Deck 10: The Media

Question 1

Shows such as Samantha Bee's Full Frontal that unite comedy and political content are best described as

A) docudrama.
B) yellow journalism.
C) narrowcasting.
D) infotainment.
E) media framing.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following statements about the press in the 1830s is FALSE?

A) The field of journalism was flourishing.
B) Advertising first became part of the newspaper business.
C) The consumption of media was becoming an increasingly elite pursuit.
D) Newspaper circulation increased.
E) New technology made possible the advent of cheaper newspapers.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The sheer quantity and constant availability of information, which may cause media consumers to dismiss the significance of particular events, is known as

A) media framing.
B) infotainment.
C) muckraking.
D) information overload.
E) information priming.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The media perform which of the following political functions?

A) providing political information
B) helping interpret policy and events, and influencing the national policy agenda
C) providing a forum for political conversations
D) socializing children to the political culture
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 5

Political scientist Shanto Iyengar argues that a process known as ________ sets a context that helps people understand important events and matters of shared interest.

A) infotainment
B) the 24/7 news cycle
C) media framing
D) media consumption
E) priming

Question 6

Where was the battleship Maine when it exploded in February 1898?

A) Puerto Rico
B) the Philippines
C) Cuba
D) Spain
E) Jamaica

Question 7

Traditional media sources include all of the following, EXCEPT

A) newspapers.
B) magazines.
C) radio.
D) websites.
E) television.

Question 8

Before the advent of non-print media, the most notable exception to the historically one-way tradition of people forming opinions based on what they read, heard, and saw was

A) the political broadside.
B) the letter to the editor.
C) the colonial leaflet.
D) the forum.
E) printed ephemera.

Question 9

What major factor, in addition to new technology, led newspapers in the 1830s to lower their prices?

A) increased readership among the elite
B) decreased literacy rates
C) sale of advertising
D) falling circulation
E) lack of journalistic standards

Question 10

How can today's media consumers be sure that the information that they are receiving is accurate?

A) Consumers should depend more on the Internet to gain accurate news.
B) Consumers should gather news from media outlets with a track record of adhering to journalistic standards.
C) Consumers should rely on citizen journalists, rather than on corporately-held media news outlets.
D) Consumers need not worry about accuracy because the media are sworn to uphold journalistic standards.
E) Consumers should only rely on the traditional news networks to gather their news.

Question 11

Gallup Organization surveys show that public trust and confidence in the mass media is ________ it was in the mid-1970s.

A) much higher now than
B) a bit higher now than
C) about the same now as
D) a bit lower now than
E) much lower now than

Question 12

Which of the following is the dominant medium by which young children receive both entertainment and socialization?

A) radio
B) magazines
C) television
D) children's books
E) preschool

Question 13

Which of the following has the greatest influence on enabling people to communicate their views?

A) the Internet
B) cell phone technology
C) newspaper
D) television
E) radio

Question 14

Encouraging the outbreak of the Spanish-American War is the most famous example of what type of journalism?

A) analytic journalism
B) citizen journalism
C) tabloid journalism
D) muckraking
E) yellow journalism

Question 15

Which pre-Revolutionary British legislation directly attacked colonial American newspapers?

A) Navigation Acts
B) Declaratory Act
C) Tea Act
D) Stamp Act
E) Townshend Act

Question 16

Early in the 19th century, advances in technology allowed newspapers to drop their prices, which made possible newspapers known as the

A) penny press.
B) daily dime.
C) nightly nickel.
D) quarter quarterly.
E) ten-cent chronicle.

Question 17

Information appearing on social media, blogs, or reputable websites

A) should be considered accurate.
B) adheres to rigid journalistic standards.
C) applies to every consumer.
D) has been subjected to fact checks.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 18

New media include all of the following, EXCEPT

A) blogs.
B) television.
C) websites.
D) social networking sites.
E) YouTube.

Question 19

Which of the following is the best way to describe the manner in which the media influence the setting of the public agenda?

A) priming
B) framing
C) yellow journalism
D) information overload
E) fairness doctrine

Question 20

Which of the following best describes the journalists in the era of muckraking?

A) highly technological, reporting on the scientific knowledge of the day
B) sensational, writing about lurid stories to increase readership
C) completely objective, reporting only about government policy from an unbiased view
D) critical, writing exposés of corruption in government and industry
E) overly-supportive, producing biased commentary about the government and industry

Question 21

Which of the following was a major factor in the growth of partisan radio programming?

A) the switch from the AM to FM band
B) the use by presidents to address the country
C) adoption of the FCC's fairness doctrine
D) repeal of the FCC's fairness doctrine
E) a lack of outlets for civic discourse

Question 22

In 2015, about what proportion of newsroom supervisors were women?

A) one-fifth
B) one-quarter
C) one-third
D) two-fifths
E) one-half

Question 23

Which of the following statements about the newspaper industry today is the most accurate?

A) Newspaper readership is increasing.
B) Large cities are more likely to have smaller weekly publications that target specific demographic audiences.
C) With the new technologies, revenue has steadily increased.
D) Within the newsroom, women are most likely to be employed in the visual arts.
E) Minorities are much more likely to be employed by smaller-circulation newsrooms.

Question 24

In general, minority journalists are more likely to be employed at newspapers with circulations of

A) less than 10,000.
B) 10,000-50,000.
C) 50,000-125,000.
D) 125,000-250,000.
E) 250,000-500,000.

Question 25

The term narrowcasting means the practice of aiming media content at

A) many segments of the public.
B) specific segments of the public.
C) groups based on age or gender.
D) groups based on ethnicity or socioeconomic status.
E) groups based on religious affiliation.

Question 26

Whose exposé of the oil industry between 1902 and 1904 appeared in McClure's magazine?

A) Joseph Pulitzer
B) William Randolph Hearst
C) Ida Tarbell
D) Upton Sinclair
E) Lincoln Steffens

Question 27

In the first ever televised presidential debate, which person was the first to display telegenic qualities?

A) Richard Nixon
B) John F. Kennedy
C) Ronald Reagan
D) Bill Clinton
E) George W. Bush

Question 28

Between 1992 and 2012, viewer audiences for network television

A) declined significantly.
B) declined marginally.
C) remained steady.
D) increased marginally.
E) increased significantly.

Question 29

When did talk radio-a format featuring call-ins from listeners-bring about a renaissance in radio?

A) 1950s and 1960s
B) 1960s and 1970s
C) 1970s and 1980s
D) 1980s and 1990s
E) 1990s and 2000s

Question 30

Which U.S. president's fireside chats were the first to exploit the value of radio as a device for political communication?

A) Dwight D. Eisenhower
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) Herbert Hoover
D) Harry S. Truman
E) Theodore Roosevelt

Question 31

Which media technology dominated between the 1940s and 1980?

A) newspapers
B) radio
C) television
D) cellular and satellite technology
E) the Internet

Question 32

The age of new media began in the

A) 1960s.
B) 1970s.
C) 1980s.
D) 1990s.
E) 2000s.

Question 33

One of the ways that talk radio promotes civic discourse is that it

A) allows for a real-time exchange of information.
B) appeals to a diversified market of media consumers.
C) provides neutral and objective journalism.
D) promotes the understanding of various ideological viewpoints.
E) is less argumentative and emotional than similar programming on television.

Question 34

American radio listeners first heard news in real time in which decade?

A) 1920s
B) 1930s
C) 1940s
D) 1950s
E) 1960s

Question 35

Which three networks dominated television news in the 1960s?

A) Fox, CBS, and CNN
B) ABC, CNN, and NBC
C) Fox, ABC, and MSNBC
D) ABC, CBS, and NBC
E) NBC, CNN, and ABC

Question 36

Being telegenic first became a significant factor in presidential politics in the

A) 1940s.
B) 1960s.
C) 1980s.
D) 1990s.
E) 2000s.

Question 37

Newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are adapting to changes in print readership by

A) consolidating.
B) offering digital formats.
C) printing editions only on Sunday.
D) using a digital paywall.
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 38

Who wrote The Jungle, an exposé of the meat-packing industry that ultimately led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration?

A) Joseph Pulitzer
B) William Randolph Hearst
C) Ida Tarbell
D) Upton Sinclair
E) Lincoln Steffens

Question 39

The ability of advertisers to target African Americans on Black Entertainment Television (BET) or Latinos on Telemundo is due to

A) media segmentation.
B) narrowcasting.
C) media telegenism.
D) media convergence.
E) media consolidation.

Question 40

Smartphones and tablets have increased traffic on major newspaper websites by

A) 9 percent.
B) 14 percent.
C) 20 percent.
D) 25 percent.
E) 29 percent.

Question 41

Studies by various political scientists have found that most news stories

A) actually contain a conservative bent.
B) are liberally biased.
C) take the form of a debate.
D) present only one point of view.
E) are tinged by the journalist's personal viewpoint.

Question 42

All of the following are concerns about large corporate conglomerate control over the media EXCEPT that

A) too much competition will dilute the quality of the news.
B) this type of control will deter balanced reporting.
C) it will impact the unbiased presentation of issues.
D) it will remove a valuable check on what the media does.
E) large corporations exert too much influence over the news the average American sees and reads on a given day.

Question 43

Like the penny papers of the 1830s, blogs often lack

A) a large following.
B) advertisements.
C) political content.
D) neutrality.
E) professional journalists.

Question 44

The number of corporations that supply the majority of news to Americans has shrunk from 50 in 1983 to just 6 today. This is a result of

A) consolidation.
B) convergence.
C) media segmentation.
D) new media.
E) narrowcasting.

Question 45

All of the following are powerful media audience attractors EXCEPT

A) celebrity news.
B) fires and violent crime.
C) sports news.
D) good news reports.
E) sex scandals.

Question 46

Traditionally, media outlets and journalists have been labeled

A) mostly conservative.
B) somewhat conservative.
C) both conservative and liberal.
D) somewhat liberal.
E) mostly liberal.

Question 47

Discuss the changing nature of the business of news.

Question 48

Explain the effects of the ending of the fairness doctrine by the FCC.

Question 49

Outline the early role of the press in the United States.

Question 50

The use of portable cellular technology like phones and tablets has

A) decreased news consumption as a whole.
B) increased consumption of news briefs, but decreased consumption of "long form" news.
C) increased the traffic on major newspaper websites.
D) made television irrelevant for consuming news.
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 51

Identify various forms of media that are present today.

Question 52

Outline how radio altered the relationship between politicians and their constituents.

Question 53

Define and discuss narrowcasting and explain how it has changed political media content.

Question 54

Which of the following would be identified as "conservative media"?

A) MSNBC
B) ESPN
C) MTV
D) CNN
E) FOX News

Question 55

Explain and identify the political functions performed by the media.

Question 56

Which of the following statements about blogs is NOT accurate?

A) Blogs play a role in shaping the agenda of the traditional media establishment.
B) Blogging has dramatically increased in the past few years.
C) Blogs are an important platform for citizen journalists.
D) Bloggers often break new stories that then become a traditional media firestorm.
E) The media establishment is mostly uninfluenced by blogs.

Question 57

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 did which of the following?

A) resulted in a limiting of options for consumers
B) provided specific enforcement provisions to root out indecency
C) approved consolidation of several news outlets
D) defined what content was "decent" for broadcast
E) opened communications markets to telephone companies

Question 58

Most of the FCC's rules deal with media

A) ownership.
B) content.
C) participants.
D) profits.
E) access.

Question 59

Which of the following terms best represents the evolutionary development of the U.S. media industry ownership over the last several decades?

A) diversification
B) devolution
C) consolidation
D) deleveraging
E) cross-pollination

Question 60

Define yellow journalism and explain its impact.

Question 61

Do the media have an ideological bias?