Centre for Studies of Plural Societies (CSPS) conducted a workshop on “Content Analysis of Mass Media Text” on 29th September 2021 by Dr. Kaifia Ancer Laskar. Dr. Kaifia is a researcher in this respective field and currently works as an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Aliah University, Kolkata. CSPS is an exciting new academic research centre based in New Delhi, dedicated to encouraging dialogues from plural perspectives by providing a platform and assistance to young scholars from different backgrounds. The workshop was part of a series of lectures and seminars that were specifically oriented toward enhancing the academic writing and research skills of graduates in social science.
The workshop walked interns through the nuances of media review, a relatively new field in the academic research world. The session began with an introduction on the importance of content analysis of mass media text as It is crucial to locate changes over time and examine patterns. The seminar went through the history of media review. From Harold Lasswell’s systematic introduction to mass media studies to modern-day feature film analysis. Moving forward, professor Kaifia further explained the basic approaches young researchers can apply while pursuing their media research papers. In addition to that, she elaborated on the fundamentals of mass media research projects which are objectivity, concept and categories and the generalizability of the content. Dr. Kafia walked the audience through every step of writing a media review, from forming questions to shortlisting and to finalising unit of analysis. The most important takeaway from the session was the process of preparing a manual coding schedule for the finalised units. The session concluded with live interaction between Dr. Kafia and the audience. CSPS interns Bakshinder Singh and Alayka Aftab further asked questions related to their research paper with the centre.
The session was introduced by Dr Omair Anas, Director at Centre for Studies of Plural Societies, and moderated by Dr Mohammad Reyaz Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Aliah University, Kolkata. Overall the session substantially provided the audience with a much better and more functional understanding of research-based mass media text.
Report by Sajla Abdul Razack, Research Intern at CSPS
