Why Study Media?

We are immersed in a medium environment. Every day since in the morning, we unconsciously and consciously get in touch with the media. For example, the alarm clock wakes us up. The television and free press on the MTR tells us what the world is going on. Referring to Silverstone (1999), categorizing as any kind of technologies, media are ubiquitous and mediate our every daily life with the world. It is said that media depend on common sense which give us the fear of difference. In order to avoid the sense of being isolated, we are taken for granted to use the words and ideas given by the media in interacting with people around us. In order words, the media are shaping the reality which we are living in.

Through interaction and communication, the main component in transmitting messages across is the use of language. Not only it gives us meaning, it also provides channels for us to contact with the world. Robins (2006) indicates that language constructs our world and gives us sense of experience to the reality world as well as ourselves. To name a few, language can be expressed the view of the reality in different forms: grammar, vocabulary and metaphors of language.

Besides the function in giving the texture of reality, language is also regarded as a social semiotic system which makes meanings between people in a society. Semiotic code is the study of signs and symbols. Prieto (1966) also defined it as the semiotic structure which based on the mutual knowledge of the sender and receiver. To create and convey meanings between one another, semiotic codes can be taken in many forms including languages, words, music, road signs, images and body languages.

Therefore, it is important for us to recognize how the media construct and frame the world and experience with critical