Institute of Commercial Management | Qualification Subject

Media & Society

ICM Professional Diploma Unit

Media Institutions and their role in society

  • Defining a media institutions
  • Cinema – mainstream and Art House
  • Regulatory bodies
  • The press and journalism
  • Television
  • Case study – photography
  • History and development

Defining media genre

  • Print
  • Photography
  • Film
  • Radio
  • Music and phonography
  • Television
  • Mobile
  • Internet
  • Video games

Media Genre

  • Newspapers
  • Magazines
  • Photography
  • Film
  • Radio
  • Television
  • Telecommunications
  • The internet and the web
  • Music recording
  • Video games

Media Industries

  • Media – goods or service?
  • Types of activities
  • Comparative business models – live radio v. recorded music and film
  • Stages of media production
  • The film industry

The Television Industry

  • History of television
  • From monolith to pluralism
  • Financing television
  • Public service broadcasting

Media Production

  • Magazine production process
  • Target audiences
  • Budget and funding
  • Negotiating a brief
  • Preparing a treatment
  • TV production process
  • Creative personnel
  • Technical personnel
  • Copyright and permissions
  • Post production

Production Techniques

  • Technical codes
  • narrative codes
  • Electronic publishing
  • Special effects
  • Digital effects

Media Distribution

  • Newspapers and magazine distribution
  • Radio and television
  • Analogue v. digital
  • Recorded music
  • Games
  • Film distribution
  • Advertising led products

Media Representation and Misrepresentation

  • Racism in the media
  • Historical context Stepin Fetchit
  • Representation and gender
  • Positive and negative images
  • Stereotypes
  • Migration and representation of migrants and asylum seekers

Ideologies and the Media

  • Classification, propaganda and censorship
  • The Global Village
  • Growth and development
  • Cultural imperialism v. local cultures

News values/media values

  • Galtung and Ruge
  • Content research

Research

  • Primary and secondary
  • Background research
  • Content research
  • Internet research
  • Production research
  • Audience research

Celebrity Culture

  • What is celebrity?
  • Types of celebrity
  • Celebrity and advertising
  • Celebrity and broadcast
  • Online programming

Documentary and Reality TV

  • Realism and truth
  • Documentary
  • Ethics and documentary
  • Reality TV

Globalisation

  • The Global Village concept
  • Global brands and local brands
  • Technology and globalisation
  • Cultural imperialism
  • US cultural power
  • Global cinema

The Media and the Market

  • Historical background
  • Regulation versus freedom of expression
  • Deregulation and liberalisation of media institutions
  • What is a “free market”?
  • Impact of the world wide web in breaking down boundaries and barriers

Example Candidate Response Booklet

Example Candidate Response (ECR) Booklets are a source of crucial information for Centres and Candidates as they use real candidate responses. We ask Senior Examiners to comment on five or more responses in terms of why the mark was awarded with commentary about how to improve the answer (if necessary).

Recommended Reading

Main Text:

The Media Student’s Book - Branston G. and Stafford R. (2010 – 5th edition) (London, Routledge)

Indicative Text:

Alternative Text and Further Reading:

Media Studies Reader - O’Sullivan, Tim and Jewkes,Yvonne – editors (2003) (London, Arnold)

The Media in Britain - Stokes, Jane and Reading, Anna – editors (1999) (London, Plagrave)