Introduction to Section B

G325 Section B: Contemporary Media Issues

Section requirements
One question to be answered from six topics. Two questions offered for each six topic. 50 marks for the question. 1 hour to complete.
You must understand contemporary media texts, industries, audiences and debates.
You need to write academically about perspectives in media and culture, referencing examples, theories and arguments.
Understanding of contemporary issues must contain reference to two media and a range of texts, industries, audiences and debates.
Each topic has 4 prompt questions and you must be prepared to answer an exam question that relates to 1 or more of these prompts.
Reference should be made to the past, present and future in relation to the topic, with emphasis on the contemporary.

We are covering two topics:

1 Contemporary Media Regulation.
2 Media and Collective Identity.

And the two media we are covering are Film and TV.

The key prompt questions for Contemporary Media Regulation are:
1 What is the nature of contemporary media regulation compared with previous practices?
2 What are the arguments for and against specific forms of contemporary media regulation?
3 How effective are regulatory practices?
4 What are the wider social issues relating to media regulation?

The key prompt questions for Media and Collective Identity are:
1 How does the contemporary media represent nations, regions, and ethnic/social/collective groups of people in different ways?
2 How does contemporary representation compare to different time periods?
3 What are the social implications of different representations of groups of people?
4 To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?