In his essay “Media Studies and Cultural Studies: A Symbiotic Convergence” (2001), John Nguyet Erni throws light on the commonalities between media studies and Cultural Studies. The commonalities are:

• There is a mutual accessibility where discourses also overlap.

•  There are shared methods; e.g. as a methodology Marxism is one of the theoretical schools of Cultural Studies. In the same way there are strong Marxist schools in Media Studies.

•  The production and reception of cultural texts are common concerns.

However, it is admitted by many that Cultural Studies has reconfigured media studies in important ways. With the coming of Cultural Studies semiological criticism (critical analyses based on sign systems) has gained more credibility as a research method in media studies occupying more space in mainstream media studies.

Secondly, there is considerable increase in studies of how identity is constructed by media forms. So mass media studies have been enriched by Cultural Studies in that the politics of popular culture is now foregrounded along with the structural and historical aspects of media. Cultural studies has also strengthened studies of hegemony as far as Media Studies is concerned.