MEDIA STUDIES – PAPER 1 SECTION A EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1 – ANALYSE THE REPRESENTATIONS IN SOURCES A AND B. USE VAN ZOONEN’S CONCEPT OF PATRIARCHY IN YOUR ANSWER. [10]

Patriarchy is a system in which men hold social, political and economic power. In her theory, Van Zoonen argues that within a patriarchal society, there is a clear divide in how male and female bodies are represented. She also suggests the idea that gender is performative and that we understand masculinity and femininity by what we see in the media, and that it changes depending on the historical and cultural contexts. The representations offered in both Sources A and B can be seen to mostly support Van Zoonen’s concept of patriarchy. 

Patriarchal power can be seen in the representations in both sources as Cameron’s resignation dominates the front pages. This representation reinforces Zoonen’s patriarchal assumption that the stereotypical masculine positions of male leadership are more significant than those of female roles. The large-scale main images of David Cameron on both front pages further support the idea that politics and governmental issues are supposedly a male domain.

Source A, The Sun, is a sensationalised tabloid newspaper whilst Source B, The Times, is an authoritative broadsheet paper. Although each source constructs the story in a different way, the representations offered are the same and the way they are constructed further reinforces Zoonen’s patriarchal ideologies. Both papers refer to Cameron as the ‘PM’ or ‘Prime Minister’, anchoring the idea of male authority.

Tabloids are very image-led and use the main image as their exaggerated focal point. The Sun relies on its main image of Cameron in a close-up and a splash headline to communicate this representation to the reader, suggesting we recognise Zoonen’s patriarchal ideology and her concept around the performance of gender roles through the use of these connotations. In both sources, At the bottom right corner of the page, the lead story is by a named male ‘political editor’, further hinting at the patriarchal ideas about male privilege within politics and the news industry itself.

The Times’ chosen image of Sam Cameron looking happy with a smile, holding her husband’s hand, implies she is not negatively concerned about the impact of Brexit or her David’s resignation, reinforcing the idea that politics is a majorly masculine arena. When considering Van Zoonen’s theory of women’s roles in society, it could be concluded that Sam Cameron accepts her performance as the dutiful wife.

Given that both The Sun and The Times have selected images that offer a representation emphasising the Prime Minister’s vulnerability and emotions it could be suggested that ideas around patriarchy can be questioned. However, Van Zoonen might argue that this further reinforces the patriarchal ideology of male power as the stories have extra news value because they contradict dominant stereotypes around masculinity and leadership. 

To conclude, both The Sun and The Times construct representations on their front covers that mostly support Van Zoonen’s concept of patriarchy. The news stories reinforce patriarchal ideas of male political power, whilst the more emotional image of Cameron contradicts his usual representation of male authority, further highlighting social expectations of gender.

QUESTION 2 – SOURCES A AND B COVER THE SAME NEWS EVENT BUT ARE FROM DIFFERENT GENRES OF NEWSPAPER. 

HOW FAR HAS THE GENRE INFLUENCED THE MEDIA LANGUAGE USED IN SOURCE A AND B?

IN YOUR ANSWER YOU MUST:

• OUTLINE GENRE CONVENTIONS IN BRITISH NEWSPAPERS

• ANALYSE THE CONTRASTING USE OF MEDIA LANGUAGE IN THE SOURCES

• MAKE JUDGEMENTS AND REACH CONCLUSIONS ABOUT HOW FAR GENRE HAS INFLUENCED THE MEDIA LANGUAGE USED. [15]

The use of media language in Sources A and B has been strongly influenced by genre conventions, however other factors such as target audience, political affiliations and news values also influence media language in newspapers such as The Sun and The Times.

There are two genres of UK newspapers, tabloid and broadsheet, which use media language conventions to distinguish them and to appeal to the target audience. A tabloid newspaper like Source A, the Sun, is recognisable through its compact page size, ‘red-top’ masthead and high ratio of images to text. Tabloid journalism uses sensationalised stories, demonstrated through the use of images and language, with an emphasis on entertainment, such as celebrity gossip, in the copy. Tabloids news is often referred to as ‘soft news’ as their news values will prioritise an emotional, personal impact story over hard news. In contrast, a broadsheet newspaper like Source B, The Times, is recognisable through its large size and high ratio of text to images. Broadsheet journalism uses serious stories, demonstrated through the use of formal lexis and mode of address, with an emphasis on current affairs in the copy. Broadsheet journalism is often referred to as ‘hard news’ as their news values will prioritise a social and cultural impact story over soft news. The Times follows many of these typical broadsheet conventions, although it is now known as a compact broadsheet. This suggests that genre and media language can change over time, experiencing dual convergence that blurs the distinction of these conventions.

Layout is used in both sources to help identify the genre of each paper. The layout of The Sun’s front page provides a conventional hierarchy of content seen in tabloids. The composition of The Sun’s front page is heavily reliant on the main image of David Cameron and a large headline. These two elements take up over two thirds of the cover. The copy that accompanies the lead story is positioned at the bottom-right of the page and is made up of a byline and standfirst, and just seven short lines of text. This placement of image and text on the page, paired with the high ratio of image and headline to copy is noticeably conventional of most tabloid newspapers and shows how they rely on sensationalised images and headlines to create a personal impact to appeal to their target audience. In contrast to The Sun, the layout of The Times’ front cover is more balanced. It follows a grid layout, common in most traditional broadsheets. In direct contrast to The Sun, the logical use of conventional layout here indicates the seriousness and formality of the paper; there is a large ratio of copy to image, providing a lot to read and take in, whilst the grouping of the headline, sub-headings, copy and images reinforce the rational reporting provided by broadsheet papers. The main difference in the paper’s genre in contrast to The Sun is emphasised by the ratios of copy (including headlines and sub-headings) to images. 

Language is another way in which genre has influenced media language. The Sun relies on colloquial, simple lexis that is typical of tabloids. The use of alliteration with ‘Cam Quit’ makes the article short, snappy and entertaining. However, the use of language is also influenced by the need to appeal to the target audience. The Sun has written the main headline in the first person; ‘Why should I do the hard ****?’. The mode of address helps to personalise the story whilst the vulgar, expletive language provides the emotional impact and makes Cameron relatable to The Sun readers. In both papers, the language used is influenced by the target audience and their political bias towards Cameron’s Conservative Party, although this is made more noticeable by The Sun and its exaggerated journalism. The Times’ use of language in Source B is influenced by its genre as broadsheet. In contrast to The Sun, there is only a single, moderately sized headline for the lead story; ‘Brexit Earthquake’. The bulleted sub-headings provide summaries of the key elements of the story for the reader. This serious and formal tone reinforces the conventions of broadsheet journalism as non-emotive, hard news. Despite this, the use of the emotive lexis ‘earthquake’ signifies The Times’ political bias following the resignation of Cameron. Additionally, the formal mode of address used can be seen to reflect and appeal to the academic level of The Times’ readers.

To conclude, it can be argued that genre has a very significant influence on the use of media language in Sources A and B with the Times conforming to the conventions of a broadsheet in contrast to the use of tabloid conventions by The Sun. However, the arrival of dual convergence effectively blurs this distinction and so it can be argued that media language is also influenced by the newspaper’s political bias, news values, importantly, the need to appeal to different target audiences.