Terms for magazine analysis

Mini Glossary of Terms

• Mainstream: Standardised, conventional media representations – normally associated with commercial success rather than critical success.
• Independent: Media texts that are consumed by smaller, more niche audiences and not normally associated with large companies or organisations.
• Left Wing, Socialist Ideology: An overarching belief system (ideology) that champions the causes of the individual and minority groups against mainstream culture and big business.
• Tabloid: A smaller sixed newspaper format used by The Sun for example.
• Critical Success: Where success is measured by awards and reviews.
• Commercial Success: Where success is measured by how much money a piece of media makes.
• Rebrand: Where a new image is given to a media text.
• USP: Unique Selling Point – where a media text is sold to audiences on the strength of something specific.
• Multiculturalism: The positive foregrounding of the diversity of race and ethnicity.
• Iconic: Something that is well known and has established status.
• Masthead: Normally the top, or main strip or bar across a magazine.
• Conventions: The expected aspects of a media text, normally associated with genre.
• Signify: Where meaning is constructed though signs and symbols.
• Connotations: Similar to signifies, connotation is where something has an implied meaning from the denoted signs and symbols associated with it.
• Tagline: The saying or textual association of a magazine.
• Encodes: Media producers (or publishers) encode or put in meaning.
• Mythical: Something in the media that has the status of accepted truth but which in fact has been constructed to give this impression.
• Genre: Type or Sort.
• Cultural Capital: The pre existing knowledge, skills and experience an audience have that affect their reading or deconstruction of a media text.
• Oligopoly: Where four or more companies, e.g. magazine publishers like Bauer dominate the marketplace.
• Circulation: The amount of copies of a magazine that is sold or is given out.
• Cross Media Platforms: Where a media text or brand has a presence in a number of different media.
• Brand: The image or association of a named product.
• Demographic: An in depth analysis of the target audience covering a range of criteria.
• Advertising Spend: How much money is spent on advertising.
• Hybridised: Where the conventions of two or more genres are apparent.
• Framed for the Male Gaze: Where a subject is set within the frame (e.g. a magazine cover) and is sexualised for male audiences (from Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory).
• Advertising Revenue: How much money a magazine, for example makes from advertising.
• Anchor: When something is ‘anchored’ it has a definite meaning.
• Stereotypical Connotations: Something that audiences expect but that is often based on limited information.
• Aspirational: Audiences look up to something or somebody.
• Foregrounded: Where an image or person is put at the front of audiences’ minds.
• Mode of Address: The way a media text speaks to its audience.
• Minimalistic: Lacking depth and detail.
• Pun: Use of double meaning.
• Colour Palette: An overall colour scheme.
• Leaderboard: The online equivalent of a masthead.
• Navigation: How audiences or users move around a website.
• House Style: A recognisable style e.g. from print magazine to online equivalent.
• Interactive: Where audiences take an active part in a media text and where communication is two way and not one way.
• Typography: An overall term used to describe the physical representation of text.
• Font: The style of the lettering.
• Hierarchy: An agreed status or chain of command/authority.
• Digital: New media/forms of technology across different media platforms.
• Retro Culture: Where audiences enjoy culture from years gone by.
• Above the Fold: The top half of a homepage.
• Below the Fold: The bottom half of a homepage.
• Convergent Links: Interactive links to other media.
• Merchandising: The spin off sale of associated goods and services.
• Synergy: Where two or more compatible forms sell each other.
• Juxtaposition: Where something is deliberately placed next to something to create a third meaning.
• Pluralistic:  A representation that is challenging, more contemporary and diverse and resists stereotyping.
• Post Feminist Icon: A female representation where the subject exhibits both stereotypical male and female characteristics.
• Line Extending: Where the authority of an existing brand is used to diversity into different products.
• Intertextuality: Where one media text makes reference to another.
• Rich Media: Links to a broad range of cross media platforms.
• Web 2.0: A more interactive layout on a web page commonly associated with social networking sites – less of a one way form of communication.
• Popular Culture: Media normally consumed by mainstream, mass audiences.