Practice Question

Analyse the ways in which the media represent groups of people.
[50 marks, 1 hour]

Marks are awarded for:
Explanation / analysis / argument = 20 marks
Use of examples = 20 marks
Use of terminology = 10 marks

Refer to 2 media areas - the film Kidulthood and the newspaper articles.

Refer to contemporary representations (the newspaper articles) - this should be the bulk of your answer.
Refer to past representations (Kidulthood will count - ultimately you may want to use something earlier - the old newspaper coverage of the mods and rockers would count).
Refer to what the future of such representations might be (see the quotation from Cohen at the end of the Moral Panics prezi: he predicts there will always be folk devils and moral panics because of the way our society is organised).

Include some textual analysis - details of how the representations are constructed in the texts.

Include some theory - David Gauntlett, Stuart Hall, Stanley Cohen, David Buckingham (the article from MediaMagazine) or others from the blog.

Build your argument. Look for changes over time, or notice the lack of change. Look for similarities and contrasts between the newspapers, or between newspaper representations of the looting and Kidulthood's representations of urban youth. Consider why these differences exist.