Eduqas GCSE Media Studies key terms

A friendship group that performs some of the supportive functions normally associated with a family.

Audience categorisation based on interests, attitudes, values and lifestyles rather than measurable demographic characteristics alone.

Grouping audiences by their values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.

An advertisement intended to inform people and influence behaviour for public benefit rather than sell a commercial product.

A broadcaster that provides programmes serving the public interest, including informing, educating and entertaining audiences.

Broadcasting intended to serve the public interest through services that inform, educate and entertain, rather than being driven solely by profit.

A broadcaster's responsibility to serve the public through programmes that inform, educate and entertain, catering for a range of audiences.

A broadcaster that obtains programmes from external producers rather than making them through its own in-house production operation.

A short promotional feature designed to attract attention to content or a campaign.

Wordplay using similar sounds or more than one meaning of a word.

Treating someone as suspicious on the basis of their perceived ethnicity rather than evidence about their individual behaviour.

The organisation that measures audiences for BBC and commercial radio stations in the UK using listening surveys.

A shot showing a character’s response to an event or another character, which can guide the audience’s interpretation.

A style of presentation that claims to portray real life accurately and authentically.

A perspective associated with Stuart Hall which explains how audiences may accept, partly accept or reject the meanings encouraged by media producers.

A company that organises the release and promotion of recorded music.

A tabloid newspaper with a red masthead, such as The Sun.

Rules and oversight governing media organisations and their content, including protection from harmful or offensive material.

The responsibilities and purposes an organisation is expected to fulfil.

The collection of characteristic features that helps audiences recognise and distinguish a genre.

The reuse of familiar genre conventions across media products.

A constructed portrayal of a person, social group, event or idea, shaped by what producers select, combine and leave out.

The solving or settling of a narrative’s central problem or conflict.

The use of humour, exaggeration or ridicule to criticise behaviour, institutions or ideas.

The process of choosing which people, images, words and details to include in a media product, and which to leave out.

Checks and controls carried out by media producers themselves to ensure their output meets relevant standards.

The way someone constructs an image of themselves through selected media content.

The study of signs and how they communicate meaning.