What does a newspaper's title design claim about the paper?

Its typeface, weight and any device carry associations of authority, tradition or immediacy, and the paper keeps them because they are how readers recognise it.

What is a standfirst?

A standfirst is the short block of text between the headline and the article that summarises the story and draws the reader into it.

Why do tabloid newspapers use very large headlines and short paragraphs?

Large headlines and short paragraphs suit rapid reading in a crowded place, and they signal that the story can be grasped quickly without effort.

WJEC AS-Level Media Studies 603-1976-8

Contexts of Media

Topic overview The conceptual framework and its four inter-related areas The map of critical perspectives across the framework Ownership, funding and regulation as industry context Industry context, messages and ideologies Historical context and its effect on representations The time a product is made in and the time it is set in Social and cultural contexts and the discourses of a product Cultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producers Why the same product is read differently in different places Wales as a media context: social, economic and industry factors S4C and Welsh-language broadcasting The global dimension and media beyond the US and UK

Media Language

Topic overview What media language is Technical, visual and audio codes Print design and layout conventions Camerawork and mise-en-scène Editing and sound Online media language and design conventions Mode of address Semiotics and Roland Barthes Narrative and Tzvetan Todorov Genre theory and Steve Neale Structuralism and Claude Lévi-Strauss Postmodernism and Jean Baudrillard Intertextuality and hybridity Viewpoints, values and ideology in media language How developing technologies change media language

Media Representations

Topic overview What representation means Stereotypes and their uses Representations of gender Representations of ethnicity and Stuart Hall Representations of age Representations of place, region and nation Representations of Wales and Welsh identity Representations of issues and events Identity and David Gauntlett Positioning the audience Context and its effect on representation Analysing and evaluating representations Representations of social class Representation and the global media Reinforcement of representations across products Constructing a representation in your own production

Media Industries

Topic overview What a media industry is Ownership and control Funding models Regulation of the media Public service broadcasting Production, commissioning and finance Distribution, marketing and exhibition Technological change and convergence Globalisation of the media industries The media industries in Wales News industries and their economics Brands, intellectual property and franchises Entering and working in the media industries Industry context and its effect on content Analysing a product's industry

Media Audiences

Topic overview What an audience is Grouping and categorising audiences Targeting, attracting and reaching an audience Media effects and Albert Bandura Cultivation theory and George Gerbner Reception theory and Stuart Hall The end of audience and Clay Shirky Fandom and Henry Jenkins Uses and gratifications Interaction, participation and specialised audiences Regulation, protection and audience harm Researching and measuring audiences Audience positioning and preferred readings Audiences and social and cultural circumstance Audiences and media technology Analysing an audience for a product

Advertising, Marketing and Music Video

Topic overview Print advertising: layout, typography and design codes Audio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and sound Online advertising and its design conventions Charity and public information campaigns Commercial advertising for consumer goods Historical advertising before 1980 Barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisement Representations of gender in advertising and music video Representations of ethnicity and age, and Stuart Hall on representation Gauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mix Music video: performance, narrative and concept Music video before 2000 and the changing form Marketing, audience categories and targeting Audience response, reception theory and media effects

News in the Online Age

Topic overview Design and language conventions of print and online news The Guardian in print and online The Daily Mirror in print and online The Times in print and online BBC News Online and public service news The Huffington Post and digital-native news Wales Online and news for a Welsh audience Radio news conventions and Today on BBC Radio 4 Radio Wales Drive and Post Prynhawn News values and the construction of a news event Representation, ideology and re-presenting reality in news Ownership, control and public service in news Technology, convergence and the circulation of news News audiences, citizen journalism and the end of audience

Film Industries: From Wales to Hollywood

Topic overview Film language: camerawork, mise-en-scène, editing and sound Genre codes, iconography and Neale's repertoire of elements Narrative construction and Todorov's equilibrium Film production and funding in Wales Co-productions, festivals and national cinema Hollywood ownership, vertical integration and diversification Distribution, marketing and exhibition in a digital age Regulation of film in the United Kingdom and the BBFC Film audiences: targeting, positioning and reception Don't Knock Twice and Drag Me To Hell Submarine and Clueless The Machine and Blade Runner Y Llyfrgell/The Library Suicides and Shutter Island Yr Ymadawiad/The Passing and The Village

Creating Media Productions

Topic overview Researching the codes and conventions of a form Audience research and defining a target audience Analysing comparable products: genre and competitor research Investigative research and the development outline Treatments, storyboards, scripts and flat plans Schedules, shot lists and risk assessment Production in audio-visual, print and online form Working to a brief Applying media language to construct a representation Original material, copyright and ethics Independent, collaborative and cross-media production Reflective and critical analysis

News in the Online Age

14 subtopics
42 things to know
AS Unit 1

What News in the Online Age covers

News in the Online Age is examined in AS Unit 1, Investigating the Media. It covers design and language conventions of print and online news, The Guardian in print and online, the Daily Mirror in print and online, The Times in print and online, BBC News Online and public service news, the Huffington Post and digital-native news, Wales Online and news for a Welsh audience, radio news conventions and Today on BBC Radio 4, Radio Wales Drive and Post Prynhawn, news values and the construction of a news event, representation, ideology and re-presenting reality in news, ownership, control and public service in news, technology, convergence and the circulation of news and news audiences, citizen journalism and the end of audience.

Where it is assessed

AS Unit 1

Investigating the Media.

Check the WJEC specification ↗

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Media Studies students sit this topic in the first year.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Explain how a newspaper's political position shapes its representation of a news event.

Evaluation

Give one argument against the licence fee.

Key term

Explain what a public service broadcaster's duty of accuracy requires in practice.

Key term

How does BBC News Online organise its content for users?

Key term

Explain what is meant by a national news service for Wales.

Key term

How does a Welsh news website reach readers outside Wales?

Key term

Explain how a hard news event is constructed rather than simply reported.

Key term

Explain what is meant by saying that news re-presents reality.

Evaluation

Give one argument that citizen journalism does not improve the quality of news.

Key term

Apply Hall's reception theory to a news report on a political decision.

Key term

Define the term splash in newspaper production.

Numbers

In which year was the Daily Mirror founded?

Numbers

In which year did the newspaper now called The Times take that name?

Numbers

In which year was The Huffington Post founded in the United States?

Numbers

On which station is Today broadcast, and in which year did the programme begin?

Key term

On which station is Radio Wales Drive broadcast?

Key term

What is meant by conglomerate ownership of news media?

Key term

Explain how convergence has changed the working practice of a journalist.

Key term

Explain how a pull quote works on a news page.

Key term

Explain why the Scott Trust ownership structure matters for The Guardian's journalism.

Numbers

Which company has published the Daily Mirror since Trinity Mirror was renamed in 2018?

Numbers

Which company bought The Times in 1981, and which group publishes the paper now?

Numbers

When did the United Kingdom edition of The Huffington Post launch?

Key term

Describe the broadcast pattern of Today across the week.

Key term

On which station is Post Prynhawn broadcast, and in which language?

Key term

What are news values?

Key term

Define ideology.

Key term

Define vertical integration.

Key term

What is meant by a rolling news cycle?

Key term

What is meant by the inverted pyramid in news writing?

Key term

Under what name was The Guardian founded in 1821?

Key term

What political position has the Daily Mirror traditionally taken?

Numbers

What is meant by describing The Times as a compact?

Numbers

Which company acquired The Huffington Post in 2011?

Key term

Which publisher operates Wales Online?

Key term

Why is a morning news programme influential in setting the day's agenda?

Key term

What does the title Post Prynhawn mean in English?

Key term

Name three news values that make an event more likely to be reported.

Key term

Explain the term primary definer.

Key term

Explain why concentration of media ownership is regarded as a problem for democracy.

Key term

Explain one risk created by continuous publication.

Key term

What does Shirky mean by publish, then filter?

Take News in the Online Age further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

Misinformation vs Disinformation
Misinformation: false information passed on without any intention to deceive. Disinformation: false information circulated deliberately in order to mislead.
Balance vs Impartiality
Balance: presenting opposing sides of a question. Impartiality: weighting each claim according to the evidence behind it.
Aggregation vs Original reporting
Aggregation: republishing and summarising work that other organisations paid to produce. Original reporting: journalism gathered first-hand by the outlet publishing it.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What does a newspaper's title design claim about the paper?
Model answer
Its typeface, weight and any device carry associations of authority, tradition or immediacy, and the paper keeps them because they are how readers recognise it.
2
Define the term splash in newspaper production.
Model answer
The splash is the main front-page story, given the largest headline and the dominant image on the page.
3
What is a standfirst?
Model answer
A standfirst is the short block of text between the headline and the article that summarises the story and draws the reader into it.
4
Why do tabloid newspapers use very large headlines and short paragraphs?
Model answer
Large headlines and short paragraphs suit rapid reading in a crowded place, and they signal that the story can be grasped quickly without effort.
5
Explain how a pull quote works on a news page.
Model answer
A pull quote lifts a striking sentence out of the article and sets it in larger type, which breaks up the column and gives the reader the story's most dramatic claim before they begin.
6
What is meant by the inverted pyramid in news writing?
Model answer
The inverted pyramid places the most important information in the opening paragraph and the least important at the end, so a reader who stops early still has the story and an editor can cut from the bottom.

See the rest and revise

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Contexts of Media

Media Language

Media Representations

Media Industries

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Submarine is set in .

SwanseaCardiffAberystwyth

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AQuantitative data counts how many.

BQualitative data explains why.

CA production usually needs both.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

An audience receives what is offered.

TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

News in the Online Age revision questions

Is News in the Online Age examined at AS in WJEC Media Studies?: Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
What does News in the Online Age cover in WJEC AS-Level Media Studies?: 14 subtopics: design and language conventions of print and online news, the guardian in print and online, the daily mirror in print and online, the times in print and online, bbc news online and public service news, the huffington post and digital-native news, wales online and news for a welsh audience, radio news conventions and today on bbc radio 4, radio wales drive and post prynhawn, news values and the construction of a news event, representation, ideology and re-presenting reality in news, ownership, control and public service in news, technology, convergence and the circulation of news and news audiences, citizen journalism and the end of audience. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is News in the Online Age organised?: By the WJEC 603-1976-8 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in News in the Online Age, 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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