Media, Film and Communication Studies Programme, University of Otago

15/06/2026

Shout out to Chuyang! One of our current MA students in Communications! She’s an excellent ambassador for our new fully taught MComms. See link to APPLY NOW below!

13/06/2026

How many have you seen? and which are your favs?

13/06/2026

10/06/2026

NEW PAPER - The POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION / MFCO 307. This new elective is led by Assoc Prof Brett Nicholls and considers how media power operates and consolidates via structures such as capitalism and neoliberalism.

Ping Division of Humanities, University of Otago

https://www.otago.ac.nz/courses/papers?papercode=MFCO307

09/06/2026

Want to learn *how* to make a short film? TELEVISION STUDIO PRODUCTION / MFCO 251 with Mr Bernard Madill is for you! This hands-on paper equips students with skills to produce, edit and get creative with screen production.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/courses/papers?papercode=MFCO251

ping Division of Humanities, University of Otago

08/06/2026

Who has seen BACKROOMS? Thoughts? Responses?

Record-breaking box office for Backrooms and Obsession has opened the door for twentysomething YouTube creators as the industry rethinks what audiences want

08/06/2026

We think journalism has a mighty future! But these persistent questions around how journalism might respond to the current conjuncture are important, and also what Dr Olivier addresses in this coming semester’s paper WRITING FOR THE MEDIA / MFCO 220.
Lock in! 🔒

I have worked for a lot of youth news outlets, and all but one no longer exist. How can we do journalism for the next generation?

08/06/2026

FYI!

It’s that time of the year again! Exam Breakfasts are back!! We hope the first week of exams went well and if you’re still on that exam grind then come down to Pacific Islands Centre to fuel your day ahead!

08/06/2026

More nitty-gritty on Sem 2's elective papers. Dr Rosie Overell coordinates CRIME MEDIA (MFCO 225 / CRIM 225) this is *also* part of the NEW Criminology major. In this paper students engage with a mix of film and popular media (podcasts, true crime documentaries, reality TV) representations of 'crime' and 'criminality'. The paper mobilises Foucauldian, psychoanalytic and cultural studies of the media approaches to critique WHO and WHAT is considered pathological and WHO and WHAT is not. Texts include MINDHUNTER, Law and Order Special Victims Unit; true crime podcasts; Martin Scorsese gangster films and Adolescence.

04/06/2026

Keen on learning practical comms skills for journalism, copywriting and press releases? MFCO 220 WRITING FOR THE MEDIA is the elective paper for you! Led by Dr Olivier Jutel, this year's iteration of MFCO 220 is revised and revitalised to account for the encroachment of AI and how we might use human-led writing and comms skills to push back on the glib blandness of bot-written texts.