A level Media Exam Blog

  11/02/2025 Daily mail:   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14383795/Hamas-Donald-Trump-hostages.html This discusses the high-stakes situation involving hostages held by Hamas and Trump's firm stance against the group. Trump's comment could be seen as part of a broader effort to apply pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.  The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/10/elon-musk-open-ai-bid Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, led a group of investors in February 2025 to make a surprise bid of $97.4 billion for OpenAI's non-profit arm. The group aimed to stop OpenAI's shift towards becoming a for-profit entity, which Musk and others feared would compromise its original mission. However, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, rejected the offer, asserting that the company is not for sale. In response, Altman also suggested buying Twitter for $9.74 billion. 25/02/2025 Daily mail:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/football/video-3381567/Video-Messi-grabs...

Part 1: Clay Shirky lecture Go to the Nieman Lab webpage (part of Harvard university) and watch the video of Clay Shirky presenting to Harvard students. The video is also available on YouTube below but the Nieman Lab website has a written transcript of everything Shirky says.   1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this? Clay Shirky argues that accountability journalism is vital because it holds power to account, ensuring that institutions, governments, and corporations are transparent and act in the public interest. He believes that this kind of journalism is essential for the functioning of a healthy democracy. As an example, he refers to the role of the press in the Watergate scandal, where investigative journalists uncovered a major political scandal that had widespread consequences. This shows the importance of journalism in maintaining accountability, especially when institutions may otherwise hide...

Read Media Factsheet 76: News Values and complete the following questions/tasks.  Our Media Factsheet archive is available here - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Conflict – Stories involving tension, controversy, or surprise. Progress – Triumph, achievement, or positive developments. Disaster – Events involving destruction or defeat. Consequence – The impact or effects a story has on individuals or communities. Prominence – The involvement of well-known or famous people or entities. Novelty – The unusual, rare, or emotionally compelling story. 1) What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage? Time Span: The event should best fit the time schedule of the news medium, for example a newspaper may be published daily so stories that are over quickly can still be published. Intensity or Threshold Value: The story may have a greater ma...

 Part 1: Ofcom report into news consumption Read this Ofcom report on the consumption of news in the UK and answer the following questions (bullet points/short answers are fine): 1) Look at the headlines from the report on page 6. Pick three that you think are interesting and bullet point them here. Why did you pick those three in particular?   TikTok’s reach for news has increased from 2020 (1%) to 2022 (7%). Half of its user base (for news) are aged 16- 24. Different age groups consume news very differently; younger age groups are much more likely to use the internet and social media for news, whereas their older counterparts favour print, radio and TV. Social media is overtaking traditional channels for news among teens. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are now their top three most used sources for news. Meanwhile many sources have seen decreases since 2021, with reach of BBC One/Two decreasing to 24% in 2022 (down from 35% in 2021). They are very true and most ones I ag...

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to). WWW: Q3 is strong and you make good points elsewhere too.  EBI: revise TV regulation industries and magazine Csps.  2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A Level Media in this paper? If not, how many additional marks do you need to achieve your target grade in Paper 2? 16 marks  Now read through the real AQA mark scheme for Paper 2.  3) Write a question-by-question analysis of your performance. For each question, write how many marks you got from the number available and identify any points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme: Question 1:  the construction of masculinity can be read as paradoxical, with aspects of vulnerability (the pleading look, body language, nakedness) combined with traditional strength the minimal style of the cover – in contrast to other magazines – places it as an alternat...

1) Type up any feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to). WWW: Rubana, Fairly strong response for the stereotypes of youth Q on Ghost Town CSP Q. Your Q7 response is clear and approaches the focus of the Q well.  EBI: Ensure you link genre to your analysis of the unseen Q1. Your approach to Q4 (Hall's) Theory Q - does not fully address the Q. Revise textual Poaching.  Now read through the genuine AQA mark scheme. This is vital as the paper was an official exam paper and therefore the mark scheme tells us a lot about what AQA are expecting us to produce. 2) Write a question-by-question analysis of your performance. For each question, write how many marks you got from the number available and identify any points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme: Additional points: didn't mention enough about genre theory e.g. Neale repetition and difference. Could have added more about use of Daniel Craig (st...