NDM: MEST3 bonus revision materials

You should now be getting into some serious revision for your upcoming MEST3 exam. 

Your knowledge of wider media issues and debates will be a key factor in your final mark so you need to reading up on everything in the contemporary media landscape. Use our Twitter account for up-to-the-minute story links as normal but also have a look at the brilliant revision material below...

How Social Media Can Make History - Clay Shirky TED talk



Dan Gillmor: The Future of Journalism




Mass Amateurisation

This Wikipedia entry on Mass Amateurisation (another term for discussing how digital media has empowered audiences) is a great revision tool.


Media Magazine

We have a great list of Media Magazine articles that will give you the variety of perspectives that A grade students offer. Our Media Magazine archive is here - look at the below articles on new/digital media, news, democracy and more topics and examples that link to our studies this year. Read anything and everything you can!

MM34
Have Your Say: How is Internet Commenting Changing the News Media?

MM35
Pain, Privacy and the Press Pack: the Ethics of News Media Culture

MM36
Comments Please: Who comments on news sites, why, and in whose interests?

Tweeting Together: Nick Lacey evaluates the role of social networks in activism and protest against the status quo.

MM39
Participation Debates: The Media And Democracy

Social Networking and Citizen Journalism: Participating in The Arab Spring

Hashtag TV: Twitter and television

Reporting From The Graveyard Shift: BBC News and the death of Osama Bin Laden

Web 2.0: Participation or Hegemony

MM42
Got Issues with That? How do some events, ideas or behaviours come to be regarded as social issues, or indeed as social problems?

Kony 2012 – Power, Politics and the #Generation

Black Mirror – The Reflection in the Screen Charlie Brooker’s larger-than life satire dramatises some of the recurrent debates about 21st-century media culture in an online age: celebrity, surveillance, privacy, regulation and the dangers and democratic potential of technology.

MM43
The Rise and Rise of the Independent Journalist

MM47
Representations of War in TV News: a Representational Case Study

MM51
Your Country Needs You! What role did the media play in the battle for hearts and minds in perhaps the most important vote in a generation – last September’s Scottish independence referendum?

Westgate – One Year On. How is a world news story configured differently in different places? Expat Maggie Miranda compares her personal experience with local and international news coverage of a terrorist attack that shook the world. 

MM52
A MediaMag Interview With Owen Jones. The Guardian columnist and left-wing activist explains his passion for politics, why he got involved in the media, and how he communicates complicated ideas to a mass audience.

Somebody’s Watching You... Social Media And Surveillance. Facebook surveillance, privacy settings, data mining, and mobile monitoring. Nick Lacey issues a thought-provoking warning.

MM53
The Art of Protest: Pussy Riot What happens when radical politics meets the capitalist establishment? Mark Ramey reflects on the story of the punkprotest group Pussy Riot and its implications for democracy.

The Press and the Prime Minister: Was It the Spindoctors Wot Won It? What can we learn about the media and democracy from the experience of the 2015 General Election? Nick Lacey evaluates the role of the national press in determining the majority outcome of the 2015 General Election.

MM55
What Has the Internet Ever Done for Me? Bill Thompson, journalist, technology guru, and BBC Click contributor summarises his thought-provoking keynote presentation to the 2015 Media Magazine Student Conference.

Media, Publics, Protest and Power. Natalie Fenton, Professor at Goldsmiths College, University of London, considers what the internet has done for the news media, freedom of information, and democracy. 

Additional perspectives on the impact of new/digital media

YouTube contains some great video content that highlights the impact that new/digital media can have on globalisation, citizen journalism and the news agenda. Here are a few examples just to get you started...

AJ+ YouTube channel
AJ+ describes itself as "a global news community for the connected generation. We highlight human struggles and achievements, empower impassioned voices, and challenge the status quo. AJ+ doesn't just tell you the news, we want to hear from you!"




You should also be looking at other YouTube-based news channels such as Vice News and more. Here's a fascinating (if shocking) example of a Vice News video on ISIS:



Good luck with your revision - remember, be knowledgeable, be original and show the examiner you are truly a student of the media!

Visiting speaker: Journalism professor

We are very lucky to have a Dr Sumaya Alnahed, a lecturer in journalism at the University of West London, visiting us to give a lecture on the impact of new and digital media on the news industry. 

The talk will take place on Wednesday in the Lecture Theatre during periods 3&4.

The impact of new and digital media on news is the Year 13 exam topic so this is essential viewing for all A Level Media students.

The talk will focus mainly on the changing nature of news as a result of new technology and social media. Dr Alnahed is the course leader for the BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism degree at UWL and her doctoral research compared the news agendas of Al Jazeera and the BBC. Some of her other research interests include the influence of geopolitics on news production, the political economy of news media and Arab media.

This is a brilliant opportunity to hear a university-level lecture just weeks before your final exams. It is open to all A Level students so do encourage Economics, Politics and Business students who are free to join us in the Lecture Theatre.

Make sure you are there!

Coursework deadline: Friday 15 April

Your A Level Media coursework deadline is Friday 15 April.

You need to submit the following before you leave:

• A completed candidate record form to send to the exam board
• A printed copy of your Critical Investigation, fully referenced with footnotes and including a complete bibliography. It must be 1.5 line spaced with your name in the header.
• An electronic copy of your Critical Investigation submitted to Mr Qureshi as a Word document.
• A further electronic copy of your Critical Investigation posted to your blog.
• An exported video file of your Linked Production submitted to Mr Qureshi electronically

You will have any Media lesson time on Friday to submit this work or can attend Media at lunchtime, after school or during free periods.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT miss lessons in any other subject in order to work in Media. This will never be requested or sanctioned by the Media department.

Good luck - there is an impressive standard across both classes already and this could be the best set of grades yet!