Media studies as a discipline in the United States took shape in the mid-20th century as academics began grappling with the growing influence of mass media — radio, television, and film — on society. The field developed by blending ideas from sociology, psychology, literary criticism and communication studies. The seeds of media studies were planted in the 1920s and 1930s when scholars started investigating how mass communication shaped public opinion and urban life. The Chicago School of Sociology was at the forefront, with Harold Lasswell studying propaganda in the 1930s and Paul Lazarsfeld leading research on media’s social effects at Columbia University’s Bureau of Applied Social Research in the 1940s. These efforts laid the groundwork for analyzing how media influence society.

After World War II, television rapidly gained popularity, sparking greater interest in media’s societal effects. Scholars like Marshall McLuhan and Theodor Adorno explored how media shaped culture and ideology, often focusing on the medium itself rather than just its content. McLuhan’s famous phrase, “The medium is the message,” captured this idea. In the 1950s and 1960s, universities began creating Communication Studies programs to study mass communication, media effects, and how audiences engage with media. Initially, these programs were tied to journalism and broadcasting but gradually expanded to include broader theoretical and critical perspectives.

By the 1970s and 1980s, media studies emerged as a distinct academic field. Drawing inspiration from Britain’s Cultural Studies movement — particularly the work of Stuart Hall and the Birmingham School — U.S. scholars began to focus on media’s role in shaping power, identity and representation. The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw digital media reshape the field. The internet, social media and digital platforms became central to scholarly attention. Researchers began analyzing issues like media convergence, participatory culture, and the power of algorithms and big data. These shifts prompted scholars to rethink traditional communication models and explore how digital media disrupted existing power structures.

Today, media studies is a vibrant and interdisciplinary field in U.S. universities. It examines everything from traditional media like film and television to emerging platforms like virtual reality and social media. Current topics of interest include media ethics, globalization, surveillance, media literacy, and how media shapes public discourse. The field continues to evolve, bridging critical theory with practical applications to prepare students for media production, analysis and policymaking careers. As the media landscape changes, media studies remains a crucial tool for understanding the cultural, political and technological forces that define modern life.

Of these 30 universities, the vast majority frame their programs in terms of both film and media. Humanities-based and multifaceted, our Media Studies major aligns most closely with those programs, rather than those programs that conceive of media studies within the purview of journalism, social sciences or quantitative communication studies. Our decision to offer two required core courses in media studies and film studies has a precedent in programs of our peer institutions, as does creating three tracks within the major that give students the chance to pursue courses in film history, media theory and artistic production. What is clear from surveying these programs is that there is immense and sustainable student interest in both the critical study of visual media and in media-making.

At the same time, Rice is well-positioned to lead innovation in the field. In particular, because the School of the Humanities includes the Department of Art, we are primed to blend the critical and creative — from scholarship to media production — at all levels of the curriculum. In line with our peers, we will also prioritize experiential learning and career readiness programming and coursework.

Media Studies students will conduct in-depth comparative analysis across various media formats, from books to photographs to podcasts. They will also explore how different media contribute to the shaping of cultural knowledge, understand how social and technological shifts have driven the creation of new media, and examine the ways in which new media have brought about profound changes in social life, all within a transhistorical context.