Jan 2015 Exam Paper Revision Pack

Industries

1 The BBC is a publicly funded media organisation that relies on the licence fee as a source of income

Give one other source of public funding for media organisations

  ·       Lottery funding

  ·       Tax payers money

  ·       Government grants

2 Many organisations within the media industry are not publicly funded

A.    Name two privately funded media companies

·       ITV

·       Channel 4

·       MTV

·       Sony

·       SKY

·       IGN

·       Pixar

B.    Give two benefits for a media company of being funded privately

·       Increased revenue

·       Increases marketing

·       Editorial freedom

·       Alignment to products or brands

·       Wider international distribution

3 Give the name of the governing body of the BBC.

  ·       BBC TRUST

CV or showreels

4

  A.    Give one benefit for potential employee of using a CV when applying for a job

  ·       Flexible

  ·       Low cost

  ·       Quick to process

  ·       Established practice

  ·       Tailored to need

  B.    Give one drawback of using a CV when applying for a job in the media industry

  ·       Limited space

  ·       Difficult to stand out

  ·       Can become out of date

5

A. news organisation requests the CVs of potential employees when recruiting for full-time permanent jobs

Give two equality issues that the news organisation will need to consider when employing someone for their 24-hour news output

  ·       Unsocial hours

  ·       Discrimination/bias

  ·       Employee rights (dependents)

  ·       Medical conditions

  ·       Legal considerations

  ·       Flexible warning patterns

Permanent, recruitment and collaborations

6 Give one benefit of being employed by a media organisation on a full-time permanent basis

·       Security support

·       Employee benefits

·       Regular wage

7 working in the media industry means working either collaboratively or independently

  A.    Give one advantage of working collaboratively in the media industry.

  ·       Increases communication

  ·       Develops own skills

  ·       Shared outcomes/ collaborations

  B.    Explain two advantages of working independently in the media industry

  ·       Multi-skilling. Allowing a wider range of skills to be developed

  ·       An engagement with the whole production process. Giving greater creative control over the product

Permanent jobs

8 A television production company prefers to promote a production assistant to a floor manager rather than recruit a new staff member

  A.    Give two advantages of this decision for the company

  ·       No recruitment costs

  ·       Flexible notice period

  ·       Motivated workforce

  ·       Easier/quicker

  B.    Explain one reason why relying on internal promotion might be a drawback for the television production company

  ·       A limited number of applicants to choose from (1) meaning company is less likely to recruit the very best person for the job (1)

  ·     Will create another vacancy in the company(1) requiring further training for new staff members (1)

  ·       Can cause resentment among other staff (1) creating difficult working relationships and affecting collaboration (1)

National organisation

9

  A.    The BBC is a national media organisation

Name one other national media organisation In the UK

  ·       Sky

  ·       ITV

  ·       Channel 4

  ·       Channel 5

  ·       Virgin

  B.    Many local newspapers are now owned by a small number of national or international organisations

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of ownership

Advantages

  ·       Financial security

  ·       Shared resources

  ·       Ability to recruit from a national talent base and deploy workforce where required.

Disadvantages

·       Limits independence

·       Distant relationship between owners and audience

·       Diminished link with local audience

Conglomerate and independent

10 Writers are paid a proportion of their fee before they produce their work

Give the name of this type of payment

  ·       Advance/pre-payment

  ·       Retainer

  ·       Signing of contract

11

  A.    Name one media conglomerate

  ·       News corporation

  ·       Walt Disney (Disney)

  ·       CBS / Viacom

  ·       Time warner

  ·       NBC / Universal

  B.    Give two differences between a media conglomerate and an independently owned media company

  ·       Size and scope

  ·       Range of products

  ·       Size of workforce

  ·       Ownership structure

Audience and community

12 The wider use of the internet has led to more community media organisations being set up around the country

Outline two benefits for the audience of this type of organisation being based in their community.

  ·       Serves the community

  ·       Immediacy of information

  ·       Diverse content

  ·       Easy to discover

13 A publisher owns a range of magazine titles on subjects including fashion, beauty, cycling and fishing

This type of ownership is described as horizontal integration

Explain one advantage for the publisher of this type of ownership

·       Flexibility in terms of titles (1) to reflect audience  demand (1)

·       Greater influence (1) being able to set the agenda

·       Shared services and workforce (1) leading a greater efficiency (1)

Mainstream studios

14 A major film studio begins production on a mainstream movie

Explain two advantages of the movie being backed by a major film studio

  ·       Attracts star names (1) leading to box office draw

  ·       High production values and budgets (1) enhancing the brand or franchise (1)

  ·       Major distribution networks (1) allowing for the product to reach the widest audience (1)

File sharing

15 Music products are concerned about illegal file sharing on the internet

  A.    Give one impact that file sharing is having on the music industry

  ·       Loss of revenue/decline in CD sales

  ·       Inability to fund new talent

  ·       Inability to control quality of the product / download

  ·       Inability to control associations with product where download without permission

  B.  There is public concern about some of the content available on the internet

This has led to calls for stricter regulation

Discuss reasons for and against stricter regulation of the internet

Reasons for

·       Terrorism – the stricter controls could help in the fight against terrorism

·       Control of offensive material – in order to protect children and young people

·       Propaganda – tighter controls would limit the ability of websites to promote

·       Copyright – to protect the interests of copyright holders and protect investment in future production

Against

·       Enhances user skills/technical currency for later life

·       Mass harvesting of private data

·       Free speech – the controls may limit free speech as in some countries

·       Restricts consumer choice -  the consumer should be able to choose what sites on the internet they visit