Source Lab
Sources & secondary evidence
Official NZQA references
We link to official material and quote only briefly — we do not republish whole NZQA papers or exemplars. Always check the current version on the NZQA site.
Achievement Standard 91251 (Version 5): Demonstrate understanding of an aspect of a media genre
highNZQA · official standard · verified 2026-06-23
Defines the recognised aspects of a media genre (changes, audience, commercial) and the Achieved / Merit / Excellence criteria.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/assessment/view-detailed.do?standardNumber=91251
AS 91251 Assessment Specifications 2026
highNZQA · assessment specification · verified 2026-06-23
Confirms the 2026 examination is online/digital, candidates respond to one statement about an aspect of a genre, and quality is assessed rather than length (≈750–800 words encouraged).
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/specifications/2026/91251-spc-2026.pdf
2026 NCEA Examination Timetable
highNZQA · official examination timetable · verified 2026-08-27
Level 2 Media Studies is scheduled for Thursday 26 November 2026 at 9:30am and is digitally assessed.
https://www2.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/NCEA/2026-Exam-Timetable.pdf
AS 91251 Examination Paper 2025
highNZQA · past examination · verified 2026-06-23
Contains the five 2025 statements candidates chose between.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2025/91251-exm-2025.pdf
AS 91251 Assessment Schedule 2025
highNZQA · assessment schedule · verified 2026-06-23
Shows how markers distinguish Achieved, Merit and Excellence responses.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/schedules/2025/91251-ass-2025.pdf
AS 91251 Assessment Report 2025
highNZQA · examiner report · verified 2026-06-23
Identifies recurring weaknesses: confusing product/franchise with genre, plot summary instead of genre evidence, one-text-at-a-time structure, mechanical statement use, naming theory without applying it.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/reports/2025/91251-report-2025.pdf
AS 91251 past examination papers (2015–2025)
highNZQA · past examinations · verified 2026-07-03
The complete set of publicly released 91251 papers; statements quoted in the Question Bank.
AS 91251 Assessment Reports 2021–2024
highNZQA · examiner reports · verified 2026-07-03
Four consecutive reports repeat the same warnings: rote-learned scaffolds, text-by-text structure, audience/society confusion, theory name-dropping, and unintegrated statistics.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/subjects/assessment-reports/media-l2/
AS 91251 Excellence Exemplar 2025
highNZQA · exemplar · verified 2026-06-23
Shows the depth, nuance and implications expected at Excellence.
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exemplars/2025/91251-exp-2025-excellence.pdf
Survivor — official programme page
use-with-careCBS / Paramount · official programme page · verified 2026-06-23
Promotional description of the format; useful for how the producers position the show.
Alone — official programme page
use-with-careHistory / A&E · official programme page · verified 2026-08-27
Describes the self-filmed, last-person-standing endurance format.
Outlast — official title page
use-with-careNetflix · official programme page · verified 2026-08-27
Describes the team-based wilderness competition where you must stay on a team to win.
Alone — TVNZ+ programme page
use-with-careTVNZ · official New Zealand streaming page · verified 2026-08-27
TVNZ+ currently lists Alone for New Zealand viewers.
An Introduction to Genre Theory
highAberystwyth University (widely mirrored) · academic overview · verified 2026-08-26
“There are no undisputed ‘maps’ of the system of genres within any medium.” Also the standard route to Neale (1980): “genres are instances of repetition and difference” (p.48), “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” (p.50), “genres are not systems: they are processes of systematization” (p.51).
https://faculty.washington.edu/farkas/HCDE510-Fall2012/Chandler_genre_theoryDFAnn.pdf
Survivor (American TV series)
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Premiered 31 May 2000 on CBS; US$1,000,000 prize; 39 days in the classic format (42 for The Australian Outback, 26 for seasons filmed from 2021); filmed in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji since season 33; adapted from Expedition Robinson.
Alone (TV series)
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Premiered 18 June 2015 on History; US$500,000 prize (US$1,000,000 for season 7's 100-day challenge); contestants select ten items from a pre-approved list of forty; tap out by satellite phone or are withdrawn at a medical check. Locations range from Vancouver Island and Patagonia to Labrador and, in season 12, the Karoo Desert.
Outlast (TV series)
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Premiered 10 March 2023 on Netflix, all eight episodes at once. Sixteen players, US$1,000,000, won by the last remaining team of two or more. Season one filmed on Chichagof Island near the Neka River; season two at Little Duncan Bay. A player left alone has 24 hours to join a team; teams can vote a member out; violence and traps are banned; the only exit is firing a flare gun.
Outlast: Netflix's rule-free survival show spawns brilliant, despicable strategy
use-with-carereality blurred · critical review · verified 2026-08-26
A specialist reality-TV critic on how far Outlast's producers let sabotage run, and where safety staff did intervene — including the executive producer's line about not wanting to 'handcuff' players.
https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2023/03/outlast-netflix-review/
In 'Outlast', the Toughest Lone Wolves Have to Learn How to Survive as a Pack
context-onlyNetflix Tudum · platform publicity · verified 2026-08-27
Netflix frames the contestants as lone wolves forced to work as a pack, and explicitly opposes self-preservation to loyalty, greed to empathy.
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/outlast-release-date-cast-news
Expedition Robinson
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Format developed in 1994 by Charlie Parsons for the UK company Planet 24; first televised in Sweden in 1997. Already contained tribes, immunity challenges and elimination by contestant vote.
Naked and Afraid
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Premiered 23 June 2013 on Discovery. Two strangers, 21 days, one useful item each — and no cash prize in the main series.
Direct cinema
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
Emerged c. 1958–62 in the United States and Quebec, enabled by lightweight portable 16mm cameras AND portable synchronous sound (pilottone, then the Nagra III). Primary (Drew Associates, 1960) is the defining example.
1950s quiz show scandals
use-with-careWikipedia · reference work · verified 2026-08-26
The Twenty-One rigging became public in 1958; House subcommittee hearings followed in October 1959; implicated programmes were cancelled and networks retreated to lower-stakes formats.
Alone Insider: Interview with lead editor Jonathan Brown
use-with-careHistory / A&E · official producer interview · verified 2026-08-27
The editor describes participants filming for much of the day and post-production shaping thousands of hours of self-shot material into scenes and episode arcs.
https://www.history.com/shows/alone/articles/alone-insider-interview-with-lead-editor-jonathan-brown
Alone — official gear list
use-with-careHistory / A&E · official programme page · verified 2026-08-26
The published list of selectable items, grouped as shelter/bedding/hygiene, tools, and hunting/cooking/food. Participants choose ten; issued clothing and safety equipment do not count toward the limit.
Types of secondary source
Not all sources are equal
Eight questions to interrogate a source
- 1.Who created it?
- 2.What do they know?
- 3.What is their purpose?
- 4.Is the claim verifiable?
- 5.Is the evidence current?
- 6.Does it describe audience data, or merely assume audience response?
- 7.Does it help explain the genre?
- 8.Can it support a conclusion?
Citing sources
Use a consistent, lightweight citation throughout your writing: author (if known), title, publisher, date, URL. If metadata is incomplete, say so rather than inventing it. Never fabricate APA details.