Media studies, in its broadest definition, focuses on the production, distribution and consumption processes of media and examines the relationship between media-individual-society with its cultural and social dimensions. Media studies is a field that focuses on the central question of communication studies: 'What kind of functions does the media assume in the daily life practices of individuals/groups? How are the production and distribution processes of media content affected by structural, political economy and cultural processes? Which social, cultural and class identity components play a role in the selection, consumption and meaning-making of media contents?" It seeks answers to such questions by drawing on an interdisciplinary knowledge and a broad methodological perspective. For this purpose, it focuses on the complex relations that individuals and groups establish directly with the media and/or through the media and the social-cultural consequences of these relations.
Media studies, which has a wide field of research, is closely interested in traditional means of communication such as television, newspapers, radio, cinema, as well as new communication technologies and hybrid communication environments such as the Internet, social networks and mobile/wireless technologies. The Department of Media Studies examines the local, regional and global factors that determine the production and distribution of media content such as news, videos, television series, advertisements, cinema, popular music, digital/interactive games, etc., industrial processes, the ownership structure of the media, the media-capital relationship and the problems faced by media professionals from a critical political economy perspective. Media studies seeks answers to individuals' communication with the media and their practices of consuming/making sense of media content within the social-cultural context by applying the method of audience ethnography and directly participating in the daily lives of individuals.