AQA GCSE Media Studies key terms

The combined benefit gained when brands or products work together and promote one another.

An answer that connects knowledge, skills or understanding from different parts of a course to address one question.

A newspaper associated with a compact format and a popular style, often using prominent images, striking headlines and accessible language.

The acquisition of control of one company by another company.

The particular group a media organisation intends to attract through its content and marketing.

A production technique used to communicate meaning, such as camera angle, editing or sound.

The bringing together of previously separate media functions or technologies, allowing a device such as a smartphone to play music, show videos and support social interaction.

A payment required for watching or recording live television and using BBC iPlayer; it is the main source of funding for the BBC’s UK public services, including radio.

The four connected areas used to study media: media language, media representations, media industries and media audiences.

A game in which actions occur in turns and progress depends on solving problems through a planned sequence of moves.

Katz and Lazarsfeld’s model in which media messages reach opinion leaders, who interpret and pass them on to other people.

The style, size and arrangement of lettering in a media product.

The inclusion of a social group less frequently or less prominently than its presence in society would suggest.

A quality presented as distinguishing a product from its competitors.

Content created by users rather than solely by professional media producers, such as shared builds, videos and playable islands.

The controls and screen information through which a user interacts with a game or other digital product.

Blumler and Katz’s theory that audiences actively select media to satisfy needs, including diversion, information, personal relationships and personal identity.

An approach which proposes that active audiences choose and use media to satisfy needs, such as diversion, information, social relationships and personal identity.

The strengthening of beliefs or ideas an audience member already holds through their media choices.

A change to familiar genre features or content that gives a media product freshness and difference.

A way of communicating meaning through words and language, whether written or spoken.

Ownership or control of businesses operating at different stages of the same industry, such as film production and distribution.

In Propp’s theory, the character or force that obstructs the hero’s progress.

Promotion that spreads as people pass content or recommendations to others, particularly online. It may develop through audience activity rather than a planned campaign.

Organisations and groups whose work draws on voluntary participation and support, often to serve a community or social purpose.