AS Media Terminology

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Agenda setting
The importance ascribed to news stories by news media. Those deemed most important will take prominence in coverage.
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Anchorage
The text (copy) that fixes (anchors) an image and its meaning
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Antagonist
In a plot, the character whose function is to disrupt the protagonist – often, but not always, a villain.
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Archetype
A universal type of character found in various media texts, eg anti-hero, hero.
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Audience positioning
Each media text that is constructed to position its intended audience in a particular place and to respond in a certain way to it.
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Audience surrogate
A character in a text that stands in for the audience. They may think and act as the audience might in the same situation.
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BARB
Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board – the organisation that measures and collects television viewing data in the UK.
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BBFC
British Board of Film Classification – responsible for deciding the age classification and censorship of all films and video content released in the UK.
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Billing block
The block of text on a poster that contains the industry information, including actors, directors, producers, crew and production and distribution companies.
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Call to action
An instruction aimed at the audience with the hope to provoke an immediate response – can take the form of ‘subscribe now’, for example. Often used in advertising and marketin
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Censorship
The controls and regulations that exist about media content. Censorship powers can be held by governments or regulatory bodies.
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CGI
Computer-generated imagery is the application of computer graphics to printed or moving image media. The term CGI commonly refers to 3D computer graphics used for special effects in film sequences.
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Circular narrative
Where the narrative starts at the end and then explores the action up to that point. Circular narratives are often only understood clearly by the audience at the end of a film.
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Circulation
The number of copies of a media product that are distributed, this includes subscriptions. Circulation audits are provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC).
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Closed narrative
A story where the main threads of the narrative are neatly resolve
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Concentration of ownership
Refers to the number of organisations or individuals who control ownership of the media. Fewer stakeholders holding increasing shares.
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Conglomerate
A media conglomerate is a large corporation that owns a large number of media companies, such as television, radio, internet, publishing – giving the conglomerate control in the market
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Convergence
The coming together of technologies and institutions to create a new product or media experience. This is often facilitated by digital technologies ie smartphones bring together the facility to performs different functions such as internet browsing,
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Countertype
A positive stereotype that reinforces the positive qualities of a person/type of person
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Demographic profiling
A way of categorising audiences by dividing consumers into groups based on age, sex, income, education, occupation, household size, marital status, home ownership or other features. It is used to help advertisers determine their target audience for p
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Desensitisation
A psychological process which suggests that audiences who are regularly exposed to acts of violence through tv programmes, films and video games etc, are increasingly less likely to feel empathy or concern when exposed to violence, bad language or ot
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Dominant hegemonic position
The position that the media encoder encourages the decoder to adopt when interpreting a text. If they adopt the dominant hegemonic position they read or interpret the message in the way that the encoder intended, thus making a preferred reading.
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Enigma
A question that is not immediately answered which draws the audience into a text.
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Equilibrium/disequilibrium
Refers to balance, stability or order for a text or the tensions in the narrative. In Todorov’s theory it refers to the status quo or normal state of affairs (equilibrium) which give way to unpredictability (disequilibrium) and then a restoration of
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Hegemony
The leadership or dominance in the media of a particular social group. In the UK, there is a distinct lack of working class people working in the media. The middle classes dominate.
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Guerilla marketing
Low-cost and unconventional marketing methods with a clear focus on grabbing the audience’s attention.
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House style
The overall design style of a newspaper, website or magazine. This might include font, colour scheme and layout. The house style sets a product apart from its competition and makes it easily recognisable to its audience.
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Hybrid
A type of media created through convergence resulting in a new form consisting of different media combined. Can also be used as a way of describing a media product that is a combination of different genres and styles.
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Hypodermic syringe model
The hypodermic syringe or needle model is an outdated effects theory that suggests a mass audience behaves in the same way in response to a media product. The assumption is that the media injects ideas into the minds of the supposed passive audience
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Ideology
A system of beliefs which determines how power relations are organised within a society.
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Ident
Short for identifier – can be a short visual image shown on the screen in between television programmes, signaling the channel that is being watched, or an audio ‘call sign’ to identify a particular radio station/programme.
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Interpellation
The process by which a media product draws an audience in to make an announcement about something/someone.
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Intertextuality
Often media texts make references to other texts and popular culture to interest and engage the audience.
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Linear narrative
A plot that moves forward in a straight line and logical fashion and does not use flashbacks or flashforwards.
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Mediation
Mediation is when the media takes a person or event and changes or interprets in a particular way to create a media text.
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Myth
A socially or historically determined idea which has become accepted truth.
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OFCOM
The Office of Communications is a government-approved regulatory body that is responsible for ensuring that the communication and broadcasting industries in the UK operate fairly and competitively. It also protects the public from inappropriate or of
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Orders of signification
Roland Barthes ideas of two orders of signification being denotation and connotation.
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Paradigm
From Hall’s encoding/decoding model. When making an oppositional reading the consumer of a media product will disagree with the message in the product.
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Patriarchy
A society within which men hold the power and women are excluded.
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Polysemic
A sign that has more than one meaning.
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Signposting
The technique of establishing what the location of a scene is from the beginning. For example, a hospital drama might be signposted by audio of medical equipment or ambulance sirens.
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Simulation
The imitation or reenactment of a situation or process.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

The text (copy) that fixes (anchors) an image and its meaning

Back

Anchorage

Card 3

Front

In a plot, the character whose function is to disrupt the protagonist – often, but not always, a villain.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

A universal type of character found in various media texts, eg anti-hero, hero.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Each media text that is constructed to position its intended audience in a particular place and to respond in a certain way to it.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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