13D: Christmas homework

Well done on a great term - some fantastic discussions and real progress made with some challenging concepts.

As discussed in the lesson, your homework over Christmas is as follows:

1) Revise everything we've learned this term on New and Digital Media for your MEST3 Section B assessment on Friday 9 January.

Use the lesson PowerPoints to help you revise, by going through each slide/linked article and making summary notes/mindmaps then testing yourself...

• New Digital Media Lessons Y13

The News Case Study: Murdoch/NewsCorp, UGC, gatekeepers, news agendas, Galtung & Ruge, Marxism/pluralism, democratisation, globalisation, conglomerates...

• Introduction to New & Digital Media Y12

Some key quotes/ideas (Briggs/Burke, Castells, Gutenberg/Internet Revolution, Keen, Pareto's Law...)

2) Update your NDM story index up to 26 stories - the number you should have by the end of the Christmas break. If you are missing any, go back and get more stories until you have 26 fully read, linked and discussed (remember: title, link, image, stats, summary, opinion). If you can't find them, scroll back through our Twitter feed - there are plenty there.

3) Write a quick 20 minute blogpost summarising your notes from the Media Magazine conference this week. Quotes such as Jon Snow's "golden age for journalism" will be invaluable when it comes to the exam.

Due: Wednesday 7 January

13D: News on the Tweet

News on the Tweet is a report from Newsworks (a marketing organisation representing newspapers) and Twitter designed to show the positive impact new and digital media can have on traditional media.

Read the report and answer the questions on your blog. Include the News on the Tweet infographic above in your blogpost.

1. Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?
2. Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?
3. The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?
4. On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to gossip or banter. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 
5. Do you think the increasing amount of gossip or banter is harming the reputation of news and journalists?
6. What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?
7. Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?

Finish for homework if you don't get it finished in the lesson - due in the first week back.

Media Magazine conference - trip briefing

The Media Magazine Student Conference is on Tuesday 16 December with a superb line-up including Jon Snow and Owen Jones.

You should have received a trip briefing sheet with map and timings but it's here if you need an electronic copy.

Remember, we are meeting at 9.30am and the conference has emailed us to say that Jon Snow will be on early due to a meeting he must attend later.

See you at Russell Square station (on the street outside the entrance) at 9.30am!

Critical Investigation Task #6

Critical Investigation - First Draft

The following needs to be completed by...

• Monday 5 January 2015 (13D)
• Friday 9 January 2015 (13E)

• Complete the first draft of your Critical Investigation.


• It must be a word processed 2,000 word essay (PLUS quotes - with a precise word count included at the end).


• Also, include correctly set out references, quotes and footnotes. Footnotes should take the following form - Author Surname, Author First Name Initial (Year of Publication), Page Number(s). e.g...Lacey, N. (2009). p. 122. They should not appear all together at the end of the essay but at the foot of the page where they appear.


• Where the next reference is from the same text and the same page use ibid. (in italics). This means 'in the same place' in Latin. If it's from the same text but a different page you include the new page reference too. e.g. ibid. p23.


• A full bibliography must be submitted at the end of the essay (this is NOT included in your word count). (See Critical Investigation Task #2 for help with this). Books should be listed in alphabetical order, by author's surname. If you're using the referencing system in Microsoft Word then all this will be done for you. Alternatively, you can use BibMe to help you do this correctly, using the APA format for books. e.g. Lacey, N. (2009). Image and Representation (2nd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Here's a good example of a bibliography.


• Two copies are necessary. Hand in a hard copy (on paper) on the deadline day, and this needs to have one and a half line spacing. Also paste it up (with footnotes and biblography) on your blog.

If you're in any doubt about what this all should look like then please check out some of the finished grade 'A' and 'B' essays from: (2014), (2013), (2012), (2011), (2010).

They will be helpful when thinking about how to write your essay (what to include in the introduction and conclusion, how to structure the work, how to set out quotes, the correct tone, and how much research to include - they each contain between 20 and 40 footnotes - you should aim for at least 30.)

But please ensure that all writing is done in your own words. Plagiarism is a very serious business and anyone found simply copying from other sources (either students or books/websites) will be in serious trouble. And you will be found out if you do! We're not stupid - we know how you write, and we know very well what was in the previous studies (and there are numerous online checkers, or simply Google, that we can feed your work into to see if it has been plagiarised). Students guilty of plagiarism will be placed before the Greenford Plagiarism Panel made up of three senior teachers in the school - and students may be asked to leave the school.

This is the big one so no excuses and good luck!

Critical Investigation Task #5

Up-to-the-minute additional web research


Although books carry more authority, the internet is an excellent resource and you should be searching regularly to identify additional ideas and references related to your Critical Investigation.

In particular, you will find up-to-the-minute, current information and opinion about your topic and this always scores highly with the examiners so it's important to continue online research all the way through until you hand in your final essay. Remember, one of the key media debates that should look to cover - New Media and Digital Technology - is constantly changing and you're already finding stories for that topic weekly for the exam too!

Remember, key places to keep track of this are...

• A Level Media Studies subscription sites - we have paid for you to have free access to Media Magazine (our online pdf archive is here), and MediaEdu (spend time, in particular, looking at the theory, new media and key concepts resources)...both are excellent and contain information pitched for Media students and teachers. Log in details are here.
• broadsheet newspaper sites, especially MediaGuardian (it's essential you get into the habit of reading this every week, preferably on a Monday), and the Independent Media;
• media education sites - the biggest and best is MCS; but there's also Media Literacy, Film Education, Screen Online...
• film review sites like IMDb (use the 'external reviews' link on the sidebar whenever you're on a chosen film) and Rotten Tomatoes;
• film magazines online like Sight & Sound, GuardianFilm, Empire, and Senses of Cinema;
• Wikipedia, naturally: a useful starting point for any web search, but make sure you avoid referencing this directly...it makes you look like a beginner. Provides, however, a good overview and, essentially, a list of 'References' and 'External Links' at the end of each entry;
• the best student essays from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, from 2011, from 2010, from 2009 and from 2008: in particular, look at their quotes (usually highlighted by a footnote number) and bibliographies (at the end of each essay) as they will have often identified some of the best quotes for your topic. But, as ever, be wary of the temptation to plagiarise - you should only 'borrow' a key quote from another person's essay if it's completely relevant and fully referenced! Remember: it is incredibly easy to tell when an essay takes a sentence or paragraph from another writer.

Over the holiday and into January, continue with your internet research, using the Google Search Tips you've been shown and all the fantastic online resources outlined above.

Task: Post up AT LEAST 20 additional quotes, with full article titles (and hyperlinked web addresses) added to your bibliography along a brief explanation about which section of your essay plan it could fit into. Due: January.

13D: Globalisation

There is an excellent article on Globalisation in issue 47 of Media Magazine (MM47). Complete the following tasks on your blog:

Go to our Media Magazine archive and open up MM47. Scroll to page 31 and read 'Google Glass: A Case Study in Globalisation'

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Summarise the article in 50 words.

2) What are the positive effects of globalisation outlined in the article?

3) What are the negative effects of globalisation outlined in the article?

4) Write a definition of 'Moral panic' and 'Techo-panic'

5) What are the concerns regarding technology and data/privacy?

6) What is your own opinion on globalisation? Should we be worried about fundamental changes to our society or should we embrace the 'global village' that theorists such as McLuhan talk of?

New Media Magazine issue available

The new issue of Media Magazine (MM50 - December 2014) has just come out. It contains articles on science fiction, case studies on Lionsgate (Hunger Games film studio) and the BBC and an article called The Female Gaze - rethinking representation. There's plenty that will inform your case studies, critical investigations and exam preparation.

As ever, it is in our online Media Magazine archive and the contents for the new issue are updated in our Word document tracking all the articles in the last 20 issues.

Make use of it!

13D: Globalisation and new/digital media

Today's topic is Globalisation - the handout is here if you need an electronic copy.

Having discussed these in class, you now need to answer the following questions on your blog:

1) Is our news influenced by American cultural imperialism? What examples can you think of?

2) Has the increased globalisation of news improved the audience experience? How? Why?

3) Has globalisation benefited or damaged major news institutions? How? Why?

Complete for homework if you don't get it finished in the lesson - due next week.

13D Cover Work/Homework: Fri. 5/12/14, p6

Remember the basic rules first:

• Arrive on time - make sure you register with the cover teacher/Mr Halsey;
• Stay in the classroom until the end of the lesson;
• Work responsibly on the tasks set.

Make sure you've already completed the following (the deadline was today)...

• Critical Investigation Task #1
• Critical Investigation Task #2

Then, please start working on the next two tasks that are due on Friday 12/12, p5...

• Critical Investigation Task #3
• Critical Investigation Task #4

I'll be checking your progress in tutorials on Monday so please post up everything you've completed by then.

13D: Marxism and Pluralism

A reminder of the question we've been looking at in lesson:

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.

We need to make sure we can write well developed paragraphs answering the question we are given. Remember what we said made for a good paragraph:

• Focus on the question
• Application of theories, issues/debates, wider contexts
• Detailed evidence; range of examples
• Well structured; clearly expressed

For the Marxist perspective, we looked at the following exemplar paragraph:

A Marxist perspective would argue that the so-called “information revolution” has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed, it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the ‘Mail Online’, which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly – with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a Conservative, right-wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist, Gramsci, called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir, wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but, ultimately, they did not change the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.

This includes plenty of excellent points, quotes, examples and uses of media language that help raise this to Level 4:

• Marxist perspective 
• “information revolution” 
• “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) 
• promoting dominant ideologies
• ‘Mail Online’, 8 million hits/month 
• £100 million in the next three years
• Conservative, right-wing 
• Gramsci, hegemonic view
• Jan Moir, homophobic - death of Stephen Gately, 2009
• gatekeepers

You now need to write a similar paragraph using the Pluralist perspective. 

The key aspects of Pluralism we discussed in lesson included:

• Pluralist perspective
• audiences: “conform, accommodate or reject” (Gurevitch)
• uses and gratifications theory
• Castells “culture of freedom” 
• “The Great Leveller”; “Paradigm shift” (Krotoski)
• Ferguson protests (tweets/hashtag); Tomlinson case (G20)
• Arab Spring, protests
• UGC, citizen journalism, blogs
• democratization
• “mutualisation of news” (Rushbridger, The Guardian)

Next lesson, we'll go back to the original question and develop a complete essay plan using everything we've learned in the unit so far. 

For now, make sure you write the paragraph on Pluralism by Friday.