II. Main notions

Before going into more specific notions and phenomena in media discourse, in might be useful to have a look at the key concepts in media. As there are quite a few different types of media, some of these notions may be applied to more than one sphere. Being aware of the specific terminology of media discourse is helpful in studying and understanding it. Here is a brief list of some of the more difficult or specific media terms with definitions:

Binary opposition – a pair of direct opposites such as good and evil, white and black or male and female.

Blog (from weblog) – a frequently updated personal journal on a website, intended for public viewing.

Boxout – A roughly square-shaped design element containing text or graphics separated from the main body of text/graphics on a magazine, newspaper or web-page. Usually contains information separate from the main content/article whilst being connected to it (for example, statistics, web-links or glossaries).

Heading – a title for a paragraph, section, chapter or page.

Editorial – 1. all copy in a newspaper or magazine with no advertising content 2. a column in a newspaper giving opinion on news items covered elsewhere in that issue. Also called leader.

Feature – 1. a newspaper article that is longer and more descriptive than a news story, containing more background and colour 2. an item for a radio or television programme, usually consisting of interviews, actuality and links edited together.

Headline – a title printed across a page or before a newspaper article, usually in larger heavier letters and indicating what follows it.

Hypertext – a piece of highlighted text on a webpage that can be clicked on to link to another page.

Ideology – the system of values and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important. The media is one agent that perpetuates these within a society, as are the government, the church, the education system and others.

Interactive – referring to a system or piece of software that allows communication between the user and the computer in conversational mode.

Intertextuality – the theory that all media texts are interrelated, and can only be defined by their relations with others.

Lead – the main story on the front page of a newspaper.

Mediation – 1. in cultural theory, the process by which texts and media products are analysed through an intermediary ‘structure’, for example conventions of genre, form of production 2. in cultural theory, the idea that texts interpret and hide meaning, and present it in a ‘mediated’ state, i.e. one that is not to be trusted.

Meme (also internet meme) – something such as a person, site or image that captures the attention of multiple Internet users and becomes a fad that quickly spreads. Viral advertising tries to take advantage of this.

Podcasting – the act of offering audio or video files over the Internet to subscribing users.

Representation – the way in which a particular group or section of society is presented on screen or the image that is created of them.

Semiotics – the study of the way in which signs and symbols are used to create systems of social meaning.

Sidebar – 1. a short news story containing additional relevant information that is printed beside a featured story 2. a block of text set beside the main text in a web document.

Sound bite – 1. a short extract from an interview or speech 2. a short, succinct quote.

Target audience – the people who receive a media product, or at whom a piece of advertising is aimed.

Stream – a video or audio broadcast made via the Internet or a computer network in real time.

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