The big wide world of the media

Media Communications – what is that all about? Officially, the course is described as “Teaching media competence from the perspective of various disciplines.” The variety of the subjects involved gives students “an integrated training in the range of subjects relevant to all the areas covered by the media,” as it says in the prospectus.

Perhaps Jana Heins and Simon Georg Kolmstetter can explain better what it is. They should know, because they were among the first students to take the new course of study when it began at the University of Würzburg in the winter semester of 2010/11. Simon believes it is not nearly as dry as it first sounds.

“We look at media from all sorts of different angles,” Jana sums up the course. In other words, she studies Psychology, Economics, Law, Computer Science, Marketing and PR, of course, all from the point of view of the world of media. In practice, the kind of questions covered might be:

Psychology: Why is it that people can enjoy sad movies where they soak innumerable handkerchiefs with their tears, while others take pleasure in horror films which make their flesh creep. This is where media psychologists come into their own. Or: Can the new media contribute towards making learning easier and if so, why? Instructional psychology can provide us with the relevant answers.

Marketing: What type of advertising campaign is most suitable for the intended target group? How much information can be included without overtaxing the potential customer? How much information do you need to make it interesting and prevent them from switching off? How much of this information is retained by the person looking at the advertising? Media communications experts should be able to provide well-founded answers to all these questions.

Computer science: How can a user interface be designed so that the consumer gets the same kind of buzz as with the Apple iPad? This is also the kind of thing Media Communications students investigate in their course.

Guest lecturers from the media industry

“The spectrum of subjects is incredibly wide,” says Jana. For an analysis of the media offered by the local Würzburg radio station, Radio Gong, for example, she went along and talked to the editor-in-chief, while others in her class examined various television stations or newspapers. The professors also invite guest lecturers from the media industry to Würzburg to talk about their work – and perhaps the work of the future Media Communications graduates.

Sasha Naujoks, for example, who until recently was responsible for some very popular docu-soaps for the private television network RTL and who has since moved to another private television company, ProSiebenSat1. Or Florian Drücke, the managing director of the German Federation of the Music Industry, came to talk about the current developments and challenges facing the music industry.

Internet, twitter, facebook

And talking of current developments: of course a central role in the coursework for the degree in Media Communications is given to the new media, in other words, the internet, twitter, facebook and so on are at least as important as newspapers, radio and television. All these subjects are covered in the lectures and seminars in Media Communications. Simon tells us: “Last semester we had a lecture on Music and the Media, for instance.” Anyone who wanted to know more about the history of radio as well as the history of MTV or who wanted to find out how music works in advertising or why music has always been in the focus of the censors found the answers here.

Areas in which graduates will make their careers

The range of subjects involved in Media Communications is a reflection of the areas in which graduates will be able to make their careers. They might become programme planners for radio or television, multimedia designers, campaigners in an advertising agency, organise opinion polls or join the gaming industry, develop or evaluate e-learning projects and virtual learning worlds, work in the press or public relations departments of companies and institutions, or in academia. There are more than enough potential fields for employment.

And in view of the fact that people are spending more and more time with the media – whether it is reading newspapers or magazines or sending tweets, experts will be in high demand in the future. Jana and Simon have a fairly clear idea of what their futures will be like.

“I would like to work in corporate communication or marketing and advertising,” says 24-year-old Jana, who has already completed a training in industry as a PR assistant. Simon is also very taken by the world of advertising - in particular the design aspect. Basically, however, he can imagine going for a job in television. Perhaps he will become the creator of a new docu-soap.