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How to write a media dissertation

The modern media is a unique entity that encapsulates the convergence of politics, entertainment and business. As such, the writing of a dissertation on media cannot be complete without a discussion of its effect on all three spheres. From a political perspective, any dissertation would be incomplete without a discussion of media bias and the effect it has on the body politic, the general public and the perception of ethics and neutrality. From an entertainment perspective, a dissertation must include the balance of entertainment as it applies to media outlets and the effects the interspersion of entertainment has on the quality of media. Finally, a media dissertation must include a measured discussion on the business component and to what extent media must be run as a business.

Politics will always have an inextricable link to the media. Media portrayals of issues, conflicts, elections, and people themselves all play into the debate over whether true neutrality can ever be achieved.  Some key questions in a dissertation regarding the media and politics include:

  1. Who decides whether or not the media is biased?

  2. Once bias has been defined, how can it be regulated?

  3. At what point is freedom of the press truncated in the regulation of bias?

In the United States, for example, the media routinely faces questions of bias in reporting. Countering bias thus becomes difficult. If, for example, the original piece were neutral, who would decide whether or not a counter repot was not biased for the sake of representing another view? Take, for instance, the reporting of America’s war in Iraq. If one reporter files a piece decrying the war as a mistake and is charged with bias, would not a report supporting the war be just as biased as the original? Bias for the sake of neutrality is an issue all media outlets will face. Whether it is the BBC, the Guardian, or Sky News in Britain, the media will have some instance of bias somewhere in its reporting. In such a case, is political bias therefore an acceptable part of discourse? If bias is to be addressed, at what point is the line drawn between correcting bias and crossing the boundary into censorship? What part, if any, should the government have in regulating any aspect of the media?

Perhaps just as provocative a question as the balance between politics and media is entertainment and the media. With the advent of high-speed Internet and the establishment of various cable television news programs that run 24 hours per day, there is an irrevocable necessity of entertainment that bisects with media standards. Today’s media environment finds cable and broadcast news competing not only amongst each other, but also with entertainment channels. Radio, for instance, has retreated in the United States to the AM frequency on account of the extremely competitive push for listeners on modern airwaves. Television news, the most visibly affected media outlet, competes on a regular basis for viewers in order to sell the necessary advertising space to maintain its operations. Government-funded stations such as the BBC may not find the need to conform layouts and structure to the entertainment set, but American channels such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC increasingly find themselves pushed to put on entertaining and sometimes controversial “talking heads” on air in order to maintain viewer numbers. Primetime news coverage, for example, peaks between 8pm and midnight, a timeslot that regularly competes with sitcoms, talk shows, and other forms of entertainment television. A necessary argument that any media dissertation should examine is the degree to which media must be entertaining; that is, to what extent should entertainment have a bearing on media coverage? All media outlets rely on viewer participation and the correlative advertising rates viewers drive in order to function. At what point does entertainment intrude on the integrity of the media? Can media coverage be respectable as well as profitable and entertaining?

The concept of business intersects with entertainment, especially when news media is faced with the decisions that affect its daily operations. A comprehensive media dissertation must grapple with the questions of corporate sponsorship and the marketing aspect of media outlets. Advertising, the financial lifeblood of the media corporation, can affect coverage to a shocking extent. In the 1960s, sub-Saharan Africa was plagued by the infamous Nestle case, where the manufacturer notoriously promoted formula as more safe and nutritious for infants than mother’s milk. Subsequent marketing efforts pushed thousands of African mothers to mix formula with tainted water, thus leaving thousands of babies malnourished and sick. Nestle, a major advertiser in broadcast networks the world around such as NBC and ABC, was faced with class-action suits. As a matter of moral discourse, should media conglomerates reliant on Nestle’s advertisements pull their endorsement of all Nestle products? A good media dissertation should also touch upon the corporate decisions media has to make pertaining to content. If, for instance, a news program is faced with lineup choices that aren’t popular but are the most reliable, can a company afford to keep those choices on schedules if a more profitable, less-reliable option is available? One would be remiss to not consider the fact that a less-reliable, more-profitable source could net larger profits, thus improving accessibility to future sources and heightening existing resources.

The listed three factors – politics, entertainment, and business – are vital to the examination of media and issues facing the way media have evolved over the last few decades. These factors are necessary also in projecting the means in which future media outlets such as internet-based, new media entities will evolve. A good media dissertation needs to include at least one of these factors. An excellent media dissertation will include all three. Any dissertation can include them, but it is best to focus and deliver information backed by credible sources such as media watch groups and business metering organizations such as the Nielsen group.

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