More Media Terms

GLOSSARY OF MEDIA TERMS

This glossary is designed to give you technical terms to help you write in more detail about media texts. It includes many of the terms used in television, film, newspapers and marketing.

biased	One-sided rather than neutral or objective
broadsheet newspaper	also sometimes called ‘the quality press’. Large format newspapers that report news in depth, often with a serious tone and higher level language. News is dominated by national and international events, politics, business, with less emphasis on celebrities and gossip. Examples: The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph
connotation	The feelings and thoughts we associate with a word, as opposed to the denotation which is its dictionary definition. The connotation of child might be ‘innocent, vulnerable’. The denotation is ‘young adult’.
denotation	The dictionary definition of a word
disinformation	Giving incorrect information about a subject (it can be a polite term for telling lies)
discourse markers	Words and phrases which help readers and listeners to follow the structure of a text. They can refer back to earlier information, or signal new topics. Look out for: Earlier, later, in fact, however, meanwhile, despite this.
editorial	Newspaper articles giving the newspaper’s opinions on the main stories of the day. They are also sometimes called ‘leader articles’
genre	A category of writing – for example, documentaries, sit-coms, soap operas; or crime writing, romance, travel writing.
headlines	text at the top of a story designed to catch our interest. They may be short, eye-catching, dramatic.
In / Ext	Abbreviations used in film and television to indicate whether a scene is interior or exterior
Masthead	The top section of a newspaper which gives the paper’s title, price and date
narrative	story
phatic communication	Language used for social purpose rather than to communicate definite meanings – eg “hello”, “hi”, “good morning”
photojournalism	Use of photographs to record news events
Point of view	In filming, the use of a camera to show things from a character’s view-point – eg imagine a scene with a cowboy walking into a saloon. We could show this from the point of view of the cowboy (camera moves into room and show people looking round) or the point of view of people in the saloon (camera shows cowboy walking in).
Pyramid story structure	Newspaper stories start with the main events. Then they give more details and eyewitness comments in short paragraphs. The paragraphs at the end of the story are less important than those at the beginning. This allows sub-editors to shorten stories by cutting paragraphs from the end.
Pun	Wordplay, often used in newspaper headlines (eg
readership	The group of people who read a particular newspaper.
stereotyping	Making assumptions about a person based on the group they belong to – for example, assuming that someone wearing glasses studies harder than someone without. Advertising, in particular, uses stereotypes.
Storyboards	A visual plan showing the storyline of a film in rough sketches
Subeditor	Someone who gets a newspaper story into its final form – deciding the headline, correcting text, making any necessary cuts or changes
Symbol	An object which has meaning beyond itself – for example, a wooden cross is also a symbol of Christianity
Tabloid newspaper	Smaller newspapers aimed at a large audience. News is reported in less depth and emphasises human interest stories. The language level is lower, paragraphs and stories shorter, with more use of images. Content often includes more celebrities, media news and gossip Examples: The Sun, The Mail, The Mirror, The Express
Target audience	The main group a media text is aimed at. It is usually defined by gender (male/female), age, and social class
Theme	Plot is what happens in a story. Theme is the issues the plot deals with. Themes might include crime, revenge, family life, and so on.
Topic sentence	The first sentence (sometimes printed in bold, or capitals, or a larger font) aims to give you the whole story in one go: who, what, where, when, where, why?
unique selling point	The key features of a product. Advertisers try to emphasise usps to show that their product is different from their rivals’

Empty boxes just mean I've removed a term not relevant to the exam.