Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457): Topic: Media and communication – Revision Notes

These notes go with the Media and communication study guide. Read the guide first if you have not.

These notes are for Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457), using the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). “Media and communication” is in the topic list in section 3. The assessed skills come from sections 2 and 4. You can use the topic in Component 1 (Written Exam), Component 2 (Individual Report) or Component 3 (Team Project). Topic knowledge is not assessed: the syllabus says “Knowledge of content is not assessed in this syllabus”. These notes show how to use the topic to practise the skills.

Links: subject hub, 0457 checklist, practice questions for this topic.

The skills, in the syllabus’s own words

• AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation: 68% of the qualification, and 100% of Component 1.
• AO2 Reflection: 15% of the qualification. It is assessed in Components 2 and 3, not Component 1.
• AO3 Communication and collaboration: 17% of the qualification.
• Command words: Analyse, Describe, Evaluate, Explain, Identify, Suggest.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Issue (syllabus)	“an important subject or problem for discussion”
Perspective (syllabus)	“a viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning”
Research (syllabus)	“the systematic study of a global issue to find evidence and develop understanding”
Evidence (syllabus)	Information that helps develop understanding or prove something true or false
Argument (syllabus)	“a series of statements containing reasons and evidence which support a claim”
Claim	A statement put forward as true
Fact	Can be checked as true or false
Opinion	A personal judgement
Generalisation	A broad statement applied to a whole group
Prediction	A statement about the future
Value	A belief about what matters or is right
Bias	A one-sided view
Vested interest	Gaining or losing from the outcome
Misinformation	False information shared by someone who believes it
Disinformation	False information shared on purpose to mislead
Press freedom	Journalists reporting without censorship or threats
Media literacy	The ability to find, judge and create media messages

The first five are the syllabus’s own definitions. Claim to vested interest are the terms the syllabus says you will benefit from understanding for Component 1. The last four are topic words for discussion, not assessed knowledge.

Issues at a glance

Level	Example issue
Global	Should technology platforms pay for the news they share? How can journalists be kept safe?
National	How should public service broadcasters be funded? How far should broadcasting be regulated?
Local	A local paper closes; online-only notices leave some residents out; rumours spread in group chats

Perspectives at a glance

Group	What they usually want	Why
Journalists and editors	Independence, safety, steady income	Their work and jobs depend on it
Media owners	Audience and profit	They run businesses
Governments	Public order and trust	They answer to voters and are often reported on
Technology platforms	Few costs and rules	Payment and regulation laws affect their business
Advertisers	Cheap access to audiences	Advertising money follows attention
Audiences	Accurate, affordable, accessible news	They use news to make decisions
Minority-language communities	Being informed and represented	Being left out makes them less informed and less heard

To turn a row into a perspective, add evidence and reasoning: who says it, what they base it on and what they gain or lose.

Evidence and cases at a glance

Who / what	What happened	Finding or outcome	One evaluation point
McCombs and Shaw (1972), agenda-setting	Undecided voters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, during the 1968 US presidential campaign	The issues voters rated most important matched the issues the media covered most	Shows a link, not cause; one town; before online news
Australia, News Media Bargaining Code (2021)	A law to make platforms negotiate payment with news publishers	Facebook briefly blocked news in Australia in February 2021, then signed deals; in 2024 Meta said it would not renew them	New money for some publishers, but the effect depended on platforms staying in
Canada, Online News Act (Royal Assent 22 June 2023)	A similar payment law	Meta began ending news on its platforms in Canada in August 2023; Google agreed to give C$100 million a year, indexed to inflation	Same law, opposite responses from two companies
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 (1948)	The right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media”	Used by different sides of media debates	One value can support different perspectives
UNESCO, Global Media and Information Literacy Week	Held each October	Promotes media and information literacy	Raises awareness, but its effect on behaviour is hard to measure

Must-know distinctions

• Topic vs issue: “Media and communication” is a topic. “Should public money fund local journalism?” is an issue you can argue about.
• Opinion vs perspective: a perspective has evidence and reasoning behind it.
• Fact vs claim: a fact can be checked; a claim might or might not be true.
• Bias vs vested interest: bias is in how something is presented. A vested interest is a reason someone might be biased. A writer can have a vested interest and still be accurate.
• Misinformation vs disinformation: the difference is intent.
• Correlation vs cause: media coverage that matches public concern does not prove the media caused that concern.
• Analyse vs evaluate: analyse shows meaning and links. Evaluate judges quality or value.
• Individual Report vs Team Project: a global issue that divides opinion (Component 2) versus a local issue the team acts on (Component 3).

Mini essay plan: “assess actions” (Component 1 Question 4 style)

Question (original): “Assess which action would best improve people’s ability to judge the reliability of news.”

1. Judgement first: name the action you think works best, for example media literacy teaching in schools.
2. Action 1, media literacy teaching: builds lasting skills and does not require deciding which content to remove. Limits: slow, and it misses adults.
3. Action 2, independent fact-checking: quick corrections. Limits: corrections may reach fewer people than the original claim; some distrust fact-checkers.
4. Action 3, stricter regulation of broadcasters: clear rules on accuracy. Limits: concerns about free expression and who enforces the rules; it does not cover every source.
5. Use the sources: quote evidence for each action and judge how reliable it is.
6. Weigh and conclude: explain why your choice is better, for example “works best combined with fact-checking for adults”, and give one condition under which your judgement would change.

Quick self-test

1. What does the syllabus say about knowledge of content in 0457?
2. Give the syllabus definition of a perspective.
3. Which assessment objective is worth 0% of Component 1?
4. “Teenagers never read the news.” What type of statement is this?
5. What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?
6. A broadcaster publishes a survey praising its own news. Which syllabus term best describes the problem?
7. Which Component 1 question asks you to assess actions, and how many marks is it worth?
8. What must every Team Project plan include about the action, besides how it will be evidenced?
9. Rewrite “Fake news” as a global research question that divides opinion.
10. Give one limitation of McCombs and Shaw (1972).

Answers

1. It is not assessed. The topics are a context for practising skills.
2. “A viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning.”
3. AO2 Reflection.
4. A generalisation. It is also an opinion presented as if it were fact.
5. Intent. Misinformation is shared by someone who believes it is true; disinformation is shared on purpose to mislead.
6. Vested interest.
7. Question 4, worth 20 marks.
8. How the team will measure the success of the action.
9. For example: “Should governments be able to require online platforms to remove false news?”
10. It shows a link, not cause. It is also limited to one town, before online news existed.

Where marks are usually lost

• Bringing in outside facts about the media in the Written Exam instead of using the sources. Prior knowledge is not assessed.
• Saying a source is “unreliable” without naming why: the sample, the author’s interest or loaded words.
• Labelling a statement (for example “opinion”) without explaining how you can tell.
• Describing what each perspective says without explaining why the group holds it.
• Listing causes and consequences without linking them into a chain.
• In “assess actions” answers, praising every action and never reaching a judgement.
• Choosing an Individual Report issue that does not divide opinion, or that has no global dimension.
• Giving a Team Project action with no measure of success, or measuring effort (“we handed out 200 leaflets”) instead of effect.
• Leaving out citations and references, which AO3 expects in Components 2 and 3.

For more general skills practice, see Global Perspectives practice and the Team Project revision notes.

Official syllabus

Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). Topic list: section 3; assessment objectives and weightings: section 2; components and command words: section 4.