key media concepts

We can easily equip ourselves with the ability to analyse and interpret a message — and accept or reject its legitimacy — by considering the core concepts behind every media message.They are simple to remember and provide a good starting point for any analysis.

These are the 4 key media concepts

Media language :

The media language we use to analyse a media text varies depending on the media form and is divided into genres such as horror, comedy, action, western, or thriller. These genres each have their own set of "codes and conventions." A science fiction film, for example, can be associated with spaceships and aliens. The codes and conventions reveal the type of narrative and genre, allowing us to recognise and analyse the form of the text under consideration.

Institution :

Media institutions plan, create, illustrate, design, market, and distribute media products to the general public. It is critical to understand how these media institutions operate and how their operations can influence media products. It's also important to think about the company or organisation that creates or broadcasts the media texts we receive. Different media institutions have different goals and visions, and they frequently serve different audiences or compete for the same ones. Some media companies are massive and own a variety of media platforms, such as The Sun newspaper, The Times newspaper, FOX TV, and 20th Century Fox films. Another critical aspect is ownership and control.

Audience :

It is important to think about who a media text is communicating with. Different media companies have different audiences, as well as a variety of target audiences. Audience segmentation is the division of media audiences into different groups. We can segment audiences based on their age, racial group, gender, social class, education level, where they live, there own interests, or the subculture with which they identify.

Since every media text is created with someone in mind, we must describe the target and preferred audience. Viewers can also respond to media by relating to or idolising the characters.

Representation :

is basically the concepts of reality that is moulded and displayed by the media. not everything shown in the media is real, It is a re-presentation of reality. For example, young people in the media are sometimes depicted with basic stereotypes or deviant behaviours; thus, a representation could be positive or negative depending on how it is presented. As a result, we must analyse the representation of characters and organisations to verify whether there is an unfair supremacy of negative stereotypes.