Chatham and Clarendon Media Studies Blog: ZZZZZZZZZZ

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Friday, 27 March 2026

YEAR 12 MOCK - REVIEW/REVISE

This year, the Year 12 mock examination will take place earlier than previous years. As a result, we will not have covered all of the material needed to sit a full Paper 1. The exam will consist of:

Question 1 (10 Marks = 17.1 mins or 21.3 mins):

Newspapers : Representation Question (Social Representation or Political Representation)

You should revise:

Van Zoonen,
Hall
Bell Hooks

Question 2 (15 Marks = 25.7mins or 32.14 mins):

Newspapers: Codes and Conventions + Viewpoints & Ideologies

You should revise

Codes and Conventions of Newspaper Covers
Left and Right Wing Ideologies

Question 3 (15 Marks = 25.7mins or 32.14 mins):

Music Videos

One of the following questions:

Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s). Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer.
Explain how representations of musical artists and their work communicate information about their cultural and political contexts. Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer.
Explain how and why stereotypes are used in music videos. Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer.

Question 4 (15 Marks = 25.7mins or 32.14 mins):

The Big Issue - Unseen

You should revise:

How does Source C use Intertextuality to communicate values and beliefs?
How does Source C use media language to construct viewpoints and ideologies?
Codes and Conventions of The Big Issue
Left and Right Wing Ideologies

Question 5 (15 Marks = 25.7mins or 32.14 mins):

Print Advertising - Shelter Advert + Unseen (Also Charity Advert)

You should revise:

Compare the way that values and beliefs are constructed in Source D (The Shelter Advert) and Source E (Unseen).
Use of Media Language in The Shelter Advert
A.I.D.A. Model
Advertising Values

Monday, 17 November 2025

REVISION QUESTION 19/11/2025

Source A Tabloid Web Article + Source B A Broadsheet Web Article

How far have media conventions been used to construct viewpoints and ideologies in Sources A and B?

In your answer you must:

outline the conventions of the tabloid vs broadsheet Web articles, including use and style of headlines and images

Mainstream online newspapers (both tabloid and broadsheet) use recognisable digital conventions but adapt them differently to suit their audiences. Tabloid sites often echo their print style with punchy, emotive headlines, bold images, and attention-grabbing thumbnails, while broadsheet sites prioritise clarity, neutrality, and more restrained visuals. However, both rely on search-optimised headlines, short standfirsts, and prominent images to compete for clicks. Broadsheets typically emphasise depth through longer articles, data visualisations, and contextual links, whereas tabloids favour shorter, faster-paced stories with stronger emotional hooks. Despite these contrasts, both formats use multimedia, hyperlinks, and structured navigation to maintain engagement across devices. In essence, online tabloids and broadsheets share core digital conventions but diverge in tone, visual style, and story selection, reflecting their different purposes: tabloids aim to entertain and provoke instant reactions, while broadsheets focus on informing readers through authority and depth.

analyse the contrasting use of symbolic, technical and written conventions in the sources
make judgements and reach conclusions on the way in which media conventions construct viewpoints on ideologies.

SOURCE A - Mail Online

Keir Starmer to unveil 'personal mission' to smash people-trafficking gangs using new counter terrorism-style tactics - but Tories say they mean 'absolutely nothing' without a wider plan like Rwanda | Daily Mail Online

SOURCE B - Guardian Online

Keir Starmer to create team to tackle ‘national security’ threat of people smugglers | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian

EXAMPLE

Both articles feature use of images and anchoring text that is in keeping with the conventions of their respective type: The MailOnline is more obviously politically biased and uses an image charged with right-wing messaging, while the Guardian is gently left wing in its messaging while maintaining a level of political neutrality expected of a broadsheet publication. The MailOnline use a tabloid convention of reinforcing their stories with images, they feature an image of Starmer and the anchoring text reiterates their headline. The selected image shows Starmer with an open collar, perhaps indicating his lack of seriousness in the light of what they have already constructed as a crisis in need of "counter-terrorism style tactics." Directly below, the image of the migrants shows a range of non-white 'fighting age' men. The central figure is triumphant, hand in the air, connoting a sense of victory with a gesture that many right wing readers will see as co-opting Churchill's familiar symbol of victory against Nazi invasion. The chaos of the scene and the clear indication of the ethnic diversity of the group all combine to encode a sense of invasion by foreign migrants, eliciting anger in the right wing readership. By contrast, the image selected by the Guardian does not shy away from presenting the gender of the migrants, but the image connotes a far more orderly and encodes a message of control, symbolising the success of the UK border force. The fact that they are "brought into Dover" clearly constructs a very different preferred reading of the situation to the Mail as they are encodes more like guests than invaders; this is very much in keeping with the Guardian's more liberal messaging around immigration and small boat crossings.

Tuesday, 10 June 2025

CODES AND CONVENTIONS AT A GLANCE

Tuesday, 24 January 2023

CODES AND CONVENTIONS - PROVISIONAL LIST

The table below contains a list of codes and conventions that we are likely to find in tabloid and broadsheet newspaper covers. It is not exhaustive, and it will not always fit the piece we are analysing. If it doesn't fit, this may be the very thing we go on to write about.