Media Studies

Media studies are concerned with the theory, history, aesthetics, reception and use of media. The central focus of this degree program lies on the media genres film, television, radio, internet and the broad field of digital media. In Bonn, the fields of media and film studies (subareas of cultural studies) and communications (oriented towards the social sciences), are intermeshed as a result of interdepartmental cooperation. From the cultural studies perspective, this permits us to explore the evolution of the media while at the same time viewing cultural, economic, political and social processes. From the social-sciences perspective, on the other hand, we discover the social conditions, consequences, and significances of media-based, public, and interpersonal communication.

In addition to a required external internship, this degree program offers a broad and varied practical component, where students are conveyed insights into media production processes in the areas they choose—audio/radio, film/video, online or photography (analog and digital)—all of which flow into the students’ theoretical studies of the respective media. Graduates of this program will be able to perceive and understand the results of current media developments and critically think them through to their logical conclusions; they will have acquired more in-depth specialized knowledge enabling them, as the outgrowth of their scientific reflection, to ask forward-looking, probing questions of the media.

This subject must be combined with a second subject.

Possible lines of work:

Editorial departments of newspapers/radio stations/television stations/online firms, film industry, publishers and agencies, applied media research, museums, public relations work, corporate communications, cultural institutions, educational institutions, academia (teaching/research at universities, research institutions, etc.) after concluding a master's degree program.