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Contexts of Media

What media contexts are and why they matter

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 1 and 2

Overview

Context of a media product, five contexts the specification requires and product whose meaning changes once its date is known.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain what is meant by the context of a media product, and name the five kinds.

Key term

What is meant by the context of a media product?

Key term

Name the five contexts the specification requires.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by the context of a media product?

    Model answer

    Context is the set of circumstances in which a product was made and received. Social, cultural, economic, political and historical conditions all form part of it.

  2. 2

    Name the five contexts the specification requires.

    Model answer

    The five are social, cultural, economic, political and historical contexts. Each shapes the product in a different way.

  3. 3

    Why can a media product not be fully understood without its context?

    Model answer

    A product carries the assumptions of the moment that produced it. A reader who does not know those assumptions mistakes them for neutral or timeless.

  4. 4

    Give an example of a product whose meaning changes once its date is known.

    Model answer

    A 1950s washing powder advertisement showing a woman alone in a kitchen looks absurd today. Read against 1950s expectations of a housewife, the advertisement is entirely conventional.

  5. 5

    Distinguish the context of production from the context of reception.

    Model answer

    The context of production is the conditions under which a product was made. The context of reception is the conditions under which an audience encounters it, which may be decades later.

  6. 6

    Why does the same product carry different meanings for different audiences?

    Model answer

    Audiences bring their own social position, culture and experience to a product. The differences between them change which readings feel obvious and which feel strained.

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AWoman's Hour began on the BBC Light Programme in 1946.
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