With the intensification of international mass communication and the deepening evolution of information technologies, it should be apparent that twenty-first century international affairs cannot be understood in isolation from global media. Media can no longer be regarded as a mere observer or recorder of worldwide events, an inert and separate Fourth Estate. It is growingly an influential actor in its own right, dynamically defining, reshaping, and conditioning the fundamental character of international discourse. Nor can media and culture be wholly conceived as distinct and separate; they are inextricably at work shaping one another. The emerging ramifications of this are only beginning to be addressed, especially with regard to what they mean for the development and preservation of open, democratic societies. While more traditional programs in international affairs often sideline the role of media and culture in the processes of international interaction, the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School is proud to offer a unique concentration with the critical study of media and culture from an international affairs perspective as its focus.
The GPIA Media & Culture (MC) concentration explores theory and practice in the intersections of politics, economics, press and entertainment, public and state policy, and international and domestic cultural conditions. In particular, we focus on the fascinating and complex relationship between media and democracy around the world. We pay equal consideration to the role of state and private institutions, with attention to their positive and negative influences on the media in both democratic and non-democratic societies.
MC is by necessity an interdisciplinary concentration. The study of the global media environment is impossible without knowledge of local cultural contexts, both foreign and domestic, requiring an open conversation between the disciplines constituting the arts, humanities, and human sciences.
