Key term
OCR A-Level Media Studies H409
Contexts of Media
Topic overviewThe five media contexts: social, cultural, political, economic and historicalSocial context: attitudes, norms and social issuesCultural context, taste and the global circulation of mediaPolitical context, ideology and public service broadcastingHistorical context and the reflection of past eventsEconomic context: funding, ownership and financial constraintTechnological context: production, distribution and audience devicesReflecting attitudes and constructing attitudesMedia products as agents of social and political changeIntertextuality as a trace of context
Media Language
Topic overviewSigns, codes and conventions in media languageAudio-visual media language: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and soundPrint media language: layout, typography and imageAudio and online media languageCombination and selection: how elements work together to make meaningDeveloping technologies and the changing language of the mediaBarthes, semiotics and the making of mythTodorov, narratology and narrative structureNeale, genre theory and the intertextual relayGenre as dynamic and historically relativeHybridity and the subversion of genre conventionsLévi-Strauss, structuralism and binary oppositionIntertextuality: pastiche, parody and the varieties of referenceBaudrillard, postmodernism and hyperrealityMedia language, viewpoints and ideologyHow audiences interpret media language
Media Representations
Topic overviewSelection, combination and the construction of realityMediation, verisimilitude and claims about realismStereotypes, countertypes and their usesUnder-representation and misrepresentation of social groupsProducers' choices and the process of representationIndustry context and the economics of representationSocial and cultural context in representationHistorical context and changing representationsValues, attitudes and beliefs, and their reinforcementDiscourse, ideology and the positioning of audiencesAudience response and interpretation of representationsSelf-representation, social identity and the curated selfHall and the constructionist approach to representationGauntlett, identity and the pick-and-mix audiencevan Zoonen, the patriarchal gaze and gender as performancebell hooks, intersectionality and the oppositional gazeButler, gender performativity and gender troubleGilroy, the Black Atlantic and postcolonial melancholia
Media Industries
Topic overviewProduction, distribution and circulation in a global contextThe specialised and institutionalised nature of media productionConglomerate ownership and vertical integrationHorizontal integration, diversification and synergyCurran and Seaton: concentration of ownership and pluralityCurran and Seaton on the internet and the news oligarchyHesmondhalgh: risk, public goods and the reliance on big hitsHesmondhalgh: repetition, copyright and digital labourCommercial funding: advertising, subscription and freemium modelsPublic service broadcasting and not-for-profit fundingMarketing and the maintenance of national and global audiencesTechnological change and the shift to digital distributionOfcom and the UK regulatory frameworkPress, advertising and age classification in the UKLivingstone and Lunt: the citizen and the consumerIndividual producers, convergence and the limits of regulation
Media Audiences
Topic overviewDemographics, social grade and audience profilingPsychographics, lifestyle and taste categoriesTargeting, mode of address and the constructed audienceMarketing, distribution and circulation as routes to the audienceMass and specialised audiences, nationally and globallyNiche and fan audiences and their value to media organisationsMedia technologies and changing patterns of consumptionUses and gratifications, identity and cultural capitalThe effects tradition, the hypodermic model and moral panicsBandura, social learning and media modellingGerbner, cultivation and mean world syndromeHall, encoding, decoding and the three reader positionsJenkins, textual poaching and participatory cultureShirky, the end of audience and cognitive surplusDifferent readings and their social, cultural and historical circumstancesUser-generated content, citizen journalism and the audience as producer
News, Online and Participatory Media
Topic overviewThe Daily Mail as a mid-market tabloidThe Guardian, the Scott Trust and the liberal broadsheet traditionFront page construction and the language of the printed news pageNews values, gatekeeping and the setting of the agendaIdeology, discourse and the positioning of the news readerRepresentation of social groups in news coverageMail Online and the Guardian website as digital productsSocial and participatory media feedsDigital convergence and the changing newsroomOwnership, plurality and the concentration of the pressPaywalls, subscriptions and online monetisationNews audiences: targeting, reception and interpretationPress regulation from the PCC to IPSO and the online challenge
Advertising, Marketing and Magazines
Topic overviewCodes and conventions of print advertisingDove, Real Beauty and the Beautifully Real Moms campaignMedia language in the Dove advertRepresentations of motherhood and the maternal body in the Dove advertRiver Island and the Labels are for Clothes campaignMedia language in the River Island advertRepresentations of diversity, disability and self-expression at River IslandShelter, charity advertising and the direct call to actionMedia language in the Shelter advertRepresentations of homelessness and housing insecurity in the Shelter advertSocial and cultural contexts of the three advertising campaignsThe Big Issue, the street paper model and its market positionMedia language of a Big Issue front coverAlternative representations in The Big IssueSocial, cultural and political contexts of The Big Issue
Music Video
Topic overviewMusic video as a form: performance, narrative and conceptPromotion, platforms and the star imageMedia language in music video: camera, mise-en-scène, editing and soundRepresentation in music video: stereotypes, countertypes and self-representationArtist-present and artist-absent music videoCorinne Bailey Rae – Stop Where You AreLil Nas X – SUN GOES DOWNEmeli Sandé – HeavenSufjan Stevens – SugarRadiohead – Burn the WitchDavid Guetta ft. Sia – Titanium
Film, Radio and Video Games
Topic overviewDisney from Snow White to global conglomerateVertical integration and the structure of the film industryFinancing, risk and the franchise model in filmTechnological change in film production and exhibitionDistribution, release windows and home entertainmentMarketing a global blockbusterFilm certification and regulationPublic service broadcasting and the Radio 1 Breakfast ShowFunding, ownership and competition in the radio industryRadio technology, platforms and convergent distributionReaching and constructing the Radio 1 Breakfast Show audienceNintendo, ownership and the global games industryProducing and distributing Animal Crossing: New HorizonsThe Animal Crossing audience: targeting, play and participationRegulation and the social context of video games
Long Form Television Drama
Topic overviewMr Robot and the unreliable narratorKilling Eve and the gendered spy thrillerAtypical and the representation of neurodiversityStranger Things, nostalgia and the Netflix franchiseLupin, disguise and postcolonial ParisMoney Heist and the second life of a national dramaTrapped, Nordic noir and the Icelandic industryDeutschland 83, the Cold War and the export of German dramaThe streaming economy and the funding of long form dramaGlobal distribution and the travel of non-English language dramaGenre hybridity, intertextuality and multiple narrative strandsMedia language and representation in long form television dramaAudiences, fandom and the regulation of on-demand drama
News, Online and Participatory Media
- 13 subtopics
- 39 things to know
- Component 01
What News, Online and Participatory Media covers
News, Online and Participatory Media is examined in Component 01, Media messages. It covers the Daily Mail as a mid-market tabloid; The Guardian, the Scott Trust and the liberal broadsheet tradition; front page construction and the language of the printed news page; news values, gatekeeping and agenda setting; ideology, discourse and the positioning of the news reader; the representation of social groups in news coverage; Mail Online and The Guardian website as digital products; social and participatory media feeds; digital convergence and the changing newsroom; ownership, plurality and the concentration of the press; paywalls, subscriptions and online monetisation; how news audiences are targeted and how they interpret news; and press regulation from the PCC to IPSO, together with the challenge of online news.
The 13 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The Daily Mail as a mid-market tabloidRecall questions on the Daily Mail's founding, ownership by DMG Media, right-of-centre politics and older Middle England readership, Femail, its Stephen Lawrence front page and Banish the Bags campaign, falling circulation, sister titles and its separation from Mail Online.Open →
- The Guardian, the Scott Trust and the liberal broadsheet traditionRecall questions on The Guardian's origins as the Manchester Guardian, the Scott Trust and C. P. Scott's principle that comment is free but facts are sacred, its page-size changes, liberal politics and readership, its reader-funded model without a paywall, overseas editions, investigations and readers' editor.Open →
- Front page construction and the language of the printed news pageRecall questions on mastheads, splashes, standfirsts, plugs and bylines, the fold, captions and reversed-out type, serif and sans serif type, tabloid and broadsheet conventions, headline lexis and intertextual puns, and front-page photography.Open →
- News values, gatekeeping and the setting of the agendaRecall questions on news values from Galtung and Ruge to Harcup and O'Neill, including threshold, personalisation, elite status, negativity, continuity and composition, and on gatekeeping, agenda setting and the effect of real-time analytics.Open →
- Ideology, discourse and the positioning of the news readerRecall questions on ideology, discourse and hegemony in news, applying Barthes, Lévi-Strauss, Todorov and Baudrillard to news coverage, preferred readings, news as construction, and how grammar, word choice, cropping and juxtaposition position the reader.Open →
- Representation of social groups in news coverageRecall questions on applying Stuart Hall, van Zoonen, bell hooks, Gilroy and Butler to news representation, symbolic annihilation, migration metaphors, moral panics about young people, source choice, framing poverty and protest, and the invisibility of the norm.Open →
- Mail Online and the Guardian website as digital productsRecall questions on Mail Online's launch, scrolling homepage, sidebar of shame and overseas editions, The Guardian website's organisation and contribution ask, scope and scale, hypertext, live blogs, interactive journalism, comment threads, most-read lists and mobile-first design.Open →
- Social and participatory media feedsRecall questions on participatory media, Shirky's end of audience and publish then filter, Jenkins's participatory culture and textual poaching, prosumers, how newspapers use X, Facebook and Instagram, engagement measures, the risks of feeds, and comment threads read through Stuart Hall.Open →
- Digital convergence and the changing newsroomRecall questions on media convergence and Jenkins's account of it, continuous publication, multiskilled journalists, search engine optimisation and analytics, citizen journalism, churnalism, editing news photographs, and how one story changes meaning across print, web and social platforms.Open →
- Ownership, plurality and the concentration of the pressRecall questions on Curran and Seaton's arguments about the press and the internet, media plurality and democracy, the ownership of the Daily Mail and The Guardian, proprietor influence, Hesmondhalgh on risk, integration and diversification, merger tests and alternative funding models.Open →
- Paywalls, subscriptions and online monetisationRecall questions on hard and metered paywalls, freemium news, the commercial logic of Mail Online's advertising model and The Guardian's contributions, subscription apps and puzzles, programmatic and native advertising, affiliate links, clickbait, and the loss of print and classified revenue.Open →
- News audiences: targeting, reception and interpretationRecall questions on demographic and psychographic profiling, the social grades of the set newspapers' readers, uses and gratifications, Stuart Hall's reader positions, Gerbner's cultivation theory and mean world syndrome, Bandura, filter bubbles and echo chambers, and online audience figures.Open →
- Press regulation from the PCC to IPSO and the online challengeRecall questions on press self-regulation, the Press Complaints Commission and the phone-hacking scandal, the Leveson Inquiry, the Press Recognition Panel, IPSO and IMPRESS, the Editors' Code and public interest defence, Livingstone and Lunt, and the Online Safety Act 2023.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Numbers
Name three major investigations The Guardian has published, and what each exposed.
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Why is it inaccurate to treat tabloid and broadsheet purely as page sizes?
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Distinguish denotation from connotation in a news photograph.
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How does Lévi-Strauss's idea of binary opposition help analyse a news story?
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Why is news said to be constructed rather than a window on the world?
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What does bell hooks add to the analysis of news representation that a gender-only reading misses?
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Explain how the concept of a moral panic applies to news reporting on young people.
Process
How does the choice of sources function as a form of representation?
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Why has mobile-first design reshaped news websites?
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How does the absence of a fixed page count change editorial selection online?
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How does Jenkins's idea of textual poaching apply to news content?
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Why did news publishers become dependent on Facebook, and what was the risk?
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What risks do participatory feeds create for a news brand?
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How has digital publishing altered the newspaper production cycle?
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How has digital technology changed the cost of producing news?
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Contrast the distribution economics of a printed newspaper with those of a news website.
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Contrast the ownership structures behind the Daily Mail and The Guardian.
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Distinguish a hard paywall from a metered one.
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Why has digital advertising failed to replace the revenue print advertising once generated?
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What are social grades, and how are the two set newspapers' readerships placed on them?
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What are Hall's three reader positions?
Evaluation
What did Bandura argue about media and behaviour, and where is that argument taken seriously in news?
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Name two legal constraints on newspapers that operate outside any regulator's code.
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Explain the news value of threshold.
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What is meant by the Daily Mail's address to Middle England?
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Why did The Guardian move to a tabloid page size in 2018?
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What is the splash?
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Why is negative news reported more readily than positive news?
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Why does concentration of ownership matter for democracy?
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Why is the British press self-regulated rather than licensed by the state?
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Why does sustained campaign journalism suit a mid-market paper commercially?
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Why did The Guardian launch separate US and Australian editions?
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Why does the design of a front page concentrate on what sits above the fold?
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How have real-time audience analytics changed news values?
Numbers
When did the Daily Mail launch its website, and how is it staffed?
Who and when
According to Hesmondhalgh, why are the cultural industries risky businesses?
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What is a paywall?
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Name four areas covered by the editors' code of practice.
Take News, Online and Participatory Media further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Agenda setting vs Gatekeeping
Agenda setting: the media's power to shape what audiences think about, by deciding which issues receive sustained coverage and which are ignored. Gatekeeping: The process by which editors and commissioners decide which stories, images and voices reach the audience and which are stopped.
IPSO vs IMPRESS
IPSO: the Independent Press Standards Organisation, set up in 2014, which regulates most national newspapers but has never sought recognition under the royal charter. IMPRESS: The smaller regulator that has been recognised by the Press Recognition Panel, and which covers mainly independent and local publishers rather than the national titles.
Hard paywall vs Metered paywall
Hard paywall: an arrangement that blocks every online article from non-payers, so nothing at all can be read without a subscription. Metered paywall: An arrangement that allows a fixed number of free online articles in a period before requiring payment, which preserves some reach.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
In what year was the Daily Mail founded, and by whom?
Model answer
It was founded in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.
- 2
What does it mean to call the Daily Mail a mid-market tabloid?
Model answer
It is printed in tabloid format and uses populist, human-interest and celebrity content, but it positions itself above the red-top popular press by carrying serious political comment, business and campaigning journalism in a self-consciously respectable voice.
- 3
Which company publishes the Daily Mail, and which family controls it?
Model answer
It is published by DMG Media, part of the Daily Mail and General Trust group, which is controlled by the Rothermere family.
- 4
Describe the political position the Daily Mail has taken over recent decades.
Model answer
It sits on the right of centre, is socially conservative, has consistently supported the Conservative Party, and campaigned for Leave in the 2016 EU referendum.
- 5
How would you characterise the print readership the Daily Mail attracts?
Model answer
It skews older, with a high proportion of readers over 55, is concentrated in the middle social grades, and has an unusually high share of women readers for a tabloid.
- 6
What is Femail, and what does its existence tell you about the paper's audience strategy?
Model answer
Femail is the paper's long-running women's section covering fashion, health, relationships and consumer advice, and it shows the paper deliberately building around a female readership that most tabloids do not hold.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
News, Online and Participatory Media revision questions
- What does News, Online and Participatory Media cover in OCR A-Level Media Studies?
- 13 subtopics: the daily mail as a mid-market tabloid, the guardian, the scott trust and the liberal broadsheet tradition, front page construction and the language of the printed news page, news values, gatekeeping and the setting of the agenda, ideology, discourse and the positioning of the news reader, representation of social groups in news coverage, mail online and the guardian website as digital products, social and participatory media feeds, digital convergence and the changing newsroom, ownership, plurality and the concentration of the press, paywalls, subscriptions and online monetisation, news audiences: targeting, reception and interpretation and press regulation from the pcc to ipso and the online challenge. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is News, Online and Participatory Media organised?
- By the OCR H409 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in News, Online and Participatory Media, 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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