Media in context

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Media studies is an interdisciplinary subject; it blurs the boundaries between different academic subjects, particularly in the way in which it studies the media in wider contexts. 

This approach suggests that the media - that is, it's products and processes - is directly linked to the society that produced them, that the media reflect the values, interests and make-up of the society that produced them.

Analysing the media in the context is to consider what else was happening in that time and place in which the product was made, to consider how those contexts may shape the product and the way audiences interpret it.

In this way, the study of media is in part also the study of a culture, both contemporary and historical. It is also relevant to consider whether the media itself is able to affect the society that produced it. 

The Key Contexts

The key contexts consist of five areas - which may overlap:

• social
• cultural
• political
• historical
• economic

the contexts will also be related to the areas of the theoretical framework with, for example, economic contexts being particularly relevant to the study of media industries and cultural and social contexts informing feminist approaches.

The following suggests some of the initial approaches to analysing the media in context:

-what characterises the society that produced the media? gender equality? class divisions? repression? religious or secular?

-are there any major historical or political events that - war, recession, protest movements etc - that might be relevant?

-if the product was made in the past its useful to know some of the key features of that time, such as major historical events

-Is the product typical of other media products of the time? Does it use typical styles and genres of the period? or does it do something new or experimental?

-What industry produced it? is it a successful industry or faced with economic problems? perhaps it is an industry in decline or a new one emerging in response to new technologies or audience habits?

Placing Media product in Context

Whichever TV programme you're studying, certain approaches and questions will apply. These will help to focus the analysis but also to evaluate the approach of placing products in context.

One approach would be to consider the way in which tv can operate symbolically and metaphorically to discuss contemporary issues; in other words, it might seem to be a generic thriller but perhaps the crime is used to draw parallels with the state of the society in which it took place.

In making a link between a media product and its social and political contexts, you're likely to be reading it ideologically, that is disseminating messages and values about society. This might include context specific to each programme but also the reliance on the reassuring structure of crime solving as a way of representing an - ultimately - functioning society.

It is also worth questioning how strong the link is between the programme and the society that produced it; perhaps the programme has little to say about the real world. Perhaps of greater importance in the construction of the media are the demands of genre and the need for escapism: to forget about day-to-day life.

it's also worth considering that the need to reach a global audience can make references to a specific society debatable. As you will see in the in the study of audience it also very difficult to reach an agreement about the meaning of media products: multiple audience positions and interpretations complicate the relationship between media products and society.