To what extent can communications theory illuminate areas of professional communications practice?
To what extent can communications theory illuminate areas of professional communications practice?
“To what extent can communications theory help us understand the work that journalists, advertisers, marketers, PR professionals, corporate communications advisors, social media strategists, media producers or other communications professionals actually do”
Answer with reference to a specific case study or several sustained and linked examples. Remember, you are applying the theory to media practices, not to audience or consumer practices. Your focus needs to be on how a theory might help us understand the work that professionals do in different
In answering the question, your essay should:
● Provide an outline of a specific communications theory: choose ONE specific theory from within one of the broader topics covered in the unit: the message, the audience, the industry, the sociology of communication, the medium or another area approved by your tutor. You can choose a theory covered in the lecture or readings, or another theory you are interested in and have cleared with your tutor. An example would be choosing Stuart Hall’s ‘encoding / decoding’ model as a theory of the message.
● Introduce a concrete example of one or more communications practices to which your chosen theory could be applied. An example would be ‘advertising’.
● Use the theory to develop an analysis of the practice. For example, how does Stuart Hall’s ‘encoding / decoding’ theory help us understand the work that advertisers do on a day-to-day basis?
● Assess the usefulness of this application of theory in the context of professional communications practices. For example, what insights might we gain from thinking about advertising practices through the lens of the ‘encoding / decoding’ theory? Are there any limits to the theory? Is there anything it doesn’t help us understand about advertising? Have new theories or scholarship emerged which might be better?
