Key media concepts

Key media concepts 

The AS & A Level Media Studies course is developed around the four key concepts of Language, Representation, Industry, and Audience.

Language

 How the media communicate meanings through the use of forms, codes, conventions and techniques, including: 

• the codes and conventions of media forms and products, including the processes through which media language develops as the genre 

• the significance of challenging and/or subverting conventions 

• the ways in which media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies 

• how audiences respond to and interpret media language 

• the impact of developing technologies on media language 

• how combinations of media language generate meaning 

• the dynamic and historically relative nature of the genre.

Representation

 How the media construct the social world, the portrayal of ideas, individuals, and groups, including: 

• the ways in which events, issues, individuals, and social groups are represented through processes of selection and combination 

• the ways in which, through representation, versions of reality are mediated 

• the processes which lead media producers to make choices about how to represent events, issues, individuals, and social groups 

• the effect of social and cultural context on representations 

• how and why particular social groups, in a national and global context, may be under-represented or misrepresented 

• how representations convey values, attitudes, and beliefs about the world and how these may be systematically reinforced across a wide range of media 

• how audiences respond to and interpret representations in the media 

• the effect of historical context on representations 

• how representations may invoke discourses and ideologies, and position audiences 

• how interpretations of representations reflect social, cultural, and historical circumstances.

Industry

How and why media texts are produced, distributed, and consumed, including: 

• how processes of production, distribution, and consumption shape media products 

• processes of production, distribution, and consumption by organizations, groups, and individuals in a global context 

• the specialized and institutionalized nature of media production, distribution, and consumption 

• the relationship between technological change and media production, distribution, and consumption 

• the significance of patterns of ownership and control, including conglomerate ownership, vertical integration, and diversification 

• the significance of economic factors, including commercial and not-for-profit public funding, to media industries and their products 

• how media organizations maintain varieties of audiences locally, nationally, and globally, including marketing 

• the regulatory framework of contemporary media and the impact of technological change on media regulation 

• the impact of convergent media platforms on media production, distribution, and consumption.

Audience 

How audiences are constructed and addressed by media texts and how audiences interpret and respond to media texts, including:

• how audiences are grouped and categorized by media industries, including by age, gender, and social class, as well as by lifestyle and taste 

• how media producers target, attract, reach, address and construct audiences 

• how media industries target audiences through the content and appeal of media products and through the ways in which they are marketed, distributed, and consumed 

• the interrelationship between media technologies and patterns of consumption and response 

• how audiences interpret the media, including how they may interpret the same texts in different ways, using a variety of theories or ideologies 

• how audiences interact with the media and can be actively involved in media production 

• how specialized audiences can be reached, on a local, national and global scale, through different media technologies and platforms 

• how media organizations reflect the different needs of mass and specialized audiences, including through targeting 

• how audiences use media in different ways, reflecting demographic factors as well as aspects of identity and culture 

• the role and significance of specialized audiences, including niche and fan, to the media