Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative

What Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative covers

Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative is examined in Component 2, Media Forms and Products in Depth. It covers magazine cover codes, layout and design, semiotics, structuralism and ideology in magazine language, genre conventions and the historically relative magazine, gender representation in magazines and feminist theory, stereotyping, ideology and under-represented groups, magazine industries: ownership, funding and circulation, magazine audiences: targeting, niche and specialised readers, audience reception, interpretation and cultivation, woman (23–29 August 1964), Adbusters (May/June 2016), woman's Realm (7–13 February 1965), Huck (February/March 2016), Vogue (July 1965) and the Big Issue (17–23 October 2016).

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Magazine cover codes, layout and designMasthead of a magazine, term plug or puff and how anchorage works on a magazine page.Open →
• Semiotics, structuralism and ideology in magazine languageReading covers through signs, myth and binary opposition; how a cover naturalises an ideology, what a spoof advertisement does, and the limits of a purely semiotic approach.Open →
• Genre conventions and the historically relative magazineCover mount and how a magazine's genre shapes reader expectation.Open →
• Gender representation in magazines and feminist theoryGender as discourse, the look a cover assumes, the political definition of feminism, race and class, identity resources, and feminist vocabulary used without feminist politics.Open →
• Stereotyping, ideology and under-represented groupsTerm stereotype and claim to realism.Open →
• Magazine industries: ownership, funding and circulationConglomerate ownership, diversification in publishing and difference between circulation and readership.Open →
• Magazine audiences: targeting, niche and specialised readersNiche audience, fan audience and passive audience model.Open →
• Audience reception, interpretation and cultivationTwo stages in Stuart Hall's model of communication and negotiated reading of a magazine feature.Open →
• Woman (23–29 August 1964)A mass-circulation weekly at its height: its publisher, its regular strands and advertising, the femininity it constructs, and the 1964 context that explains it.Open →
• Adbusters (May/June 2016)An advertising-free magazine built on culture jamming and subvertisements: the campaigns it launched, how it pays for itself, its readers, and the criticisms made of it.Open →
• Woman's Realm (7–13 February 1965)A weekly for a slightly older, thriftier reader: its patterns and features, the ideology it carries, its shared ownership with a rival, and the decade moving past it.Open →
• Huck (February/March 2016)An independent title built on documentary photography and radical culture: its design, its funding, its specialised global readership, and the criticisms of its position.Open →
• Vogue (July 1965)High fashion in the year of the London boom: its publisher and editor, aspirational address, the body its photography constructs, and its economics compared with a weekly.Open →
• The Big Issue (17–23 October 2016)Vendor model, calling The Big Issue a social enterprise and content does The Big Issue carry.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Vertical integration vs Diversification

  Vertical integration: owning stages of one supply chain. Diversification: spreading into different markets.

• Niche audience vs Mass audience

  Niche audience: a small audience defined by a shared interest or identity. Mass audience: A large audience defined only loosely.

• Circulation vs Readership

  Circulation: a count of copies distributed. Readership: an estimate of how many people read each copy.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is the masthead of a magazine?

   Model answer

   The masthead is the magazine's title as it appears at the top of the cover. Typeface and colour turn it into a brand identity recognised at a glance.

2. 2

   How do cover lines work together on a magazine front cover?

   Model answer

   The main cover line names the lead feature and the smaller ones show the issue's range. Together they promise a browsing reader value for the price.

3. 3

   Why do mainstream magazine covers usually place a model in direct address?

   Model answer

   Direct address creates a personal relationship between reader and magazine. The model's eye contact invites the reader to identify with the image.

4. 4

   What does the term plug or puff mean on a magazine cover?

   Model answer

   A plug is a small flash of text or graphic promoting a free gift or special feature. Plugs add perceived value at the point of sale.

5. 5

   Explain how anchorage works on a magazine page.

   Model answer

   Anchorage is the way a caption or headline fixes one preferred meaning onto an image. Words narrow the many readings a photograph would otherwise allow.

6. 6

   Define the term mode of address.

   Model answer

   Mode of address is the way a text speaks to its reader. A chatty second-person voice builds intimacy, while a formal voice builds authority.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative revision questions

What does Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative cover in Eduqas A-Level Media Studies?

14 subtopics: magazine cover codes, layout and design, semiotics, structuralism and ideology in magazine language, genre conventions and the historically relative magazine, gender representation in magazines and feminist theory, stereotyping, ideology and under-represented groups, magazine industries: ownership, funding and circulation, magazine audiences: targeting, niche and specialised readers, audience reception, interpretation and cultivation, woman (23–29 august 1964), adbusters (may/june 2016), woman's realm (7–13 february 1965), huck (february/march 2016), vogue (july 1965) and the big issue (17–23 october 2016). Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative organised?

By the Eduqas A680QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.