Newspapers: Daily Mail & Mail Online CSP

The Daily Mail (and its website Mail Online) is our first newspaper CSP and represents a hugely influential voice in British media.

We need to study the newspaper and website from the perspective of audience and industries, linking what we've already learned about the newspaper industry and journalism.

Notes from the lesson

The Daily Mail is a ‘black top’ or mid-market tabloid newspaper. It is the second most popular daily national newspaper after the Sun.

The Daily Mail was most successful in the early 2000s with more than 2m copies sold daily. It is now down to around 1.2m but still influential.

The paper offers a mix of hard and soft news. It is socially, economically and politically conservative and backs the Conservative Party in politics.

The Daily Mail: ownership and editorial

The Daily Mail is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). Its chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, whose great-grandfather was a co-founder of the newspaper. 

From 1992 until Autumn 2018, the editor was Paul Dacre – a hugely controversial and influential voice in the UK newspaper industry. The editor is now Ted Verity who moved over from the Mail on Sunday. 

The Daily Mail: influence and accuracy
Even with falling circulation, the front cover of the Daily Mail can set the news agenda and dictate what broadcast media lead on – such as the influential BBC Radio 4 Today programme or Newsnight on BBC2. This is why newspapers are still seen as having a disproportionate influence despite falling sales.

In February 2017, the Daily Mail was labelled ‘generally unreliable’ by Wikipedia editors, discouraging people from using the Mail as a source. The Daily Mail responded by saying it had only been adjudicated ‘inaccurate’ twice by IPSO – but as we know from our newspaper regulations lessons: how effective is IPSO?

Audience 

The Daily Mail readership key details:

• Average age of 58
• Almost half of its readers are over 65 and only 14% of the paper’s readers are under 34 
• The Daily Mail is the only newspaper to have more female readers than male (52% - 48%)
• Two thirds of the readership are ABC1 so middle class. Seen as ‘voice of middle England’

In constrast, the MailOnline website readership details are quite different to the newspaper:

• Average age of 40
• 58% female
• 55% 18-44 year olds
• 68% ABC1

Daily Mail: analysis and significant front pages

AQA's CSP booklet suggests studying one entire issue of the Daily Mail print edition alongside a selection of stories from Mail Online. You can buy a copy to study for this or alternatively use our scanned copy of the Daily Mail's Brexit edition from 31 January 2020. 

In addition, the following Daily Mail front pages are particularly significant in terms of political contexts, British culture and values and ideologies. Consider the following when analysing your chosen copy and these front pages:

Selection of news
How is news selected and presented by editors? Is there an ongoing narrative created by the newspaper to engage an audience? 

Audience and ideology
What ideologies are present in the text? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?

Enemies of the People:

Response to Liz Truss's budget that crashed the UK economy:

Asylum seekers / Immigration:

Daily Mail website - Mail Online

MailOnline is the most successful English-language newspaper website in the world and one of the most popular news sources in the UK.

We need to study MailOnline alongside the newspaper version of the Daily Mail, again from the perspective of audience and industries. This is particularly important in terms of the editorial stance, the internet's influence on media power, the clickbait-driven business model and the prevalence of soft news or social-media driven stories.

Pluralism: a brief introduction

Pluralists see society as consisting of competing groups and interests, none of them predominant all of the time. Media organizations are seen as enjoying an important degree of autonomy from the state, political parties and institutionalized pressure groups. 

A basic symmetry is seen to exist between media institutions and their audiences, since in McQuail's words the 'relationship is generally entered into voluntarily and on apparently equal terms’. Audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media and as having access to what Halloran calls 'the plural values of society' enabling them to 'conform, accommodate, challenge or reject'. (Gurevitch et al. 1982: 1)

Curran & Seaton: Power Without Responsibility

Curran and Seaton argue that the media should follow the pluralist model and be shaped by audience demand:

“The free market makes the press a representative institution…newspapers and magazines are to respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.”

However, in practice the newspaper industry is dominated by a small number of powerful owners and this influences newspaper coverage and media influence. In short, the free market doesn’t work.

James Curran on the internet and power in the media

Watch James Curran interviewed by Barcelona Centre for Contempory Culture on Vimeo here.

MailOnline: audience-driven news

Curran and Seaton argue audience demand rather than powerful owners should influence news media. But can we trust audience demand?

Original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke said: “We let the readers decide what they’re interested in, that’s why MailOnline is so sticky and why it’s so addictive and why people love it so much.”

The homepage stories are selected by clicks – the most popular stories move to the top of the page. But does this turn news into ‘clickbait infotainment’? Should news be about informing the public – not entertaining them?

MailOnline: addictive design

MailOnline is designed to encourage readers to stay on the site: the homepage has (virtually) endless scroll, there are thousands of images, embedded social media posts and promotional features linked to the stories. 

Celebrity gossip drives traffic to site (often via social media) with clickbait used heavily to initially attract readers. Then, controversial headlines and opinion columns encourage users to comment, share and engage with the site. 

The right-hand bar (‘sidebar of shame’) means an endless supply of celebrity gossip available on every page. This creates clickbait within the site itself.

Daily Mail and Mail Online CSP: Blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on the Daily Mail and Mail Online

Daily Mail and Mail Online analysis 

Use your own purchased copy or our scanned copy of the Brexit edition from January 2020 plus the notable front pages above to answer the following questions - bullet points/note form is fine.

1) What are the most significant front page headlines seen in the Daily Mail in recent years?

2) Ideology and audience: What ideologies are present in the Daily Mail? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?

3) How do the Daily Mail stories you have studied reflect British culture and society?

Now visit Mail Online and look at a few stories before answering these questions:

1) What are the top five stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news? Are there any examples of ‘clickbait’ can you find?

2) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?

3) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: why is MailOnline the most-read English language newspaper website in the world? How does it keep you on the site?


Factsheet 175 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1)

Read Media Factsheet 175: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) What news content generally features in the Daily Mail?

2) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address? 

3) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?

4) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?

5) Read this brilliant YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers? 


Factsheet 177 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2)

Now read Media Factsheet 177: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?

2) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?

3) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What is Dacre’s ideological position and his view on the BBC?

4) Why did Guardian journalist Tim Adams describe Dacre as the most dangerous man in Britain? What example stories does Adams refer to?

5) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?

Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context

Finally, read Media Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?

2) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?

3) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?

4) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?

5) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?

6) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?

7) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?

8) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?

A/A* extension task

If you'd like to go the extra mile on this CSP, read this Guardian column by Media veteran Peter Preston on a row between the Guardian and the Mail over the controversial MailOnline (ex-) columnist Katie Hopkins. You could then answer the following questions if you wish:

1) Why does Preston suggest that the Daily Mail and MailOnline should be considered to be basically the same publication?

2) How does Preston summarise other newspaper websites?

3) How many readers does the online-only Independent now boast?

4) Do you feel the Daily Mail and MailOnline have a different ‘world view’?

5) Do you see a future for the paper version of the Daily Mail or will it eventually close like the Independent?

Due date: on Show my Homework

Newspapers: Regulation

The debate regarding the regulation of the newspaper industry has been one of the most controversial and important media issues of the last 15 years.

You need to understand how the newspaper industry is regulated, how some people think it should be regulated and what might happen in the future. Most importantly, you need to form your own opinion on newspaper regulation and how the industry should operate following the 2012 Leveson Inquiry.

Newspaper regulation: notes

A brief history of newspaper regulation
The newspaper industry was regulated by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) between 1990 and 2014. It was a voluntary regulator with no legal powers and was heavily criticised for saying it found no evidence of phone hacking at the News of the World in 2007.

The PCC had a code of practice that provided guidelines for newspapers in how to report inaccuracies, crime, news stories involving children and more. However, the PCC was effectively run by the newspaper editors themselves and papers merely had to print a small apology when the regulator ruled against them.

The Leveson Inquiry 2011-12
The Leveson Inquiry in 2011-12 was a judicial public enquiry ordered by the government into the culture and ethics of the British press. This followed the revelations of the phone hacking scandal and the closure of the News of the World.

Post-Leveson: IPSO and IMPRESS
Following the Leveson report, a new press regulator was introduced: the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). IPSO is more powerful than the PCC and can order newspapers to print apologies or corrections on the front page or fine papers. However, it crucially doesn’t act on Leveson’s key recommendation that the regulator is backed by government legislation.

Alongside IPSO, IMPRESS was also set up as an alternative regulator. This was fully compliant with Leveson – but no major newspapers have signed up with IMPRESS.

Watch the following videos on Leveson and the press regulation debate:

BBC News overview:

Newsnight debate:

Channel 4 News debate:



Read the following articles and features on the press regulation debate:

Viewpoints – Should the press be regulated? BBC website
THEOS think tank website – press regulation debate 
Guardian letters – How should the press be regulated?

Newspaper regulation: blog tasks

Task One: Media Magazine article and questions

Read the Media Magazine article: From Local Press to National Regulator in MM56 (p55). You'll find the article in our Media Magazine archive here. Once you've read the article, answer the following questions:

1) Keith Perch used to edit the Leicester Mercury. How many staff did it have at its peak and where does Perch see the paper in 10 years' time?

2) How does Perch view the phone hacking scandal?

3) What does IPSO stand for and how does it work?

4) What is Perch's view of newspaper ownership?

5) Do you agree with his view that broadcast news should have less regulation so that TV channels can support particular political parties or people?


Task Two: Newspaper regulation exam question

Write an answer on your blog answering the following exam question:

What are the arguments for and against statutory regulation of the newspaper industry? [20 marks]

Aim to write an answer of around 400-500 words featuring at least three detailed paragraphs. Make sure you cover both sides of the debate. This topic could well be our 20-mark essay at the end of Paper 1, Section B so it's great preparation for the summer exams.

Extension task: The role of media in democracies

Read this excellent article from the Constitution Unit on why media plays such an important role in democracies - and how regulation and affect this. Does this change your opinion on whether the newspaper industry should face statutory regulation? 

Due date: on Show my Homework

Newspapers: The future of journalism

One of the factors we must consider when studying the decline of the newspaper industry is the importance of news and journalism to society and democracy. 

Technology moves on and industries evolve - but newspapers have traditionally played an important role in holding governments to account, exposing corruption and keeping the public informed about the world they live in. As media students, we need to consider the impact to society of news coverage being driven by 'clicks' and ending up with funny cat videos rather than hard-hitting investigative journalism. 

We've got some excellent video resources to work with on this topic. Both of our videos refer to the 2016 Best Picture winner at the Oscars - Spotlight. This is director Tom McCarthy's film based on the true story of Boston Globe reporters investigating widespread child abuse in the Catholic Church. We highly recommend you watch this film as part of your work on newspapers.

John Oliver on journalism

British comedian John Oliver presents a show called Last Week Tonight on HBO in America. In a previous episode, he put together a report on the decline of journalism in America and its replacement by 'clickbait' stories rather than real news. Watch it here:



Clay Shirky on news: don’t build a paywall around a public good

Clay Shirky is a professor at NYU (New York University) and a worldwide expert on digital and social media. As we know from our work on Online, Social and Participatory Media, Shirky is a named media theorist for A Level Media and he also makes a compelling argument for the role news plays in society. Interestingly, he argues against paywalls - the subscription model that some newspapers use to make money in the digital age - and says that news is a 'public good' that is vital in a healthy democracy. 

The Future of Journalism: Blog tasks

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. 


Play the clip AND read along with the transcript below to ensure you are following the argument. You need to watch from the beginning to 29.35 (the end of Shirky's presentation). Once you've watched and read the presentation and made notes (you may want to copy and paste key quotes from the transcript which is absolutely fine), answer the questions below:

1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?

2) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?

3) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?

4) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?

5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls? 

6) What is a 'social good'? In what way might journalism be a 'social good'?

7) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?

8) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?

Part 2: MM55 - Media, Publics, Protest and Power

Media Magazine 55 has an excellent feature on power and the media. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 38 to read the article Media, Publics, Protest and Power', a summary of Media academic Natalie Fenton’s talk to a previous Media Magazine conference. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the three overlapping fields that have an influence on the relationship between media and democracy?

2) What is ‘churnalism’ and what issues are there currently in journalism?

3) What statistics are provided by Fenton to demonstrate the corporate dominance of a small number of conglomerates? 

4) What is the 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media? 

5) Fenton finishes her article by discussing pluralism, the internet and power. What is your opinion on this crucial debate - has the internet empowered audiences and encouraged democracy or is power even more concentrated in the hands of a few corporate giants?

Complete for homework: due date on Show my Homework.

Newspapers: News Values

Galtung and Ruge defined a set of news values to explain how journalists and editors decide that certain stories and photographs were accepted as newsworthy, while others were not. 

The following list is adapted from their work:

Immediacy: has it happened recently?
Familiarity: is it culturally close to us in Britain?
Amplitude: is it a big event or one which involves large numbers of people?
Frequency: does the event happen fairly regularly? 
Unambiguity: is it clear and definite?
Predictability: did we expect it to happen?
Surprise: is it a rare or unexpected event?
Continuity: has this story already been defined as news?
Elite nations and people: which country has the event happened in? Does the story concern well-known people?
Personalisation: Is it a personal or human interest story?
Negativity: is it bad news?
Exclusivity: do any other newspapers have this story?
Visual impact: are there amazing pictures accompanying the story?
Balance: the story may be selected to balance other news, such as a human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.


News Values: Blog task

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.

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?

2) What is gatekeeping?

3) What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

4) How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

5) In your opinion, how has the digital age changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

6) How would you update these news values for the digital age? Choose TWO of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how they have been affected by the growth of digital technology.

E.g. Immediacy is more important than ever due to news breaking on social media or elsewhere online. However, this in turn changes the approach of other news sources such as newspapers as the news will probably already be broken so different angles might be required. Newspapers now contain more comment or opinion rather than the breaking story.  

Due date: on Show my Homework

Newspapers: The decline in print media

Our final topic is newspapers: an industry that has changed hugely in the last 25 years due to the impact of the internet.

This is the final set of targeted CSPs - we will be studying the Audience and Industry key concepts plus all relevant contexts for the Daily Mail and the Guardian newspapers. This means newspapers will come up in Paper 1, Section B of the exams. Here's one Daily Mail front page we may want to reference:

Notes from the lesson

In the lesson, we looked at the history of the newspaper and some key terminology we need to learn:

Newspapers: hard and soft news

Newspapers cover a range of stories that are generally divided into two categories:

Hard news: stories related to current affairs, politics, economics, wars and other serious news.

Soft news: stories related to entertainment, sport, celebrities, gossip, scandal and human interest/lifestyle topics.

Newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet

Newspapers were traditionally available in two sizes: tabloid and broadsheet. Today, most newspapers are in the smaller broadsheet size but the terms are still used to describe the style of paper:

Tabloid: focusing largely on soft news, famous examples include the Sun and the Mirror. Generally read by more working class audience. Mid-market tabloids are a middle ground between tabloid and broadsheet and include the Daily Mail. 

Broadsheet: serious newspapers that focus more on hard news. The Times, Guardian and Telegraph are all examples. 

Newspapers: sources of news

Newspapers tend to get their news content from two sources:

Journalists: newspapers employ reporters and photographers to attend events, interview people and write stories. 

News agencies: Reuters and Associated Press are examples of global news agencies that are independent institutions that employ journalists to write stories that newspapers and other media organisations can pay to use.

Increasingly in the digital age, newspapers are sourcing news from their audiences using citizen journalism. This is sometimes criticised as creating clickbait – an example of soft news aimed simply to attract online readers.

The decline of newspapers

In the last 20 years, the newspaper industry has faced a sharp decline due to the rise of the internet.

In 2003, almost 30 million newspapers were sold in the UK every day. By 2017 that was down to 12.4 million (source: Ofcom). 

Newspapers have traditionally made their money in two ways: through the cover price and by selling advertising. With so much news available for free online, audiences are not buying newspapers so both these sources of income have been decimated.

The Wall Street Journal produced a short video demonstrating how the industry has changed in the last 100 years:

Once you've learned the key terminology, watched the video and considered the decline in the industry, work through the blog tasks below.

Blog tasks: The decline in print media

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 5 & 6. Pick three that you think are interesting and bullet point them here. Why did you pick those three in particular?  

2) Now look at the motivations for following news which differs by age on pages 7 & 8. What are the main reasons people gave for following news? What are the percentages? 

3) Look at the platforms used, by age on page 9. What trends do you notice based on the platforms used and by the different age groups?

4) Look at how online news continues to be a key platform for receiving news on page 14. How does the internet enable audiences to access the news in different ways? Can you provide any examples of news organisations with percentages? 

5) Look at the news brands (print newspapers and digital offerings) on page 20. Can you provide percentages of readership of print vs. online?

6) Looking again at page 20 for news brands - how are print newspapers rated by their metrics - can you offer the different metrics with percentages? 

 

Part 2: Factsheet - The death of print media

Go to our Media Factsheet archive and open Factsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login.

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks (bullet points/short answers are fine):

1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?

2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?

3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?

4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?

5) How do online newspapers make money?

6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?

7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?

8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?

Due date: on Show my Homework.

Newspapers: Weekly Media homework - news stories

For the Newspapers unit, you have an ongoing mini-homework every week: to find, read and post TWO news stories on your blog.

The very simple detail: every week you must find, read, and post two news stories from the websites of our two newspaper CSPs (one from Mail Online and one from The Guardian website):

Mail Online
The Guardian website 

This will help familiarise yourself with the two newspapers over several weeks so you can recognise how the news stories reflect the values, ideologies and ownership contexts of the two CSPs.

Newspaper news story research: blog task

Create ONE blogpost that you return to and update weekly. Call it 'Newspaper news story research'. Then, each week you need to visit the MailOnline website and the Guardian website and choose one story from each to summarise and share. 

Most importantly, you need to do the following on your blogpost for each story...

1. Copy the headline, date and link.
2. Briefly summarise the story in a sentence or two: is this is an example of hard news or soft news? Does it reflect the politics or ideological stance of that newspaper/website?
3. Explain in a sentence how or why this story appeals to the audience of that newspaper (use media terminology and theory if you can). Is it quality journalism or an example of clickbait?

We'll be sharing our stories as a starter each week and this will ensure you build up a range of stories from both CSPs to provide examples to use in exam questions and essays. 

Due: EVERY week for the next five weeks. Just update the same blogpost with additional stories each time! 

Media Paper 2 mock exam - learner response

This is the second of your vital learner response tasks following the full set of A Level Media mock exams.

Remember, the most important aspect of any mock exam is making mistakes and learning from them. With Paper 2 this is even more significant as it contains the synoptic element  in question 4 and extended essays on in-depth topics throughout.

Here, we need to closely analyse out performance in Paper 2 and identify specific ways we will improve for the real exam on Thursday 5 June (PM). Complete the following learner response tasks in a new blogpost on your Media Exam blog called 'Paper 2 mock exam learner response'. 

Paper 2 mock exam: learner response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

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?

These are the grade boundaries we've used (out of 84): 

A* = 71; A = 62, B = 52; C = 43; D = 33; E = 24

Now read through the real AQA mark scheme for Paper 2 and the examiner's report (see your Media teacher's Google Classroom for both of these documents).

3) Write a question-by-question analysis of your performance. For each question, write how many marks you got from your the number available and identify any points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme.

Example Q2: 8/25 marks

Additional points: I didn't focus on the question - validity of theory. I should have...

4) Look at question 4 - the synoptic question. How many of the four key concepts did you cover in your answer? Write a new essay plan for this question using the indicative content in the mark scheme and taking care to include at least three of Language - Representations - Audience - Industries. You can use bullet points but make sure you offer enough content to meet the criteria for Level 5 (top level). This will be somewhere between 3-4 well-developed paragraphs planned in some detail.

5) Based on the whole Paper 2 Learner response, plan five topics / concepts / CSPs / theories that you will prioritise in your Easter Media revision timetable.

If you don't finish this in the lesson, complete it for homework - due date on Satchel One

Media Paper 1 mock exam - Learner response

You've now completed your mock exams and so need to be identifying the specific areas to revise and improve on before the final exams in the summer.

The most important aspect of any mock exam is making mistakes and learning from them.

Here, we need to closely analyse our performance across each question in Paper 1 and identify specific ways we will improve for the real exam on Thursday 14 May (PM). Complete the following learner response tasks in a new blogpost on your Media Exam blog called: 'Paper 1 mock exam learner response'.

1) Type up any feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

Go to your Media teacher's Google Classroom and find the mark scheme and examiner's report uploaded. 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 and points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme:

Example: Q1: 4/8 marks

Additional points: Using Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics, the National Trust advert “What will take your breath away?” can be analysed through denotation, connotation and myth. Denotatively, the advert shows images of British landscapes and historic sites. Connotatively, these suggest peace, escape and emotional fulfilment, reinforced by the slogan which implies awe and inspiration. This creates a myth that British nature and heritage are naturally restorative and meaningful, promoting the ideology that visiting National Trust sites is an essential and valuable experience.

3) Look at Question 4 - a 20-mark essay evaluating Judith Butler's gender is a performance theory. Write an essay plan for this question using the indicative content in the mark scheme and with enough content to meet the criteria for Level 4 (top level). This will be somewhere between 3-4 well-developed paragraphs plus an introduction answering the question planned in some detail.

4) Based on the whole of your Paper 1 learner response, plan FIVE topics / concepts / CSPs / theories that you will prioritise in your summer exam Media revision timetable.

Complete this learner response for your homework if you don't finish it in class - due date on Satchel One.

Coursework: Print brief research and planning

The Print aspect to our coursework brief is as important as the video work have been focusing on so far. 

It is crucial that you research, plan and design print work that could comfortably hold its own alongside professional examples. You will also need to include a section regarding your print work in your redrafted Statement of Intent. A reminder of our coursework brief is here, with the key tasks as follows:

The band is being featured in a documentary film on a streaming service such as Netflix about the history of pop bands. The film will look at examples of pop artists from the late 20th century (80s or 90s), early 21st century (00s or 10s) and the band you promoted for Task One represents contemporary pop. The documentary’s target audience are people of all ages who are interested in pop music.

Create three print billboard posters to promote this documentary. Each poster should use imagery to reflect one of the eras being focused on in the documentary to attempt to appeal to a broad age range. At least one poster should feature the band being promoted in Task One. The posters should be visually appealing and communicate the name and content of the documentary, its release date and how audiences can watch it.

What do you need to produce?

You should create three different billboard posters – specifically:

• engage the audiences as identified in the brief
• three original images across the three print adverts
• images created and chosen to appeal to the target audience
• appropriate layout, design and content choices relating to placement of the adverts
• consideration of font, type sizes and colours to create meaning
• consideration of the industrial context of production

The three print billboard posters targets all ages who are interested in pop music

Print brief - overall minimum requirements

• A clear house style should be used in the presentation of all pages
• A minimum of three original images should be included in the submission.
• Absolutely no use of AI in any way at all is permitted for the written elements of the print brief.
• Work should be presented on pages that are an appropriate size or in proportion to the size of paper used by billboard posters

We recommend that all of the above should be A3 landscape page size 

Research and planning blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Print brief research and planning' and complete the following tasks to plan and prepare your print work:

Research tasks:

1)  Billboard poster research:

Look at the following billboard poster:

Now answer the following questions based on the poster above: 

1. What historical moment in pop music does this documentary focus on, and why might that moment be significant for audiences interested in music history? 

2. How might the poster imagery communicate the era of the music being explored (e.g., 1980s)?

3. Who would be the target audience for this documentary and why?

4. What visual codes (e.g., typeface, colour, style of photograph) would you expect on the poster to reflect the documentary’s focus on classic pop music history?

5. How could promotional text emphasise both nostalgia and relevance to a modern audience?

This Is Pop on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81050786

(This Is Pop is a documentary series exploring different influences and trends in pop music.) 

Watch the following trailer for the documentary series: 

Now answer the following questions based on the trailer: 

1. What themes and topics does This Is Pop explore based on its episode description (e.g., Auto-Tune, boy bands, festival culture)? 

2. How might a billboard poster visually represent multiple facets of pop music history covered in this series?

3. This Is Pop is a series rather than a single documentary film—how might its poster need to differ in design from a single-film poster to communicate that?

4. What aspects of pop culture history might appeal to older audiences versus younger audiences?

5. What visual elements could ensure the poster suggests that this isn’t just entertainment, but a music documentary with depth and exploration?

These two IMDb image links point to stills or frames from the same documentary series (This Is Pop.) 

Compare the two different images from this series:

1. What different visual messages do they convey about pop music?

2. How do these images reflect the diversity within pop music culture (different genres, artists, eras)?

3. What emotions or associations do the images try to evoke in the viewer?

4. If you were to extract design cues (pose, colour palette, style) from these stills for your billboard posters, what would you take and why?

5. How do the images relate to your understanding of representation and media language in music documentaries?

2) Billboard Poster Research (Era Focus)

You must research THREE professional billboard or large-format posters, one from each era:

1. 1980s or 1990s pop artist promotion

2. 2000s or 2010s pop artist promotion

3. Contemporary (2018–present) pop artist promotion

These may include:

• Tour posters
• Album or single promotions
• Music documentaries
• Streaming platform music content (e.g. Netflix, Apple TV)

Choose artists that are clearly representative of each era.

3) Media Language Analysis 

For each billboard poster, analyse how visual design communicates meaning and appeals to its audience.

You should analyse:

• Layout & composition
  (scale, hierarchy, central image, simplicity for roadside viewing)

• Typography
  (font style, size, era connotations, readability)

• Colour palette
  (neon, muted, monochrome, saturation and era signifiers)

• Imagery
  (pose, gaze, styling, realism vs performance)

• Branding
  (logos, streaming platforms, consistency)

Then, explain how these choices reflect the era of pop music being represented.

4) Representation and Era identity

Explain how each poster represents:

• The artist

• The music culture of the era

• Attitudes to fame, performance, and identity

Consider:

• Fashion and styling

• Gender representation

• Star image

• Youth culture vs nostalgia

• Authenticity vs commercialisation

Apply at least one theory, such as:

• Stuart Hall – Representation

• Postmodernism (nostalgia, pastiche, remixing eras)

5) Audience appeal

For each era-based poster, explain:

• Who the primary audience is

• How it may also appeal to other age groups

• How nostalgia is used to attract older audiences

• How modern design elements attract younger audiences

Link this directly to the documentary’s aim to appeal to “people of all ages interested in pop music.”

6) Streaming services and industry conventions

Research how streaming services (e.g. Netflix) promote music documentaries.

Analyse:

• Common visual conventions (minimal text, strong imagery)

• Use of logos and release dates

• How platforms communicate where and how to watch

• How global audiences affect design choices

You may refer to:

• Netflix documentary posters

• Online promotional materials

• Billboard adaptations of streaming campaigns

7) Application to your coursework

This section must directly link your research to your final production.

Answer the following:

• How will each era influence the design of your three billboards?

• What visual codes will you use to differentiate eras?

• How will you maintain brand consistency across all three posters?

• How will you promote your band from Task One as contemporary pop?

• What design skills do you need to develop before production?

Planning and sketching

1) Plan the content for your first billboard poster:

• Title of the documentary film (must be NEW original documentary film you have invented):
• Name of streaming service the documentary will feature on
• Original image (the band you promoted for one of your TikTok music videos)
• Release date of the documentary
• Ways your billboard poster will represent the contemporary pop era
• Font style / colour scheme, additional design aspects:

2) Plan the three images you will use for the billboard posters - use the elements of mise-en-scene (CLAMPS). One image has to be the band you promoted in one of your TikTok music videos required to meet the minimum content in the brief.

3) Research and select the font or typography you will use for your billboard posters. This is a critical element of your print work - the brief requires a consistent house style running through all of your pages. 

4) Produce A4 sketches of your billboard poster designs and scan it/upload a picture to your blog.

5) Finally, create the pages in Adobe Photoshop or InDesign so you have the documents ready to go in terms of adding your text and images. This will need to include:

• A4/A3 landscape 

Use this website for specific billboard sizing which you can enter in Adobe Photoshop or InDesign: https://www.template.net/graphic-design/billboard-sizes/ 

Photoshoot

1) Who do you need to photograph for your billboard posters? Remember, you need three original images across the whole print production. 

2) What camera shots do you need? Write a shot list or design a mood board for your photoshoots. Make sure you plan a variety of camera shots you will look to capture - medium shots, close-ups etc.

3) Plan the mise-en-scene. What costume, props or make-up will you require for your photoshoots?

4) Finally, note down the time and date for your photoshoots. This may be inside or outside school (or a combination of both). You will have Media lesson time for this after the mock exams.

Statement of Intent

1) Once you have completed your print research and planning, go back to your statement of intent and make sure you have included the print brief in your final draft. Then, submit the final draft statement of intent to your teacher. The due date for this will be confirmed by your coursework teacher.

Use your Media coursework lessons to complete these planning tasks - homework time should be exclusively to revise for mocks.

Due date for research and planning on Google Classroom.