Global Media

Master of Arts

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Quick Facts

Credits Required: 31

Cost Per Credit: $650.00

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College of Social And Behavioral Sciences

Program Details

Examine how various forms of media connect the global community to modern challenges like climate change, poverty, inequality, disease, political discord and record numbers of refugees. Through this program, you will develop a deep professional knowledge of the diversity of influences on media in a global environment and prepare to meet the grand challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The program consists of three required courses, accompanied by a series of electives and a capstone project or report designed to fit your unique professional goals. Every step of the way, you will study with esteemed faculty who have worked for media and other organizations around the world. Coursework will focus on comparative media systems, practices, values and laws that influence political, cultural, social and economic institutions globally. Throughout the program, analytical skills are coupled with conceptual knowledge of real-time and emerging issues and ways to address them.

Upon completion, you will have the skills and knowledge necessary to step into high-level jobs in nonprofits, think tanks, government, politics, intergovernmental agencies and other organizations that require sophisticated writing, analytical, verbal, digital and research skills.

Visit the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Studies of Global Media MA site.

View detailed program information

*Residents of some U.S. Territories may not be eligible. Please see our Eligibility & State Authorization page for more information.

Courses

The curriculum for this program includes:

Investigate ethics questions related to cultural bias, political and economic pressure, diverse representation, accuracy, privacy, national security and other pressures on news media.

(Can be substituted for GLO 580 as a core requirement)

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association and movement, and rights to public information among other rights are explored in global, regional and country contexts. This course provides historical, philosophical, legal, political, societal and cultural perspectives about values related to online and offline freedom of expression and access to public information in a global context.

(Can be substituted for GLO 580 as a core requirement)

Students learn of the role and responsibilities of national, transnational and social media in promoting human rights and cultural understanding and in documenting human rights violations at varying levels, such as government oppression, civil or political turmoil, armed conflict, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Conversely, the course also examines the role of human rights instruments and monitoring in protecting media workers and rights to free expression.

Explore the concept of disinformation and theories of propaganda to contextualize contemporary issues in cases around the world.

Capstone (1 credit)

This course will take you on a global journey through the law of digital communications, including but not limited to free speech v. hate speech, intellectual property, defamation, privacy, the right to be forgotten, access to information, media regulatory mechanisms and frameworks promulgated by governmental bodies, as well as those regulatory mechanisms and frameworks used by non-governmental bodies (such as the platform “law” concept used by Facebook and Twitter.) You will learn about comparative historical and theoretical legal concepts important to media professionals and responsible digital citizen-scholars.