Deck 8: The Mass Media and Politics

Question 1

Social media

A) Became more prominent during the pandemic
B) Contributed to the January 2021 riots at the Capitol
C) Often convey misinformation
D) All of the above

Answer 1

All of the above

Question 2

The election campaigns of 2020 were dramatically affected by

A) Media indifference
B) Public ignorance
C) The pandemic
D) Poor voter turnout

Answer 2

The pandemic

Question 3

The pandemic altered the 2020 campaign

A) Fundraising strategies
B) Debate formats
C) Voting methods
D) All of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

The mass media consists of all of the following EXCEPT

A) Print media
B) Electronic media
C) Social media
D) All of these are part of mass media

Question 5

The mass media performs a vital role in supporting political freedom by

A) Helping to create a public sphere where information can be freely accessed and exchanged
B) Providing support to political parties
C) Supporting an individual's existing beliefs
D) None of these

Question 6

Citizens who rely on __________ tend to be more knowledgeable than those who rely on other media.

A) Television
B) Social media
C) Newspapers
D) Radio

Question 7

The media's role in a democratic society is

A) Providing information and education
B) Acting as advocate of people
C) Setting agendas
D) All of these are roles of the media

Question 8

The media are a(n) _________ connection between government and citizens.

A) Reliable
B) Primary
C) Unstable
D) Terrible

Question 9

A basic threat to a free press is

A) Government control
B) Private control
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 10

The media support political freedom by helping to create what Habermas called a(n)

A) Open dialog
B) Public sphere
C) Public media
D) Free market

Question 11

The press facilitates elections by all of the following EXCEPT

A) Informing voters of elected officials' actions
B) Informing voters of the issues
C) Informing voters of candidates running for office
D) Informing voters of the weather on election day

Question 12

The traditional news media sees its primary purpose as

A) Agenda setting
B) Educating
C) Advocating
D) All of these

Question 13

From a social-psychological perspective we would expect

A) Psychological attachment to a candidate or cause
B) Immunity to rational arguments that disagree with their preexisting beliefs
C) Emotional attachment rather than a conventional cost-benefit analysis
D) All of these

Question 14

Iyengar (1997) argues that the political party has been replaced by _________ as intermediary between voters and candidates.

A) All mass media
B) Social media
C) Television
D) Print media

Question 15

The rise of the media as a direct conduit between citizens and candidates has

A) Changed the nominating procedure of political parties
B) Eliminated any real need for political parties in the nominating process
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 16

The dominant mass medium in the United States is

A) Word of mouth
B) Television
C) Newspapers
D) The internet

Question 17

Roughly _______ percent of Americans aged 18-33 get their news from Facebook.

A) 35
B) 70
C) 20
D) 60

Question 18

Roughly _________ percent of Americans over 50 get their news from Facebook.

A) 20
B) 40
C) 50
D) 75

Question 19

Which media is most likely to produce misinformation?

A) Political talk radio
B) Cable television news
C) Social media news
D) None of these

Question 20

The "Daily Show effect" generally describes

A) An increase in young Americans becoming informed about politics
B) An increase in the cynicism of young Americans
C) A decrease in cynicism of young Americans
D) An increase in older Americans becoming informed about politics

Question 21

The rise of ___________ is a source of great concern to the erosion of quality civic debate.

A) Alternative facts
B) Biased news
C) Fake news
D) Spun news

Question 22

About __________ of Americans believe news organizations often print or broadcast stories that are factually inaccurate.

A) One-half
B) One-third
C) Two-thirds
D) Three-fifths

Question 23

The partisan feelings towards the media are as such

A) Republicans tend to view the media as performing an important role in keeping politicians honest.
B) Democrats increasingly view the media as an obstacle that prevents politicians from getting things done
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 24

Bernard Cohen famously observed

A) The press is no good at telling people what to think, but is good at telling them what to think about
B) The mainstream media has a liberal bias
C) The press usually predicts the winner of the presidential election
D) The press is good at telling Congress what to focus on

Question 25

___________ is emphasizing certain aspects of a story to make them more important.

A) Highlighting
B) Spinning
C) Framing
D) None of these

Question 26

By acting as __________, the press allows citizens to pay more attention to what government is doing.

A) Mongoose
B) Watchdog
C) Raptor
D) Honey badger

Question 27

Journalists see themselves as advocates because

A) They go where no other citizens go
B) They ask questions on behalf of the public
C) They believe they are more educated
D) None of these

Question 28

There are _______ major threat(s) to a free press in the United States.

A) One
B) No
C) Two
D) Three

Question 29

Government control is best exemplified in which Supreme Court case?

A) New York Times v United States
B) Washington Post v United States
C) Bernstein v New York
D) Johnson v New Jersey

Question 30

The best known case of ____________ deals with the Pentagon Papers.

A) Private control of media
B) Television censorship
C) Prior restraint
D) None of these

Question 31

Private control of the media is a threat in that it

A) Limits the free flow of information
B) Can tailor information to only that which sells the news
C) Concentrates ownership, and therefore perspective, of the news
D) All of these

Question 32

___________ bias is the tendency to present an unbalanced perspective so that information is conveyed in a way that consistently favors one set of interests over another.

A) Political
B) Media
C) Personal
D) Government

Question 33

Journalism that seeks to report facts rather than promote a partisan point of view is

A) Objective
B) Subjective
C) Normative
D) Subversive

Question 34

One recent change in the news media is

A) Less infotainment
B) More hard news and less soft news
C) A shift from appealing to the median voter to political favorites
D) None of these

Question 35

Partisan bias in the media is less of a problem than

A) Racial and gender bias
B) Racial bias and ageism
C) Ageism and gender bias
D) Socioeconomic bias

Question 36

In the mass media, journalists, editors, and producers serve as

A) Investigators
B) Gate keepers
C) Spin doctors
D) Bias promoters

Question 37

Democrats and Republicans agree that the media do a good job of keeping politicians honest during election campaigns.

Question 38

Both Republicans and Democrats seek out a wide variety of media sources in daily life.

Question 39

The mass media is also known as the press.

Question 40

A biased press is a threat to democracy.

Question 41

Most people believe the media is not biased.

Question 42

Our partisan and ideological viewpoints help determine what information and news sources we consider credible.

Question 43

Psychological experiments have repeatedly found that people readily accept information that confirms their own views but are much quicker to find fault with information that conflicts with their own views.

Question 44

Hard news is more dangerous to democracy than soft news.

Question 45

Prior to the advent of electronic media, most print media were openly partisan.

Question 46

Are alternative facts bad for democracy? If the press is irresponsible and politically biased, does that threaten democracy threatened? Doesn't pushing a particular ideological or partisan point of view -- especially if it is demonstrably false -- represent at least some sort of ethical lapse? Isn't the media supposed to be neutral and unbiased?

Question 47

How do you rationally choose news in a democratic system? What does it depend on?

Question 48

Has modern media replaced the role of the political party in campaigning? How so, or how not?

Question 49

How well does the modern media do the four tasks it hopes to achieve? Where are its failures? Its strengths?

Question 50

Social networking sites, Internet chat rooms, e-mail, media and the like dramatically lower the cost of exchanging information. Will lowering the barriers and costs of exchanging information expand the public sphere in a positive way?