Revision guide for OCR AS Media Studies -

1. RS
PE
PA
S
EW
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AS Media Studies
Revision Resource
2010
NETHERHALL SCHOOL CAMBRIDGE

2. The Syllabus
Section B: Institutions and Audiences
Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss
the processes of production,
distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to con-
temporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audi-
ence consumption and the relationships between audi-
ences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be
familiar with:
•
the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary
media practice;
•
the importance of cross media convergence and syn-
ergy in production, distribution and marketing;
•
the technologies that have been introduced in recent
years at the levels of production, distribution, market-
ing and exchange;
•
the significance of proliferation in hardware and con- Key elements
tent for institutions and audiences;
•
the importance of technological convergence for insti-
tutions and audiences;
•
the issues raised in the targeting of national and local
audiences (specifically, British) by international or
global institutions;
•
the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of
media consumption illustrate wider patterns and
trends of audience behaviour.
This unit should be approached through contemporary ex-
amples in the form of case studies based upon one of the
specified media areas. Examples may include the follow-
ing:
Newspapers
A study of the contemporary newspaper market in the UK
and the ways in which technology is helping to make
newspapers more efficient and competitive despite dwin-
dling audiences. This should be accompanied by study of a
specific online version of a national/local newspaper and
the issues that are raised for the production, distribution
and consumption of news.
Remember
• Definitions
• Technical terms
• Your personal experience
• New technology

3. Key terms
Convergence Examples of convergence
Hardware and software coming together Newspapers like
across media, and companies coming to- The Guardian and
gether across similar boundaries. to make the BBC. The
the distinction between different types of Guardian published
media and different media industries in- papers (ink-on-
creasingly difficult
dead-tree model)
and was the first
to go online. The
BBc was a
broadcaster with
heavy interest in
Other Key Definitions
ABC = Audit Bureau of Circulation - gathers circulation figures of magazines and newspapers,
primarily for advertisers but also used by students and researchers.
Audience - collective group of people reading or receiving andy media text.
Circulation - the number of copies sold or distributed of a newspaper or magazine.
Reach - the readership of a newspaper or magazine - must be at least as many as the circulation,
and important number for advertisers
Media Studies 2.0/Web 2.0 - the second phase of media/web where the focus has shifted from
the audience receiving information and services to people creating and sharing material.

4. The Newspaper Industry
Represents 75-80%
Increasing use of internet and
of income (not profit)
satellite technology to send news
Direct from laptop to
page - no more phone in
Eco issues
Time consuming = 12 Road to regional warehouse
hour press to table Van to newsagent
Very expensive to build Small boy on bike to customer
and run
Audience needs
•Accurate trustworthy information
•In a form they are happy with - right amount of detail
•Up to the minute not up to date - constant update
•Able to be customised to their needs
•Cheap - remember the web is normally free
•Increasing numbers od Digital Citizens - permanently connected and online
•Multimedia - sound and video
•Blogging/interaction to make the audience feel included
•Age considerations

5. = Audit Bureau of Circulation
Newspaper data
Key statistics
Feb 2009-Feb 2010 relative decline on average is -4.4%
Comparison of 6 months Sept-Feb gives a figure of -4.2%
Total circulation of all daily papers in UK Feb 2010 = 10,172,430 from
10,639,413 a drop of around 400,000 copies per day
The Times - down 16.9% was the worst.
The Star at +2.96 the best

6. Newspaper models
Traditional - Ink-on-dead-trees
Online edition of traditional model - looks very like paper copy

7. •Register online and receive
• an up to the minute email
which links to the website
which itself is continuously
updated.
•the content can be cus-
tomised according to the
individuals wishes
•You can determine at what
time the email is sent
•The BBC have a very simi-
lar service
•Note adverts

8. Online but downloadable Times which is subscription only and produces a “pdf like”
file with embedded video and audio. The big subject for discussion is if other newspa-
pers are giving free access to their websites (applies to BBC also), would anyone pay
around 50p per day (around half the paper cover price) to obtain it on line to use off
line. However this is the only digital newspaper model which can be downloaded and
used off line.
Excerpt from Times article March 2010
Note that there has been much discussion about pricing and charging. It is done for specialist infor-
mation services but not for a mass consumption product like The Times. The owners are trying to
suggest that there will be added features if you subscribe.

9. The Digital Alternatives
Up-to-the-minute, not just up-to-date
ABCe - Audit Bureau of eCirculation measures web traffic
In February 2010, ABCe was launched, and for the first time it is possible to
measure number of visitors to a news site.
Mail Online was the most popular in January, with 2.16 million browsers per day
(compared with 2.1 million circulation of paper copies). Most importantly this is a
13.5% month on month increase, and a 57% year on year increase.
The Guardian, the biggest newspaper website had 1.9 million browsers per day
(far in excess of it’s 284,000 daily circulation). Like the Guardian, the telegraph
posted 1.7 million visitors to it’s site, vs circulation of 685.000/day. The Sun on-
line came in 4th at 1.3 million is the only major where paper circulation, at 2.9
million, greatly exceeds the web visitors.
The major increase in web activity was driven by many late breaking stories, in-
cluding iPad launch, the John Terry affair, Jonathan Ross’ departure from the
BBC and Tony Blair at the Chilcott enquiry. This reinforces the point that the
audience want up-to-the-minute news, not up-to-date news.
BBC On line
The BBC has one of the biggest and wide ranging websites, and has its own
news gathering organisation, including BBC News24, Radio and network news.
It therefore generates audio, video and written news material, which it distributes
via broadcasting, it’s main core business, and increasingly vis the net. This is a
great example of convergence. When EYJAFLALLAJOKULL the Icelandic vol-
cano blew in April, it generated 5.5 million online viewers in one day - audiences
wanting specific authoritative up-to-the-moment information. The appeal of the
BBC is the ability to embed audio and video footage and link to other background
information. The BBC have also encouraged feedback from visitors.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 refers the the second generation of the web when it has become 2-
way. The web is no longer a method of receiving information, as in a website.
Increasingly the web is interactive, with the audience using the web to commu-
nicate, and to contribute. This includes the way that we are permanently con-
nected via our smart phones, the social networking sites like Facebook, and
the ease with which we can blog etc.. As the audiences get to expect interactiv-
ity, the traditional newspaper becomes more outdated and potentially doomed.

10. Advertising
=75-80% of newspaper revenue NOT profit)
Monthly readership
Weekly readership
Daily readership
Different newspapers attract different
age groups and social classes

11. Up to the recession, advertising
spend in newspapers was fairly
constant.
Cost of big advertising campaign
Opportunities to see

12. News Agencies
News Agencies collect news and informa-
tion and supply them to newspapers.
Reuters is the best known and probably the
biggest. It has an excellent reputation, and
was the first agency to report the recent
plane crash when the president of Poland
was killed.

13. Famous Quotes
Lord Leverhulme, founder of Unilever, consumer
conglomerate
“I know half the money I spend on advertising is
wasted, The trouble is I don’t know which half”
Chief Exec of Manchester Media - previously Manchester Evening News
“I know that MM will be here and in the information business in 10 years
time. I just don’t know what it will look like as a business”
Rupert Murdoch Chairman of
News International, owner of
among others, The Sun, The
News Of the World, The Times,
The Wall Street Journal.
“The world is changing and
newspapers have to adapt”
Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of
WPP, the largest media communica-
tions (advertising and PR) company
in the world.
“I don’t think newspapers will die”
Roy Greenslade, writer, Irish Times
“These professional news “hubs” will work in
concert with, for want of a better term, amateur
journalists. Call it participation or collaboration
or, to borrow a term coined by Alan Rusbridger,
the editor of the Guardian , mutualisation. It is
how news gathering is already developing and,
in 10 years that will have become the norm.”

14. The Exam
Examination lasts 2 hours
INCLUDING 30 minutes
viewing time. Therefore
each written question has a
time allocation of 45 min-
utes, and are worth 50
marks each
Remember the question will be very general as it must be able to be answered with
reference to any of the above case studies.
It will involve the relationship between Audiences and Institutions. Do not be
tempted to answer the question from another topic. You may however, for exam-
ple, refer to the radio as a news source in competition with the newspapers.

15. The Mark Scheme
Note the details below
Explanation/Analysis = 20 marks
Use of Examples = 20 marks
Use of Terminology = 10 marks
You must use detailed examples from Newspapers
Note - although no actual marks allo-
cated, the examiner is looking for a
well written answer with good English
to charaterise the different levels

16. Planning your answer
Develop your own planning techniques
An obvious options are to use a mind map. Place the key words
from the question in the middle and label the key elements of the
answer (from the mark scheme) at main branches.
If you prefer to work in a linear fashion, use bullet points, perhaps
under different headings.
The Opening Paragraph
Students often find the opening paragraph the most difficult. Advice
includes reword the question and include a definition. In this question
it may be possible to pre-plan an opening paragraph. The following
might be used for the above question.
The relationship between audiences who consume media output and
the institutions who create the output has never been as complex as it
is today. As new technologies enable the audiences to access media
output in ever more ways. Technological convergence - the term used
to describe how technologies are becoming ever closer and are com-
bining in new and ever more complex ways, is a driving force behind
the changes. I will explore this issue with reference to the newspaper
industry.