UNIT 3 Section B Questions

A big part of your revision will be going back over your Case Studies for New/Digital Media and Representation.

Make sure you refine your research - adding to it over the final few weeks with up-to-the-minute info from sources like MediaGuardian, and new articles that will be posted up here.

Also, use the following advice/suggestions so you know precisely what kind of information you need to have researched (you should try to combine several of the topics listed to make sure you've covered a wide enough range)...

Impact of New Media Case Study Prompts

This is also a really helpful summary of some key ideas...

New & Digital Media Theories & Concepts

You should be able to answer all the typical questions for Section B in the exam...

New/Digital Media

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

• “Media institutions are right to feel threatened by new/digital media.” Consider this statement and show how media institutions are reacting to technological developments.

• The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

• “The new generation of UK media power players are going stratight to their audience via the web” www.mediaguardian.co.uk Monday July 14 2008. How have media institutions responded to the opportunities offered by new/digital media?

• Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?

• Why and with what success are traditional media institutions adapting to the challenge posed by new/digital media?

• The world first heard about the death of Michael Jackson from the online gossip website TMZ. How has new/digital media changed the ways in which information reaches audiences and what are the implications?

• ‘New and digital media erodes the dividing line between reporters and reported, between active producers and passive audiences: people are enabled to speak for themselves.’ (www.indymedia.org.uk) Have such developments made the media more democratic, with more equal participation by more people?

• New and digital media offers media institutions different ways of reaching audiences. Consider how and why media institutions are using these techniques. 

• ‘To connect, to create, to share creativity or thought, to discuss, to collaborate, to form groups or to combine with others in mutual interests or passions.  If you can’t see the point of any of those things, you will not see the point of Facebook.’ (www.guardian.co.uk) What opportunities and/or disadvantages do new and digital media have for audiences?

• Although new and digital media may promise audiences more freedom, it does not necessarily give them more power. Discuss.

• New and digital media is creating one global culture. Do you think that this is true?

• The only way to survive in the digital world is to keep innovating. Do you agree?

• Most of the traditional media’s attempts to compete with new and digital media have been too little and too late. Does your case study support this view?

Representation

• Critics have accused the mainstream media of tokenism and stereotyping by creating extreme and exaggerated representations. To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied?

• Media representations rarely challenge the dominant values of society nor do they give a voice to those with little power. To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied? Why?

• It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.

• Media representations favour those with power at the expense of those without. To what extent do you think this statement is true?

• 1Xtra, MTV Base and Zee TV are all hugely popular. But whenever I watch these channels, all I see is a ghetto… Nobody wants to be in the ghetto, OK? We all want to live in the mainstream.” (Lenny Henry in a speech to the Royal Television Society, Guardian News and Media Ltd, 2008)

• Why would the group or place you have studied want to be represented in the mainstream media?

• A dominant representation is one which is repeated across the media over time and so are the values that it carries. Discuss.

•  ‘Constant media stories about gang crime create a depressing and unbalanced picture of  black youngsters.’  (www.guardian.co.uk) Using the group or place you have studied, consider whether media portrayals are more complex than simple positive or negative representations.

• How does the representation of the group or place you have studied differ across different media platforms or genres?  Why do you think this is the case? 

• A negative representation is better than no representation at all. Discuss this statement with reference to the group or place you have studied.

• Part of stereotyping is the attitude that all members of a particular group are the same, or else fall into a very small number of types. How and why is the group or place you have studied stereotyped? 

• Audiences are now too sophisticated to be taken in by negative and stereotypical representations. Do you agree?

• How are stereotypes used by media producers and why are they so popular?

• How and why do alternative representations of the group or place you have studied challenge mainstream values and ideology?

• There are a wide range of representations in the media and audiences are free to choose how they interpret them. Do you agree?

You should have detailed plans for each of these essays and have practised as many as possible under timed conditions (ONE HOUR for each).

Remember, the examiner is looking for the following:

• A sophisticated and detailed evaluation, showing very good critical autonomy.
• Sophisticated and detailed application of a wide range of wider contexts.
• Supports answer with a wide range of examples from other media.
• Articulate and engaged.