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Media contexts (the theoretical framework)

3 dot points across 3 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do economic conditions and political ideas shape media products, and how do funding, ownership and political viewpoint show up in what is made?

Media contexts: economic and political contexts. How funding models, ownership and the wider economy shape products, and how political ideologies, regulation and the press's political alignment shape representation and meaning.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to economic and political contexts. Covers how funding models, ownership and the economy shape products, and how political ideologies, regulation and the press's political alignment shape representation and meaning, with the application skills the exam rewards.
15 min answer →

How does the historical moment of production shape media products, and how does comparing products from different periods reveal change in form, technology and attitudes?

Media contexts: historical contexts. How the historical period, the state of media technology and the conventions of the time shape products, and how comparing an older and a newer product reveals change in media language, representation and industry.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to historical contexts. Covers how the historical period, the state of media technology and the conventions of the time shape products, and how comparing older and newer products reveals change in media language, representation and industry, with the application skills the exam rewards.
15 min answer →

How do the social and cultural conditions of the time shape media products, and why does OCR require you to read products in context?

Media contexts: social and cultural contexts. How the values, attitudes, social groups and cultural moment of a product's time of production and reception shape its media language, representations and meaning.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to social and cultural contexts. Covers how the values, attitudes, social groups and cultural moment of a product's time shape its media language, representations and meaning, and how products are read differently across contexts, with the application skills the exam rewards.
15 min answer →