Key term
Eduqas A-Level Media Studies A680QS
Media Language
Topic overviewThe language of media analysis: signs, codes and modesDenotation and connotationBarthes, signification and mythCamerawork, framing and editingMise-en-scène, colour and lightingSound and music as media languageLayout, typography and print designCodes and conventions of genreNeale on repetition, difference and genre changeNarrative structure and TodorovNarrative devices: enigma, character and point of viewLévi-Strauss, structuralism and binary oppositionsBaudrillard, simulation and hyperrealityIntertextuality, parody and pasticheMedia language, ideology and developing technology
Media Representations
Topic overviewRepresentation, selection and constructionHall and representation as the production of meaningCodes, concepts and shared conceptual mapsHall on stereotyping, power and otheringPositive and negative uses of stereotypesUnder-representation, misrepresentation and symbolic annihilationRealism, verisimilitude and claims about realitySocial, cultural and historical context in representationGauntlett, identity and pick-and-mix media resourcesvan Zoonen, gender as discourse and the body as spectaclebell hooks: feminism, race and classButler and gender performativityGilroy, race, civilisationism and postcolonial theoryRepresentations of sexuality, class and disabilityDiscourse, ideology and audience readings of representations
Media Industries
Topic overviewProduction, distribution and circulationOwnership models and patterns of controlConglomerates, vertical and horizontal integrationCurran and Seaton on power and media ownershipHesmondhalgh and the cultural industriesFunding: commercial, subscription and public moneyPublic service broadcasting and the BBCRegulation and the UK regulatorsLivingstone and Lunt on citizens and consumersRegulation in a global and digital ageConvergence, digital technology and distributionMarketing, promotion and maintaining audiencesIndividual producers and the independent sectorGlobalisation and the international media market
Media Audiences
Topic overviewHow audiences are grouped and categorisedPsychographics, lifestyle and cultural capitalTargeting mass and specialised audiencesAttracting, reaching and constructing audiencesMode of address and audience positioningPassive audience models and the effects debateBandura and social learning theoryGerbner and cultivation theoryActive audiences and uses and gratificationsHall and reception theoryJenkins, fandom and participatory cultureShirky and the end of the audienceConsumption, technology and audience measurementAudience interpretation, identity and social context
Contexts of Media
Topic overviewWhat media contexts are and why they matterSocial contexts: values, attitudes and beliefsCultural contexts and cultural changeRepresenting minority groups and products made by themEconomic contexts: ownership and fundingProduction outside the commercial mainstreamPolitical contexts: ideology and powerRegulation and the stateHistorical contexts: genre conventions as historically relativeHistorical change in representationTechnological change, production, distribution and circulationGlobal contexts and non-English-language media
Newspapers
Topic overviewNewspaper front pages: masthead, splash and layoutTabloid and quality press: codes, conventions and registerSemiotics, structuralism and ideology in newspaper languageNews values, selection and the construction of realityRepresentation of events, individuals and social groups in newspapersThe Daily Mirror as an evolving productThe Times as an evolving productNewspaper ownership, conglomerates and controlFunding, paywalls and the decline of print circulationPress regulation, IPSO and the Leveson aftermathNewspapers online: convergence and digital distributionNewspaper audiences: categorisation, targeting and addressAudience responses, reception theory and the end of audience
Advertising and Marketing
Topic overviewAdvertising media language: codes and conventionsSemiotics and structuralism in advertisingIntertextuality, genre and persuasion in advertisingThe Tide print advertisement (1950s)Gender representation in 1950s advertisingThe Kiss of the Vampire film poster (1963)Representation and gender in the Kiss of the Vampire posterSuper. Human. and the language of the Paralympic filmDisability representation in Super. Human.Historical contexts: sixty years of advertising changeAdvertising audiences: grouping, targeting and addressAudience interpretation and reception in advertisingMarketing, branding and cross-media campaigns
Music Video
Topic overviewMusic video as a form: conventions, functions and developmentCamerawork, editing and mise-en-scène in music videoNarrative, intertextuality and postmodernism in music videoSemiotics, myth and ideology in music videoRepresentation, stereotyping and identity in music videoGender, objectification and performativity in music videoEthnicity, race and postcolonial readings in music videoFormation, Beyoncé (2016)Turntables, Janelle Monáe (2020)Underdog, Alicia Keys (2020)Riptide, Vance Joy (2013)Seventeen Going Under, Sam Fender (2021)Little Bit of Love, Tom Grennan (2021)
Radio
Topic overviewRadio as a form: its history, formats and the listening experiencePublic service broadcasting and the BBC's missionFunding radio: the licence fee, advertising and sponsorshipRegulating radio: Ofcom, the BBC Charter and impartialityOwnership and concentration in the commercial radio industryPodcasting and the on-demand audio economyDigital technology, convergence and BBC SoundsRadio audiences: reach, targeting and measurementAudience theory applied to radioWoman's HourHave You Heard George's Podcast (BBC Sounds)
Video Games
Topic overviewVideo games as a media formThe Assassin's Creed franchiseUbisoft: ownership, structure and global productionMaking a major game: budgets, teams and working conditionsDistribution, platforms and monetisationMarketing, regulation and the debate about effectsGame audiences: who plays and how they are reachedGames and historical context: representing the pastGlobal markets, localisation and cultural adaptationConvergence and the franchise across mediaHardware cycles, technology and accessGames, society and contemporary debate
Film Industries and Marketing
Topic overviewProduction in the film industryDistribution and release strategiesExhibition, box office and the cinema audienceFilm funding, budgets and public subsidyConglomerate ownership, integration and diversificationThe independent and specialised film sectorFilm marketing across convergent platformsRegulation, classification and the film industryBlack Panther: production and the Marvel blockbuster modelMarketing and distributing Black PantherI, Daniel Blake: independent production and fundingMarketing and distributing I, Daniel Blake
Television in the Global Age
Topic overviewTelevision in the global age: transnational production and co-productionPublic service broadcasting in a global marketplaceStreaming services and the changing distribution of televisionOwnership, funding and the economics of television dramaRegulation of television in the UK and across bordersMarketing television drama and targeting audiences nationally and globallyFandom, niche audiences and how audiences interpret television dramaGenre, narrative and media language in television dramaRepresentation, identity and ideology in television dramaPeaky Blinders (BBC Two, 2013)The Bridge (Denmark/Sweden, 2015)Black Mirror: 'San Junipero' (Netflix, 2016)The Returned (France, 2012)Killing Eve (BBC America/BBC Three, 2018)Tehran (Israel, 2020)
Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative
Topic overviewMagazine cover codes, layout and designSemiotics, structuralism and ideology in magazine languageGenre conventions and the historically relative magazineGender representation in magazines and feminist theoryStereotyping, ideology and under-represented groupsMagazine industries: ownership, funding and circulationMagazine audiences: targeting, niche and specialised readersAudience reception, interpretation and cultivationWoman (23–29 August 1964)Adbusters (May/June 2016)Woman's Realm (7–13 February 1965)Huck (February/March 2016)Vogue (July 1965)The Big Issue (17–23 October 2016)
Media in the Online Age
Topic overviewMedia language of the home page and the YouTube channelConvergence, participatory culture and user-generated contentSelf-representation and identity onlineRepresenting under-represented groups onlineOnline media industries: production, distribution and circulationInfluencers, monetisation and the economics of vloggingAlgorithms, curation and the attention economyRegulating online contentOnline audiences: fandom, niche reach and the end of audienceZoe Sugg's YouTube channelJJ Olatunji (KSI) and his YouTube channelThiiird online magazineAttitude magazine and website
Newspapers
- 13 subtopics
- 39 things to know
- Component 1
What Newspapers covers
Newspapers is examined in Component 1, Media Products, Industries and Audiences. It covers newspaper front pages: masthead, splash and layout, tabloid and quality press: codes, conventions and register, semiotics, structuralism and ideology in newspaper language, news values, selection and the construction of reality, representation of events, individuals and social groups in newspapers, the Daily Mirror as an evolving product, the Times as an evolving product, newspaper ownership, conglomerates and control, funding, paywalls and the decline of print circulation, press regulation, IPSO and the Leveson aftermath, newspapers online: convergence and digital distribution, newspaper audiences: categorisation, targeting and address and audience responses, reception theory and the end of audience.
Where it is assessed
Component 1
Media Products, Industries and Audiences.
Check the Eduqas specification ↗The 13 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Newspaper front pages: masthead, splash and layoutMasthead of a newspaper, term splash as used in newspaper design and term standfirst.Open →
- Tabloid and quality press: codes, conventions and registerSensationalism in the popular press, human interest story and why the popular press personalises political stories.Open →
- Semiotics, structuralism and ideology in newspaper languageLévi-Strauss's central claim about meaning, binary opposition that commonly structures newspaper coverage and preferred reading.Open →
- News values, selection and the construction of realityNews values, agenda setting and combination in media language.Open →
- Representation of events, individuals and social groups in newspapersStereotyping in Hall's terms, term ethnocentrism and how newspapers represent events as well as people.Open →
- The Daily Mirror as an evolving productDaily Mirror's format and market position, daily Mirror's peak circulation and daily Mirror's typical readership profile.Open →
- The Times as an evolving productTimes's political orientation, edition-based digital product and times Radio.Open →
- Newspaper ownership, conglomerates and controlConglomerate ownership, diversification in a media business and newspaper conglomerate operating in the UK.Open →
- Funding, paywalls and the decline of print circulationTwo traditional revenue streams for a newspaper, hard paywall and metered paywall.Open →
- Press regulation, IPSO and the Leveson aftermathHow UK press regulation changed after 2011: the inquiry and its report, the bodies that replaced the old commission, their codes and sanctions, and their critics.Open →
- Newspapers online: convergence and digital distributionLive blog and why do papers use it, search engine optimisation in a newsroom and paywall's effect on reach.Open →
- Newspaper audiences: categorisation, targeting and addressNRS social grades, term psychographic profile and mass audience.Open →
- Audience responses, reception theory and the end of audienceNegotiated reading of a news story, oppositional reading of a newspaper front page and main criticism of cultivation theory.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Numbers
Explain what news values are, who set them out systematically, and give three of them.
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Trace how the regulation of the UK press was thrown into crisis after 2011.
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What distinguishes the red-top press from the quality press?
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What does Barthes mean by signification?
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How does Stuart Hall define representation?
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When was the Daily Mirror founded and by whom?
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When was The Times founded?
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What do Curran and Seaton argue about media ownership?
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What are the two traditional revenue streams for a newspaper?
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How has convergence changed the work of a newspaper journalist?
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How do media industries group audiences?
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What does Hall's encoding and decoding model claim?
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What is the masthead of a newspaper?
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Why is broadsheet now a misleading term for the quality press?
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How can two newspapers denote the same event and connote opposite meanings?
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What are news values?
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Why can a newspaper photograph mean different things to different readers?
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What is the Daily Mirror's format and market position?
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Who owns The Times?
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What do Curran and Seaton say about the effects of concentration?
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Why has print advertising revenue collapsed?
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Which body regulated the UK press before 2014?
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How has the internet changed newspaper distribution?
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What are the NRS social grades?
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How can a newspaper front page produce an oppositional reading?
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Define the term splash as used in newspaper design.
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When did The Times move to a compact format?
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What does Barthes mean by myth?
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Who first set out a systematic list of news values?
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Define stereotyping in Hall's terms.
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Which political party has the Daily Mirror consistently supported?
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When did Rupert Murdoch acquire The Times?
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What conditions do Curran and Seaton say would improve media output?
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What has happened to UK national newspaper print circulation since 2000?
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What triggered the Leveson Inquiry?
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What is a live blog and why do papers use it?
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Which social grades do The Times and the Daily Mirror mainly attract?
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How does a newspaper encourage a dominant-hegemonic reading?
Take Newspapers further
The same content, four other ways.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is the masthead of a newspaper?
Model answer
The masthead is the newspaper's title block at the top of the front page. A fixed typeface, colour and logo make it instantly recognisable on a newsstand.
- 2
Define the term splash as used in newspaper design.
Model answer
The splash is the main front-page story, given the largest headline and the most space. The splash signals what the paper judges most important that day.
- 3
Define the term standfirst.
Model answer
A standfirst is the short block of text between the headline and the body copy. The standfirst summarises the story and draws the reader in.
- 4
What is meant by a plug or puff on a front page?
Model answer
A plug is a small promotional panel advertising content inside the paper. Plugs often promote sport, celebrity or a free supplement to widen the paper's appeal.
- 5
Explain the function of a kicker in a headline.
Model answer
A kicker is a short line of text placed above the main headline. The kicker adds context or an angle that the headline itself does not carry.
- 6
What is a byline and why does it matter?
Model answer
A byline names the journalist who wrote the story. Bylines build the reputation of individual writers and signal a paper's investment in original reporting.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Newspapers revision questions
- What does Newspapers cover in Eduqas A-Level Media Studies?
- 13 subtopics: newspaper front pages: masthead, splash and layout, tabloid and quality press: codes, conventions and register, semiotics, structuralism and ideology in newspaper language, news values, selection and the construction of reality, representation of events, individuals and social groups in newspapers, the daily mirror as an evolving product, the times as an evolving product, newspaper ownership, conglomerates and control, funding, paywalls and the decline of print circulation, press regulation, ipso and the leveson aftermath, newspapers online: convergence and digital distribution, newspaper audiences: categorisation, targeting and address and audience responses, reception theory and the end of audience. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Newspapers organised?
- By the Eduqas A680QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Newspapers, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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