Deck 1: Mass Communication: a Critical Approach

Question 1

Mass media audiences generally seek out messages that correspond to their cultural beliefs and values.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the linear model of mass communication, gatekeepers are the authors, producers, and organizations that create the message.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The telegraph and newspapers transformed news into a salable commodity.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The manuscript culture that existed between 1000 B.C.E. and the mid-fifteenth century primarily served the ruling classes.

Question 5

The meaning of a message can be affected by a recipient's gender, age, education level, ethnicity, and occupation.

Question 6

Gutenberg played an active role in the transition from oral to written culture.

Question 7

No media existed prior to the coming of the electronic era in the nineteenth century.

Question 8

According to the textbook, the high-low model of culture limits the way we look at and discuss culture today.

Question 9

Most forms of culture demonstrate multiple tendencies; for example, a film could be both conventional and innovative.

Question 10

Lassie went off the air because children got tired of seeing the same plot every week.

Question 11

With the coming of the printing press, the printed newspaper became the first mass-marketed product in history.

Question 12

Media marketers refer to network programs that are repurposed for cable as "cross-platform" programs.

Question 13

The classical view of art is that it should aim to instruct and uplift.

Question 14

The computer was the first electronic medium.

Question 15

Google is the most profitable company of the digital age so far.

Question 16

According to the textbook, the mass media are industries that produce and distribute cultural products to large numbers of people.

Question 17

Gutenberg's invention of movable type allowed the book to become the first mass-marketed communication product in history.

Question 18

Although the way we consume media today focuses on individual interests on mobile devices, a positive result of the digital age is that family and friends gather to binge watch programs on weekends or at holidays.

Question 19

The senders of messages often have little control over how their messages will be received.

Question 20

The printing press fostered the rise of tribal communities.

Question 21

During which stage of developing a critical perspective do you look for patterns?

A) Description
B) Analysis
C) Interpretation
D) Evaluation
E) Engagement

Question 22

Which stage in developing a critical perspective best corresponds to identifying central characters, conflicts, topics, and themes?

A) Description
B) Analysis
C) Interpretation
D) Evaluation
E) Engagement

Question 23

Factories are most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 24

During which stage in developing a critical perspective would you take action as a citizen?

A) Description
B) Analysis
C) Interpretation
D) Evaluation
E) Engagement

Question 25

Populism tries to appeal to elite people by highlighting the differences between them and the ordinary people.

Question 26

Quill pens are most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 27

Which stage in developing a critical perspective best corresponds to making an informed judgment?

A) Description
B) Analysis
C) Interpretation
D) Evaluation
E) Engagement

Question 28

Local culture is most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 29

The textbook contends that many forms of media and culture cannot accurately be described using binary terms such as liberal and conservative or high culture and low culture.

Question 30

The "virtual office" is most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 31

A high-low vertical hierarchy is a more multidimensional way of looking at culture than viewing culture as a map.

Question 32

James Joyce's Finnegans Wake challenges readers to decode its complex narrative.

Question 33

Global Culture is most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 34

Postmodern culture questions the value of scientific reasoning and rational thought for solving society's problems.

Question 35

______ are the cultural industries that produce and distribute cultural products to large numbers of people.

A) Modern technologies
B) Oral communications
C) Illuminated manuscripts
D) Mass media
E) Communities

Question 36

Efficiency and individualism are both values of the modern period.

Question 37

The typewriter is most closely identified with which of the following historical periods?

A) Premodern (before 1800s)
B) Modern (1800s-1950s)
C) Postmodern (since 1950s)

Question 38

Critics contend that postmodern style borrows too heavily from other eras and devalues originality.

Question 39

Which stage in developing a critical perspective best corresponds to answering the question "So what?"

A) Description
B) Analysis
C) Interpretation
D) Evaluation
E) Engagement

Question 40

Modern artists such as Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) and Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times) predicted a future in which technology would lead to less oppression and more individual freedom.

Question 41

According to the textbook, the mass media have passed through which five historical stages?

A) Voice, pen, press, telegraph, computer
B) Ancient, medieval, Renaissance, modern, postmodern
C) Speech, manuscript, book, image, information
D) Face-to-face, local, regional, national, global
E) Oral, written, print, electronic, digital

Question 42

Which of the following statements about Google is false?

A) Google makes most of its money by generating original content.
B) Google is an example of a successful digital age media company.
C) Google is used to locate both "new" and "old" media content.
D) Google makes most of its money from shopping-related searches.
E) Google has expanded far beyond being a search engine by offering e-mail, mapping, and numerous other services.

Question 43

The key development that allowed for the transition to the digital age was _______.

A) the ability to convert images, text, and sounds into binary code
B) the telegraph
C) the ability to broadcast voices, music, and other sounds via the radio
D) television
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 44

Which of the following was a contribution of the telegraph?

A) The transformation of information into a commodity
B) The concept of nationalism
C) The rise of the middle class
D) The development of the pony express
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 45

Which of the following statements best describes media convergence?

A) It only happened because of the Internet.
B) It makes older forms of mass communication obsolete and leads to their disuse.
C) It allows older forms of mass communication to find new life with new technology
D) It creates new forms of media unlike anything we've seen before.
E) It only applies to the reinvention of the printed word.

Question 46

According to your textbook, which of the following is a consequence of the quick development of new technologies in the digital era?

A) We no longer use older technologies like the radio.
B) Cyberbullying and phishing
C) Traditional leaders in communication have even more control over information.
D) Traditional leaders in communication have lost some control over information.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 47

A cultural approach to media focuses on ________________.

A) the industry's lack of concern with control and distribution of production
B) how the audience has lost the love of story
C) how audiences are unifying with one meaning on the available media
D) how media is produced rather than on how messages are transmitted
E) None of the options are correct

Question 48

As writer Joan Didion once put it, "We tell ourselves stories in order to live." Narratives are the main way we make sense and meaning of life experiences. What is an example of a narrative used by media?

A) A post on a blog
B) A tweet by Donald Trump
C) A funny television commercial
D) A Fox News "exclusive"
E) All of the options are correct

Question 49

A cultural approach to understanding mass communication _______.

A) is easier to understand because it outlines a linear flow of information from sender to receiver
B) argues that gatekeepers decide which information and messages flow to the audience
C) argues that diverse audiences will interpret the same information differently
D) argues that diverse audiences interpret information in the same way
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 50

Which of the following is not considered a consequence of the printing press?

A) The rise of the middle class
B) The concept of the nation-state
C) An increased sense of community and mutual cooperation
D) A decline of religious authority
E) An increase in literacy rates

Question 51

The transformation from an industrial, print-based society to one grounded in the Information Age began with the development of the _______.

A) sound recording
B) printing press
C) newspaper
D) magazine
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 52

Selective exposure ___________.

A) is a TV show about the quirky inhabitants of a remote town in Alaska
B) refers to the process of media gatekeepers selecting information to which an audience will be exposed
C) deals with how much time audiences choose to spend with any media
D) refers to the fact that people tend to seek out messages that agree with what they already believe
E) refers to early film development techniques

Question 53

Which of the following is the best way to characterize the transitions between the print, electronic, and digital eras?

A) The exact lines between each era are clear.
B) As new technology was invented, the older forms of technology were rapidly discarded.
C) Each wave of newer technology came at the same time as more and more people moved from urban areas to rural areas.
D) In practice, the eras overlapped as newer technologies disrupted and modified older technologies.
E) Changes in the eras of mass communication had little effect on most people.

Question 54

Which of the following is one of the four stages in the emergence of a new mass medium that the textbook describes?

A) Invention stage
B) Testing stage
C) Entrepreneurial stage
D) Consumer stage
E) Obsolete stage

Question 55

Which of the following is one definition given in the textbook for the term media convergence?

A) The consolidation of different mass media holdings under one corporate umbrella
B) The appropriation of American products by foreign advertisers
C) The gathering of multiple press figures at a media event such as a press conference
D) A concentrated and organized stream of Internet traffic to one site for the purpose of crashing it
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 56

Which of the following statements about cross-platform media convergence is false?

A) A primary goal is to maximize profits.
B) A common result of this kind of convergence is using fewer employees to generate content for multiple outlets.
C) It can involve a single company owning various media holdings, such as radio and television stations, Internet service providers, and cable television systems.
D) A primary goal is to offer more choice to media consumers.
E) None of the statements are false.

Question 57

Plato wanted to banish which group from ancient Greece because he thought they would undermine oral storytelling?

A) Printers
B) Poets
C) Persians
D) Prophets
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 58

Which of the following does the textbook identify as a result of the printing press?

A) The emergence of the style of communication known as the Socratic method
B) A separation of communication from transportation
C) The emergence of more centralized nation-states, given that leaders could more easily distribute information
D) The emergence of tribal communities
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 59

The linear communication model can be criticized on the grounds that it _______.

A) assumes that culture is hierarchical
B) asserts that audiences create their own meanings from messages sent
C) suggests an active sender and a passive receiver
D) conforms too closely to the EPS model
E) is flexible enough to describe the way consumers use the Internet

Question 60

What is one concern identified in the textbook about the future of news content available through Internet news search sites like Google?

A) People aren't interested in reading the news online.
B) Who will pay for quality news content?
C) It seems likely that newspapers will block their material from search engines.
D) Newspapers, radio stations, and television stations don't like the Internet.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 61

The telegraph was the first media development to break the connection between transportation and ____________________.

Question 62

Which of the following statements does not represent part of the traditional "high" culture critique against popular culture?

A) Popular culture is formulaic and repetitive.
B) Popular culture simply exploits and recycles "high" culture to lesser effect.
C) Popular culture debases our taste for finer culture.
D) Popular culture creates a greater appetite for "high" culture, making "high" culture less elite.
E) The abundance of pop culture material leaves consumers with less time and money to spend on "high" culture.

Question 63

Critics who view culture as a map _______.

A) see the map as rigidly structured
B) acknowledge that the familiar and unknown often coexist in the same song, movie, or other cultural artifact
C) feel that culture was more meaningful in the "good old days" of the mid-twentieth century
D) see popular culture as more innovative than "high" culture
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 64

Which of the following is not a value the textbook associates with postmodern culture?

A) Resistance to ideas such as "high" and "low" culture that set hierarchies of taste.
B) An emphasis on the fragmentation and mixing of cultural styles.
C) Increased faith in science owing to technological and scientific advances.
D) A willingness to accept paradox.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 65

Which of the following is an aspect of postmodern culture?

A) The idea that populist themes devalue the notion of "art"
B) Acknowledging paradoxes such as having both a nostalgia for the past and an appetite for new technology
C) Never mixing fact with fiction, preferring only to "stick to the facts"
D) Believing that rational thought is the answer to every social problem
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 66

Elvis Presley was filmed only from the waist up in his third appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show because _______.

A) his left leg was in a cast
B) some critics considered his hip movements lascivious
C) another singer complained that Presley had stolen his dance routine
D) the public demanded to see Presley's face close up
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 67

The five major phases in communication history include the ___________________, written, print, electronic, and digital periods.

Question 68

Celebrating populism in postmodern culture can result in _______.

A) political leaders talking about their love of expensive wine, fancy French cheese, country club memberships, and an Ivy League education
B) political leaders telling stories that are meant to resonate with the middle-class
C) political leaders talking about well-respected and peer-reviewed scientific studies
D) political leaders openly supporting big corporations
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 69

____________________ refers to images, texts, and sounds that are converted into electronic signals that are later reassembled as a precise reproduction of the original image, text, or sound.

Question 70

Which of the following statements best describes how the textbook characterizes the interaction of media and society?

A) Media are definitely the cause of society's problems.
B) Media are just a mirror that reflects what is already in society.
C) Violent movies and song lyrics cause school violence, not media.
D) How much media really shape society is unknown.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 71

According to your textbook, a major concern of critics of contemporary culture is _______.

A) dull and boring television
B) making sure networks have enough money to continue making programs
C) overly restrained talk shows that are too polite to discuss difficult topics
D) children being bombarded by too many television commercials
E) the lack of information available to consumers

Question 72

In the interpretation stage of the critical process, an answer must be found to which of the following questions?

A) When?
B) How many?
C) Who?
D) So what?
E) Where?

Question 73

Which statement(s) reflect(s) the modern period's ideal about working efficiently?

A) New technology should be used to make manufacturing more efficient, thereby providing inexpensive products for everyday life.
B) There was a cultural shift from the ornate and decorative to the functional.
C) It provoked criticism about the impact on individual dignity, such as in the book Brave New World and the movie Modern Times.
D) Modern journalism rejected decorative adjectives and adverbs for "just the facts."
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 74

Postmodern values include which of the following?

A) A belief in rational order
B) Working efficiently
C) Diversity and fragmentation of cultural styles
D) Rejecting tradition
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 75

The phenomenon whereby audiences seek messages and meanings that correspond to their preexisting beliefs and values is called ____________________.

Question 76

What does the textbook suggest is the best way to approach media literacy and media criticism?

A) Learn as much as you can so you can sit on the sidelines and criticize effectively.
B) Understand the various types of media so you can participate in the process of helping them live up to their democratic potential.
C) Examine mass media through a careful critical process.
D) Both the "learn" and "examine" options are correct.
E) Replace cynical perception of the media with genuine criticism.

Question 77

Critics who adopt the "skyscraper" model of understanding culture worry that too much "low" culture will _______.

A) stunt their imagination and undermine their intellectual growth
B) take meaningful and complex works of art and literature and render them trivial
C) distract people from meaningful political action and important social change
D) prevent people from experiencing genuine art
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 78

In the nineteenth century, critics felt which of the following might create havoc?

A) Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Gothic novel Frankenstein
B) Populism
C) "Mash-ups" such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
D) Rising literacy rates among the working class
E) Increased access to technology

Question 79

Which of the following does the textbook associate with postmodern culture?

A) HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
B) The New York Times
C) The Gutenberg Bible
D) Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 80

Concerns about how young people might be negatively influenced by messages in popular or "low" cultural forms _______.

A) didn't happen until the appearance of rock-and-roll music in the 1950s
B) were resolved by Plato, Aristotle, and other classical philosophers who decided for all time what was to be considered "art"
C) have been around at least since the time of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates
D) have always been about important moral values and never a cover for racism or bigotry
E) existed in ancient Greece, but went away until jazz music started to become popular around the start of the twentieth century