Baseline Assessment: Learner Response :)

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: Good knowledge of the CSPs named in this exam. Good ability to link theory to draw conclusions and make valid judgements 

EBI: Lacking focus of the question for Q2- not enough emphasis on the word "useful" throughout response. Not enough focus on the audience or specific examples from the CSPs for Q3

2) Focusing on the BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat question, write three ways it helps to fulfil the BBC's mission statement that you didn't include in your original assessment answer. Use the mark scheme for ideas.

• Newsbeat informs Radio 1 listeners about the news - important events going on in the UK and around the world including breaking news and developing stories that include politics, economics, crime, sport and entertainment provide informative content to all audience demographics and this helps fulfil its remit for reaching teenagers and young adults with news content 
• Newsbeat offers educational content - some of the news stories selected to be in the daily bulletins with examples such as a Newsbeat stories on a project highlighting street harassment of women which serves to educate both male and female listeners on the impact of harassment on victims
• The news topics in a Newsbeat bulletin tend to offer entertainment to listeners - although the top story will usually be serious (hard news), every Newsbeat bulletin will contain some sport or entertainment content which helps to fulfil the remit to entertain, with examples such as covering pretty extensive reports from major sporting events such as Wimbledon or the World Cup and will also cover music or film awards ceremonies more than some other BBC news programmes 

3) Question two asked you how useful media effects theories are in understanding the audience response to War of the Worlds. Complete the following:

• Gerbner's Cultivation theory: useful or not useful? Why?

Gerbner’s Cultivation theory is very useful in understanding how American radio’s recent

convention in the 1930s of ‘breaking news’ (‘We interrupt this broadcast to bring you...’)

may have made audiences more likely to believe the fictional radio play was real. Gerbner’s idea of ‘mean world syndrome’ – that heavy consumers of media are more likely to see the world as dangerous – is perhaps reinforced by the reported audience reaction to the broadcast 

• Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle model: useful or not useful? Why?

The Frankfurt School’s hypodermic needle theory is arguably supported by the reported audience panic following the War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938. However, this theory has been widely discredited and considering a media audience as ‘empty vessels’ is overly simplistic and not useful 

• Stuart Hall's Reception theory: useful or not useful? Why?

Stuart Hall’s reception theory is arguably more useful than traditional effects theories in analysing audience reaction – some would have believed it (preferred reading), other sections of the audiences would have challenged or rejected it entirely. Even then, was Welles’s intention to genuinely panic listeners (i.e. the preferred reading) 

4) Write a full essay plan for the 25-mark Magazines question. The mark scheme contains plenty of ideas you can use here. Your plan should include notes/bullet points addressing the following:

• Introduction: Men's Health was successful in attracting their target audience despite the impact of digital media on traditional print industries, however Oh Comely was not as successful 

• Paragraph 1 content: Oh Comely magazines have an artbook style which gives them more value as a tangible object rather than a digital copy. Therefore Oh Comely still has value despite the impact of digital media on the traditional print industries. However, the closure of the magazine suggests that even this key selling point while a very different concept still isn't enough to keep audiences interested in traditional print

• Paragraph 2 content: Men's Health established brand identity attracts their audience even as they diversify into events and gym equipment 

• Paragraph 3 content: Men's Health having to diversify into gym equipment emphasises the struggles the internet have caused for print industries to generate revenue 

• Paragraph 4 content: Oh Comely uses social media to attract audiences and encourage readers to follow interviewees to build and maintain a community-like feel which is suggested by the social media handles at the bottom of each Speaking Out feature 

• Conclusion: Despite the challenges digital media poses Men's Health has been able to provide solutions for alternative streams of revenue but only by practically moving away from traditional print industries completely likewise Oh Comely's closure perfectly encapsulates its failure to attract their target audience indicating that the impact of digital media on the traditional print industries has been detrimental 

5) Finally, identify three key skills/topics you want to work on in A Level Media this year before the final exams in June.

• Work on incorporating the key words from the question in my answers 

• Don't explain the theories, instead explain how they link to the CSPs

• Work on my timing so I don't run out of time on the questions worth a lot of marks