Censorship

In your opinion, who is responsible for censorship of  the Media?

A social network site allows friends, or people with shared interests to build relationships and communicate openly with one another.

These sites allow people to share photographs, videos and contact information, and many allow users to let each other know what they're doing or thinking.

The most popular social networking sites in the UK include Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Twitter, but there are hundreds more available.

Most social networking sites only allow people over the age of 13 to sign up.

Social networking sites are popular with adults and young people, but everyone needs to be very careful to keep themselves safe by not giving away their personal details.

Some people have recently begun to question the safety of social networking sites due to reported cases of cyber bullying and online predators.

Bebo recently added a 'help' button to allow young people to contact specially trained officers to get advice if they are being bullied online, or are worried about someone's intentions or behaviour. Other social networking sites are now under pressure to add this help button to their sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soArX3XnwYE

http://www.debate.org/debates/Is-Censorship-in-the-media-necessary/1/

Year 13 Homework

Year 13 Homework
Comment on each person's blog with an example text for the debate.

Complete this grid but onto your blog:
1 social working site
1 institution
2 films

AS Media Edu Logins

jmmedia01	jmmediastudies01  Jade
jmmedia02	jmmediastudies02   Sophie C
jmmedia03	jmmediastudies03    Sophie J
jmmedia04	jmmediastudies04    Matt
jmmedia05	jmmediastudies05     Billy
jmmedia06	jmmediastudies06     Amy jmmedia07  jmmediastudies07  Jordan

Media Edu Logins

jmmedia201	jmmediastudies01   Calum
jmmedia202	jmmediastudies02    Sam
jmmedia203	jmmediastudies03    Joey
jmmedia204	jmmediastudies04     Harrison
jmmedia205	jmmediastudies05     Cara

AS Media Studies How to get the top grades

AQA AS Media Studies | How To Get The Top Grades

Caroline Bagshaw | Thursday August 11, 2011

Categories: Courses, A Level, AQA A Level, AQA AS, Hot Entries

How do I get my students to reach the top grades? This is a question which we all ask.
Examiners and moderators often see work by students who aren’t perhaps in the top ability bands yet manage to reach the higher mark bands because they REALLY understand what is required of them.
Below are some ideas and strategies which have been proven to help raise achievement in both exams and coursework modules. These are focused on the AQA Media Studies AS level course, although much of the advice could be adapted for other awards.

MEST 1 | Unseen Text

(There is more information available on this site, including exemplar responses to a past question with brief commentaries. See ‘Related Resources’ at the bottom of this article.)

Read the supplied information

Do teach the students to read the information on the question paper, highlighting relevant areas. They’ll be given a few minutes to do this at the beginning of the exam, as well as the time as they wait for the DVD to start if they’re given a moving image text. This will give all sorts of helpful information, including institution, audience, etc.

For example: In one previous paper, students were told that an advert for Xbox was placed in the Guardian Weekend Magazine in November. The information given included that this was aimed at middle class families and produced in the run-up to Christmas. By reading this carefully, students could add their understanding of the newspaper market so start their exam responses knowing that this was aimed at an ABC1 audience, older age group, and that the institution was aiming at the Christmas market. Using a Sunday supplement meant that audiences have more time to read the advertisement, so it could afford to be fairly text-heavy. All of this information could be deduced before the advert itself was even looked at!
Once they looked at the text they could then see how the models used reflected this target audience, (middle-class family; well dressed) allowing audiences to self-actualise; how the text was used to appeal to this particular audience, etc.

Candidates who ignore this valuable information often waste time speculating about the text ~ this type of (often irrelevant) supposition when they’ve already been given purposeful information can prevent them from actually getting down to answering the question – therefore preventing them from reaching the higher mark bands.

Keep focus on the question

Make sure they keep referring back to the question in each of their responses. Be really explicit about this. So, if for the media forms question candidates are asked how an advert is made to look like a trailer then they need to keep identifying features of the advert and saying how they are made to replicate the features of a trailer.
Similarly, when asked to consider the representation in a text, they could be taught to start each paragraph with a reading of the representation:

Eg. “Technology is represented here as cutting edge… [then give an example from the text to support this reading.] It is also represented as a necessary addition to the audience’s lifestyle ….”[again, you must include a specific moment from the text to support this].

The Institution question isn’t really difficult!

The institution question is often the one students feel most shaky about. From a teaching point of view, I’ve found it works best by coming to it via their own experiences:-

• A good starting point is to discuss with them which “institutions” they / their friends work for, and consider the brand-values of these institutions. Those who have Saturday jobs in Waitrose will be able to talk about different brand values than those who work in Morrisons; those who work in New Look vs. those who work in Ralph Lauren…

• Then get them to think about the institutional values of your school / college, (value hard work; politeness; good timekeeping; respect) and give specific examples of where these values are promoted – such as posters on the walls, school planners, sixth-form brochure, website, rewards systems, etc.

• By this time, they should have a good understanding of institutions and can now move on to the main media institutions. Here they could look at BBC and Channel 4’s Mission Statements, choosing texts from across all three platforms which these institutions produce to support these statements.

For example, BBC includes “educate” in its statement: can students find an example of where they are fulfilling this – not just the obvious ones, such as news and current affairs ~ look at a copy of BBC Wildlife magazine; how many “science” programmes in one week’s BBC TV listings, etc? A previous institution question asked how well a trailer for Channel 4 promoted the channel in line with its values, (which the candidates were told in the information section of the paper – see above!) It was perfectly acceptable for students to make some criticism here – top mark candidates demonstrate critical autonomy in their responses.

• Other institutions to research could include the BBFC, Press Complaint’s Commission and the Advertising Standard’s Authority. A good homework here can be to set students to research one/some of these, making sure they always give specific examples from the institution’s promotional material to support their understanding of the institution and its values.

• Having done all of this, they should be ready for more abstract institutions – a previous MEST 1 paper asked about the institution of Hollywood (see exemplar on this site for potential response to this).

Theory

Adding theory will help students gain high marks, but not if it is just thrown at the exam paper for the sake of it! Candidates often seem to believe that by mentioning a theory they will get credit, regardless of its relevance. Higher grade candidates start with the text – if you think, when you analyse it, that a particular theory is relevant, then use it, but don’t try to impress your examiner with a list of theories which you don’t then go on to use to analyse the text / answer the question.
The most popular theories to use, but also to “misuse”, are Propp and Laura Mulvey!
Propp was writing, in the 1920s, about generic features of fairy tales, which he felt invariably involved some kind of quest, prompting a journey and written using 31 stock functions and 8 stock characters. As soon as they see a character doing anything heroic, less able candidates do tend to throw in Propp’s name, without making this theory relevant to the text.
A trailer for a film like Narnia, Stardust and even Star Trek may well suggest a Propp-style narrative. Even some adverts might: a quest for the cleanest kitchen, where the germs are the “villain”, the manufacturer of the product becomes the “donor” and the germ-free surface the “Princess / Prize”! But just because someone could be seen as “heroic” doesn’t mean that Propp is necessarily relevant!
Laura Mulvey’s original text, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (written 1973, published 1975) may need interpreting for students, but they really should be exposed to her original ideas before they throw “male gaze” down onto an exam paper at the first sight of a sexy looking woman! It may be a relevant theory to use if they read the text as one which invites the audience to focus on a woman in a way which objectifies her. If this is the case, candidates need to specifically explain how this is achieved. To get the really top marks, they should also be considering why this is so, perhaps relating this to the genre or intended audience of the text.

MEST 1 | Case Study

(There is more information available on this site. See ‘Related Resources’ at the bottom of this article.)
Top marks can be gained by students producing a good case study, with a wide range of products from across all three platforms. Check that studies include products which allow students to cover a wide range of audiences and that they have some really specific examples which they can quote in the exam.
A folder or a scrap book where they keep all of their material will help to keep them organised and make revision easier.
One “teacher-taught” product in a case-study is fine, to allow the students to see what they could/should be producing, but they should then go on to research their own further products, (two in really good depth should be fine) and these are the ones they should really focus on in their exam response. Examiners mark a centre at a time. If they find all candidates responding with exactly the same material then they are unlikely to be able see individual student’s sense of “engagement” with their material, which is one of the requirements of the highest mark band.
Put a poster on the classroom wall where they each have to write in their case-study products, eg. Film and Broadcast Fiction:

That way, if the teacher or other students come across some material related to a particular choice of product, they can share it. This is really helpful for ensuring that wide range of specific examples. I always get students to ask parents / grandparents etc. to look out for any information on their chosen case-study products, as they will be exposed to very different media from the students. For example, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was featured in National Trust Magazine – not a familiar text with teenagers, but an impressive one to include in a case-study.
In the exam, don’t ignore the question and just write “everything I know about my case study!” The question will have a focus, which will be expanded further in the second bullet point – this expansion will give you a strong clue to what is expected of you in your response, so don’t ignore it!
A brief outline of your case-study in the opening paragraph is sufficient. Top mark students will work the question into this. Practicing these opening sentences will help students to reach the high mark bands.
Giving a specific example for every point they make will also enable them to demonstrate the skills rewarded in the top mark bands – a range of detailed examples.

A2 Media STudies How to get the top grades

AQA A2 Media Studies | How To Get The Top Grades

Caroline Bagshaw | Thursday August 25, 2011

Categories: Courses, A Level, AQA A Level, AQA A2, Hot Entries

How do I get my students to reach the top grades? This is a question which we all ask.
Examiners and moderators often see work by students who may not be in the top ability bands yet manage to reach the higher mark bands because they REALLY understand what is required of them.
Below are some ideas and strategies which have been proven to help raise achievement in both exams and coursework modules. These are focused on the AQA Media Studies A2 level course, although much of the advice could be adapted for other awards.
A2 students need to move beyond looking at just the texts themselves and now be actively engaged in asking why texts are the way they are. Considering context is key to reaching high marks at A2; at A/S students focused on how texts were constructed; at A2 they need to consider why, thinking about contexts surrounding production and reception.

Theory

At A2, there is a higher expectation that students are exposed to and can use more complex theories. A good starting point is Postmodernism ~ see ‘An Introduction to Postmodernism’ by John Lough and the link below on Strinati. As with A/S, in the exam as well as in their coursework there is little if any reward for throwing the word into their analysis without demonstrating understanding of the term and its relevance to the point they’re making. For this reason, it might be useful to spend some time at the beginning of the course getting them to understand and apply to specific texts the ideas behind this concept and some of its main players, such as Baudrillard and Strinati (see separate article - coming soon). In this way, abstract theories can be made concrete for students to understand them and be able to apply them in their own work.

MEST 3 Section A | Unseen Text

Read the supplied information

As with MEST 1 at A/S level, do make sure the students know how crucial it is for them to read the information on the question paper. The few minutes spent on this at the beginning of the exam isn’t just time well spent – they need to see it as an essential part of their exam technique which is designed to help them access the paper.
Unlike A/S level, the questions here are not equally weighted. Students shouldn’t spend an inappropriate time responding to the first question, worth 8 marks, at the expense of the second and third questions, each worth 12 marks. Examiners often see scripts where candidates have spent too long on the first two questions and had to leave the 3rd one incomplete.
One strategy for ensuring they get the timing right is to give lots of brief, timed questions. Find two texts, give them a few minutes of “reading” time then give them only 10-12 minutes to write a question 1 response or 15-17 minutes for a Q2 or Q3 one. This way they will gain an understanding of what a short-answer response feels like and are less likely to get this wrong in pressure of the exam room.

Hint: If you run out of ideas for suitable texts and questions, set the students in pairs to produce their own question paper for their colleagues. It’s a great way to get them to focus on the mark scheme and to get them exposed to a range of media texts whilst they make their selections. You can even get them to mark their colleagues’ responses and give advice about where / how they could improve!

The first question focuses on the texts given; for high marks they must keep referring to specific elements of the texts – considering the media language used in order to support their ideas.
Although to date question one has been on Representations, students should be aware that this question could also be on forms, institutions, audiences or values, so some time spent on practicing questions with these different focuses will ensure that, come the exam, they aren’t thrown by an “unfamiliar” question type.
The second question tells candidates that they “may” refer to other media products in their answer. However, students who are aiming for the top marks should be bringing other texts in at this point; the top two mark bands reward this use of their wider knowledge when answering this question.
The third question is more definite: “you should refer to other media products in your answer”. Here, to reach the top marks it is essential that other, relevant products are included. Top marks are awarded for a “wide range” of examples from other media. It is perfectly acceptable for candidates to refer to products from their case studies, even if they then go on to use that same material in their Section B response.
Higher marks are awarded to those candidates who present different sides of a debate, especially in response to question 3, but also if relevant in question 2. To help them achieve this, a key phrase they can be taught to use is “However, it could be argued that…” Coming half to 2/3 of the way through an answer, this will really signpost to the examiner that the candidate is considering different viewpoints. Relevant counter-arguments will be rewarded.

MEST 3 Section B | Case Studies

Building on the skills they used at AS level where they produced an individual case-study, students now need to produce two case-studies: one on Representation and one on New Media Technology (see below).
As with A/S, some initial teacher-taught work is relevant, demonstrating how a case-study could be constructed, including theory and context, but after this is it important that they produce their own case-studies if they want to achieve high marks. Examiners mark a centre at a time, and will be able to award the highest marks to those candidates who provide “detailed evidence of individual study”. Clearly this is difficult to achieve if the examiner reads script after script where all candidates have used the same case study.
Of course, moving from being a teacher to being more of a facilitator can be unnerving – surely they’re more likely to do better if I teach them a case study? Setting aside lessons when students are undertaking research means that the teacher can give individual attention and support. Interim deadlines will help to maintain control over these different study areas. One successful strategy is to set essays fairly early on to help students see where they have gaps in their knowledge, such as insufficient theory, too few examples, lack of contextual material, etc. These omissions can then be addressed as students collate their material, long before final “mocks” and the exam.

Individual Case Studies | Representations

See links to other material on this site

In order to achieve the highest marks, candidates need to demonstrate their engagement with their topic area. Modelling what a case-study should involve is also a useful way of covering some representation theory. A good starting point for their own projects is to find out what they are interested in outside of their studies.

For example, a student who plans to spend a gap-year working in Africa could do a representation study on the country; a student who has an interest in going into the Army could look at the representation of the armed forces.

Representation questions tend to condense to three key areas; is the representation:

• fair or unfair;
• realistic or unrealistic;
• harmless or harmful.

Using these as focuses will ensure students consider who has the power to create the representations of their chosen group or place ~ a key understanding which will enable them to engage in the media issues and debates required at the top mark level.
As with A/S, it is essential that students can draw from a wide range of specific examples, both fiction and non-fiction, from all three platforms.

For example: a case-study on Africa may include the representation of the country in films such as Blood Diamond (2006), The Constant Gardener (2005) and Invictus (2009) as well as press responses to the release of these films; documentaries such as the film Cry Freetown (1999) and the work of Louis Theroux; news reports on famine and civil unrest; newspaper reports of contemporary issues in the country, as well as holiday brochures and wildlife programmes. Then they can consider the focuses above: How fair are there representations? How realistic/accurate are they? If most of the texts available are created by non-Africans, are these representations harmful? (For example, do they invite audiences to make unfavourable comparison between African ideologies and those of the Western world?)

click on image to enlarge

Individual Case Studies | New Media Technology

Once students have understood the way in which an A2 case study is constructed, then producing their New Media Technology case study can be achieved by the teacher moving fairly swiftly through a range of potential study areas. These could include: (see The Impact of Digital Media on this site for more detail on this)

• Political – such as the Government report on Digital Britain or other contemporary references
• The history of the Internet and World Wide Web
• New Media and the impact of self-scheduling
• Interactive Media and convergence
• User Generated Content ~ any current dramatic news story will include UGC
• Impact of New Media on Radio
• Podcasts
• Multimedia Videogames Technology
• Impact of New Media on Print
• Newspapers – charging for online content?
• New Media and Safety (attempts at regulation and debates surrounding release of contributor’s details)
• New Media and the Music Industry
• Piracy (which comes into some of the above, including music, gaming and the film industry)
• Web 2.0

Whilst introducing each of these, keep focusing on brief details of what a case study on each of these could include.
One way students can present their case studies is by given a presentation to the class. This has huge benefits – not only does it focus their own ideas, it exposes the rest of the group to areas which they aren’t themselves studying in depth, but which may come up in the unseen section of the exam.
Keeping one or two really good ones will also enable you to present to future classes how a good case-study looks!
Some potential areas of study include:

• News
  • The British Press
  • Television News
  • News International

• Music
• Film
• The Magazine Industry
• The Video Games Industry
• How political campaigns use New Media Technology
• How sport uses New Media Technology

• A single institution
  • BBC
  • ITV
  • Sony

• Royalty’s use of NMT
• The Police’s use of NMT

New Media Technology questions tend to condense to opportunities and challenges / threats ~ both for producers and consumers, and requires an understanding how and why institutions react to NMT. Using these as a focus will ensure that students have the material they need to reach the top mark band, which requires a “sophisticated understanding of the impact of new and digital media”.
For example, a good case study looking at newspapers could start by looking at the traditional newspaper industry:

• its history
• institutions
• formats
• pricing
• profit-routes (ie. advertising vs. cover price vs. small ads)
• an understanding of the changing role of the Press Complaint’s Commission / on-line regulation

Then consider the challenges to this traditionally print-based industry which New Media Technology brings:

• competing against free, online news from (eg.) BBC
• small-ads in decline, competing with ebay, craigslist and other free, NMT routes
• on-line news is searchable where print-based isn’t
• 24 hour news channels with breaking news, arguably makes newspapers not “new” but “old”?
• potential loss of readership (circulations in decline) and therefore of advertising revenue
• are local papers facing different challenges to nationals?

Moving to then consider the ways in which the industry has responded to these challenges and used them as opportunities:

• using convergence to reach new audiences (eg. via hand-held devices / apps etc.)
• charging for news via new media
• promotion of on-line advertising which is easier to show direct benefits via click-through rates
• increase in consumer time spent using NMT
• new ways to interact with consumers
• use of user generated content (UGC) to enhance content
• including moving images on websites

For consumers, the benefits which include:

• fast news
• easily accessible on-the-move with NMT
• free news
• opportunity to be exposed to ideologies of different news providers
• opportunities to contribute via UGC

The debates here are those surrounding free news; regulations regarding bias, (traditionally newspapers have been allowed to have an overt ideology and align themselves to specific political parties; we expect a different, more balanced attitude from other news outlets, which are frequently held to account over perceived bias); convergence as newspapers include moving images as part of on-line content; controversy over inclusion of some pictures – put up hastily on website in order to be as up-do-date as possible but accused of jeopardising fair trial, as well as a wide range of other contemporary issues which will arise during the period of their study.
A thorough knowledge of material such as this will enable candidates to tackle the New Media Technology questions, demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges that NMT poses for the media industries, how they are tackling those challenges, the relevant debates and wider issues, as well as the opportunities which NMT brings for both producers and consumers.

HINT: A good starter to A2 lessons once a week is to hand out pages / supplements from Sunday papers. Give pairs of students 5-10 mins to find and read a story which is relevant to anything they, or their colleagues, are studying. Each pair then has to read out / summarise this news story for the rest of the class. A poster on the wall detailing which Representation and NMT case study each student is doing will help them to find information relevant to their colleagues’ study areas.

Sample MEST 3 Question

A2 AQA MEST3 Revision New and Digital Media Example Question

Jeremy Orlebar | Saturday May 22, 2010

Categories: Courses, A Level, AQA A Level, AQA A2, New Media, Digital Media, New Technologies, Other Topics, Revision, A2 Revision, Hot Entries

Question

“Digital media have, in many ways, changed how we consume media products”.
Who do you think benefits the most – audiences or producers?

Benefits for Audiences

With ‘convergence culture’ audiences benefit because:

• They have a wealth of information available at all times via broadband, wi-fi and multi platform mobile devices such as the iPone and Blackberry.
• Availability of interactive features - Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook, and the 140 character blog Twitter, and internet blogs. Also Skype for long distance phone calls, and email.
• On demand media content means music, feature films, radio and television and all the content of the internet are available on a laptop with wi-fi.
• News comes from newspaper online sites, RSS feeds, blogs, and news organisations website such as BBC News who also supply podcasts
• Missed a television programme – no problem it is available for at least a week on the BBC iplayer, and the other mainstream channels have similar devices
• Convergence means that all digital content can be accessed in one place for the cost of broadband or subscription via Sky or Virgin or on the move via a device such as an iPad or notebook computer.
• Want to show the world your latest video – just upload it to YouTube and it is there for all the world to see
• Trying to break into journalism – think about Citizen Journalism –send your report and pictures of a newsworthy event to a news organisation or dedicated site such as the Huffington post and they are more than likely to publish it – no fee but plenty of kudos. This is a way of democratising the media and making content free from traditional gatekeepers
• Podcasts, forums and blogs allow ordinary people to have an interactive relationship with the media offering more democracy
• New developments include the hybrid television where SNS, emails and the internet are accessible on your TV screen – so watch the world cup, comment to your friends via Twitter and keep an eye on your emails all from the comfort of the armchair – at last accessing the internet becomes a ‘lean back’ activity
• Want up to the minute sports or business news – just pay a few pounds for an ‘app’ for your phone, or another ‘app’ will list all the restaurants in your neighbourhood wherever you are.
• Downsides for audiences are that some of this content that may appear to be free won’t be for much longer – content is costly – see newspapers below and copyright issues to do with music and films have yet to be solved

Benefits for Producers

Media producers benefit because:

• They have more platforms to distribute their products which can be linked to provide a multimedia product line up e.g. a feature film is distributed to cinemas, then very quickly is available for internet streaming and on DVD, then bought by television. A low budget film can be initially published on YouTube, and one producer has published a serialised film just on mobile phones.
• Content - Music, video, data, news, and text are instantly available at all times
• Online shopping is becoming very popular with ebay and other auction sites making the process entertaining as well. one click internet shops such as Amazon and iStore are able to sell media products from centralised warehouses cutting distribution costs
• Online video games and avatar sites are extremely popular, profitable and accessible through gaming units such as Wii
• They are able to market their products to many different audiences using digital methods like viral marketing where word of mouth recommendation becomes text, blog or Facebook recommendation to thousands of viral linked groups rather than one mass audience
• Online advertising is effective although it has not yet replaced print and television advertising. The advantages are online advertising is well focussed using video, banners, pop ups, and other internet advertising devices to carefully selected groups.

The Downsides for Producers of Convergence Culture

• The main problem for producers is how to generate serious money out of digital content. Because of copyright issues, and the sheer cost of running and supporting online content, new media is expensive. Online advertising does not yet produce enough revenue to compensate for the loss of advertising revenue from the print editions of magazines and newspapers, or the sale of CDs and DVDs.

• Copyright problems – it costs over $100,million dollars to make a major block buster film such as the new Ridley Scott Robin Hood – if consumers are downloading the film free via file sharing sites then the film producers will lose a lot of money – digital content is easily copied.

• Copyright theft is a very serious problem for the music industry who has still to recover from the – as they see it – disaster of napster style music sharing. One site Spotify is offering a new legal model to distribute music via a sort of internet radio station where you choose your own songs – even this model has had to start charging new customers.

• Newspapers suffer disproportionately as they are still running with costly and unwieldy ‘old media’ print distribution. There are approximately 55,000 shops and outlets with a delivery of heavy newspapers early every morning.

• As well as keeping their print editions all newspapers have online editions which are costly to set up and support – effectively newspapers are running two separate operations and until now the online sites have had to be free because of the competition.

• From June 2010 Rupert Murdoch has decided that he cannot sustain the losses of £57 million a year from his UK papers, and is putting up a paywall so that online editions of The Times and Sunday Times will cost the same as the print edition - £1 a day.

• In a recent radio discussion on the BBC Media Show newspaper editors admitted that no one knows if there will be print newspapers in 10 years time. Possibly everybody will be reading their newspaper on a Kindle, mobile phone or iPad – maybe!

Further Reading

Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins (New York University Press 2006)
A grade A/B answer to the above question would require:

• a confident and appropriate discussion and evaluation of the question
• reference a wide range of examples
• it needs to provide detailed illustration
• it needs to show comprehensive application of knowledge and understanding of current ideas, debates and information about digital media and its advantages and disadvantages.
• it needs to be an engaged and sophisticated response that is clearly written and well structured, with clear evidence of critical autonomy.
• at the top of this level (grade A), it needs to be an articulate and stimulating response which demonstrates evidence of an independent and informed approach and references a variety of appropriate and relevant media texts.