So this weeks reading for my “Media 1” seminar  was all about how we as a society view and teach media. The link to the actual texts are here:

(Gauntlet.D (2016) Remaking how we think about media)

(Gauntlet.D (2014) Making Media Studies: Extract from new book, accessed from <http://davidgauntlett.com/making-media-studies/extract-from-new-book/> (date viewed 16/03/2016))

Anyway, Gauntlett describes two main ways of thinking about media, the old and the new. According to Gauntlett the old way of thinking about and teaching media as a subject was that there were just 4 different categories in the teaching of media: audience, institution, production and texts, and that usually a teacher or lecturer will select two of these to teach. Due to the modern media revolution, however, Gauntlett believes we need to change this as in truth it is more helpful for business or advertising students to be studying these. He believes instead we should be focussing on just 2 categories or “Peaks” that summarise media. The first contains creativity, innovation and production, this discusses basically the positives on new media technology and how we in turn use it for good. The other peak, however, relates to surveillance and computer capitalism, basically using media to further commerce and consumerism. He also discusses how we as media students need to be not only learning about media, but also creating it and therefore influencing the industry itself, something I definitely agree with.

I definitely find Gauntlett point of view interesting in terms of these categories, however, I still believe that as a media student it is not only important to understand these two peaks but also those older, more traditional, logistics based categories. I realise that for the most part these may not seem particularly useful when creating media, but I firmly believe that without having a basic grounding in those 4 categories it would be impossible to be a successful film or media producer. From understanding the platform you are broadcasting on to understanding how to make your film appeal to a certain audience these knowledge basses are very important, as a media producer how can you not be expected to understand what is occurring in your own industry, I think it is extremely nieve to believe these things aren’t important, that they don’t concern us because we are producers of media. In truth it makes them all the more important.

I am not saying that the other points Gauntlett makes are wrong, In truth i believe a balance needs to be struck between practice and theory, between the old and the new. And thankfully it seems that is exactly what my own media course seems to be, a perfect balance.