to existing research.