Social and Political Sciences

School of Social and Political Sciences

Welcome to Media and Communication

What is Media and Communications (COMS)?

From uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa to your relationship with your friends on Facebook, media and communications is changing the world. 

Media and Communication examines the influence and impact of the media and new information technologies. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of how communication and media work and how they work within the broader context of society. It draws on both the arts and social sciences, and the degree develops a wide range of critical thinking, writing and research skills.

Why Study COMS at Canterbury?
The University of Canterbury’s Media and Communication programme is the most international programme of its kind in the country.  With academic staff from North America, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions, we bring international perspectives and knowledge, which will help you succeed in the global marketplace after graduation.

As a student in the department, you will gain knowledge and skills that will last a lifetime.  Our recent graduates are employed in a variety of fields including journalism and the media, business, government and the academy.

Below, find links to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News about our faculty


Babak Bahador
Dr. Bahador was on sabbatical during the second half of 2011, where he was a Visiting Research Professor at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.  In 2011, he published two journal articles and produced and directed a documentary titled Enemy Images and the Media at the University of Southern California.In 2012, he will be co-editing a book titled Politics and the Media(Pearson).

Zita Joyce
After becoming a mother in 2011, Dr. Joyce spent the summer working with a summer scholarship student to develop an archive of material relating to UC student radio station rdu, which will be housed by the Macmillan Brown Library on campus, and include an online participatory archive. In 2012, she is working on research relating to radio and networked media. Her major research project for 2012 looks at how Christchurch radio stations have survived the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 through creative solutions.

Linda Jean Kenix
In 2011, Dr. Kenix published two journal articles and presented her work at conferences in Chicago and Auckland. Her book, titled Alternative and Mainstream Media: The Converging Spectrum, was also published by Bloomsbury Academic. In 2012, she will take a sabbatical where she plans to examine the media-constructed identity of Samoa, both within the Samoan press and abroad.

Donald Matheson
Donald published a number of papers and chapters on journalism in social media in 2011 and also edited a special issue of the Electronic Journal of Communication on the topic.In 2012, he will continue working on a $50,000 research project on fire safety communication in social media with MA student Kim Ross. He will also continue co-editing the international journal, Ethical Space.

Muhammed Musa
 Dr. Musa publishes two journal articles in 2011 in the Journal of African Media Studies and African Communication Research.  For 2012, he is working on two book projects.  The first, an edited book, is titled The Media, Markets and Democracy. The second, an authored book, is on television and football.

Sue Tait
In 2011, Dr. Tait had an article titled 'Bearing Witness, journalism and moral responsibility' published in Media, Culture and Society and a chapter in a new edited collection, Transnational Celebrity Activism.   Her work in 2012 continues to explore the representation of trauma, and intersections between humanitarianism, journalism and celebrity. My specific interests here are the ways globally-oriented citizenship is performed and modeled by public figures, and the ways that trauma, an interior experience, is translated into verbal and visual discourse.

Jim Tully
The Print Industry Award for Outstanding Achievement was the highlight of 2011 for Jim Tully. The award recognised his contribution as a journalist, journalism educator and media commentator. In 2012, his focus will be on research exploring the impact of traumatic events on journalists and re-visiting a previous study on the reporting of suicide.