Deck 11: The Politics of the Media

Question 1

The idea that differing thoughts and ideas compete for acceptance is sometimes known as the

A) free expression theory.
B) limited acceptance thesis.
C) marketplace of ideas.
D) value market.
E) information flow theory.

Answer 1

marketplace of ideas.

Question 2

By the late 1770s, most presses were actively promoting American independence. These presses continued this activity throughout the Revolutionary War by

A) publishing slanderous articles about King George III.
B) reporting Patriot successes while downplaying losses.
C) donating the newspapers' revenues to the colonial army.
D) reporting false information to intentionally dupe British military forces.
E) transmitting coded messages across the colonies.

Answer 2

reporting Patriot successes while downplaying losses.

Question 3

How did the penny presses differ from the newspapers that preceded them?

A) They offered less political news
B) They were less partisan
C) They offered relied more expensively on professional reporters
D) They relied on advertising rather than subscription fees to cover costs
E) All of these answers are correct

Answer 3

All of these answers are correct

Question 4

During which of the following time frames did listening to the radio first become popular in the United States?

A) 1890 to 1900
B) 1900 to 1910
C) 1920 to 1930
D) 1940 to 1950
E) 1960 to 1970

Question 5

Which of the following categories correlates with the highest level of Internet access, according to a 2009 U.S. Census Bureau report?

A) People with an high school degree
B) Hispanic Americans
C) People with a family income of more than $100,000
D) People over 65 years of age
E) Whites

Question 6

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey, approximately _____ percent of Americans say they regularly learn something about political candidates or issues from the Internet.

A) 10
B) 25
C) 40
D) 75
E) 90

Question 7

Upton Sinclair's expose of the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, is an example of

A) yellow journalism.
B) a leak.
C) earned media coverage.
D) interpretation.
E) muckraking.

Question 8

Most research on media bias concludes that, in the aggregate, the media are

A) liberal.
B) conservative.
C) balanced.
D) anti-American.
E) anti-capitalist.

Question 9

When the media acts to teach political culture, facts, and opinions that shape our political belief structures, they are performing their

A) entertainment function.
B) surveillance function.
C) interpretation function.
D) socialization function.
E) evaluation function.

Question 10

Agenda setting refers to

A) the airtime provided free of charge to candidates running for political office.
B) events that appear to be spontaneous but are in fact staged and scripted by public relations experts.
C) featuring specific stories in the media in order to focus attention on specific issues.
D) determining which stories will receive attention in the media and from which perspective they will be covered.
E) the process by which the media normalizes some facts and positions them within the broader political culture.

Question 11

A media event, often staged, where reporters ask questions of politicians or other celebrities is generally referred to as a

A) press release.
B) news briefing.
C) photo op.
D) news conference.
E) cabinet briefing.

Question 12

Although the media covers the judiciary less than the executive and legislative branches of government, it generally gives significant coverage to

A) Supreme Court decisions.
B) controversial confirmation hearings.
C) judges' personal lives.
D) both Supreme Court decisions and controversial confirmation hearings.
E) both controversial confirmation hearings and judges' personal lives.

Question 13

Which of the following presidents gave a large number of public talks, averaging more 550 per year, every year of his presidency?

A) Harry Truman
B) Ronald Reagan
C) George H.W. Bush
D) Bill Clinton
E) George W. Bush

Question 14

The concentration of media ownership results in

A) more local reporting.
B) increased diversity in expressed opinions.
C) more government censorship of the media.
D) the "nationalization" of the news.
E) more competition between newspapers.

Question 15

A study of the 2004 presidential election found that

A) there was far more negative coverage than positive coverage of the candidates.
B) John Kerry had effectively managed the media.
C) there was little coverage of the campaign.
D) neither side was able to credibly deliver its message to the American people.
E) most Americans were closely following the campaign.

Question 16

All societies have laws regulating the media, most commonly stemming from

A) the history of the society.
B) the type of government ruling the society.
C) national security concerns.
D) how modern or educated the society is.
E) the value placed on individual freedom.

Question 17

Historically, Americans have

A) opposed censorship, believing the state should not regulate the economy.
B) opposed censorship, believing that a free and vigorous media are necessary to a democracy.
C) been indifferent to censorship.
D) supported censorship, believing that children should be protected from images of violence at all costs.
E) supported censorship, believing that the state should ensure all citizens have a strong moral foundation necessary in a democracy.

Question 18

Until 1985, the Federal Communications Commission required broadcast media to allow all "reasonable positions" on controversial issues of public interest to be presented under the

A) neutrality doctrine.
B) right of the rebuttal.
C) equalization law.
D) fairness doctrine.
E) equal time rule.

Question 19

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

A) eliminated the Federal Communications Commission.
B) deregulated many limitations on media ownership.
C) overturned the equal time rule.
D) introduced stricture rules regulating decency in the public airwaves.
E) re-imposed the fairness doctrine.

Question 20

According to a 2004 Pew Center survey, 57% of national and local media reporters, producers, editors, and executives believe that ______ is hurting national and local news coverage.

A) greater effort to provide fair and balanced perspectives
B) more partisan attacks
C) a shift toward investigative journalism
D) a greater emphasis on controversial stories
E) a greater emphasis on increasing ratings, ad revenues and profitability

Question 21

Walter Cronkite's assertion that the Vietnam War would likely end in a stalemate led President Johnson to conclude the Americans had lost confidence in his presidency.

Question 22

The term "yellow journalism" emerged in the 1980s to describe the type of reporting offered by daytime talk shows like the Jerry Springer Show.

Question 23

While individual journalists tend, on average, to be more liberal than the average American, there is little evidence to suggest that the news media taken as a whole have a liberal bias.

Question 24

One danger of the "horse race" coverage of presidential elections is that it encourages too many candidates to run for office.

Question 25

The majority of journalists, editors, and producers believe the pressure to make news programming profitable undermines the quality of national and local news reporting.

Question 26

_____ refer to any channel of communicate that reaches a vast audience.

A) Broadcast media
B) Network media
C) Popular media
D) Mass media
E) Effective media

Question 27

A free media is important in a democracy because it

A) allows elected officials to convey information to the public and to convince the public to support their actions.
B) encourages effective involvement in the political affairs of the country.
C) improves understanding of political issues and current events.
D) allows elected officials to both convey information to the public and convince the public to support their actions, and it encourages effective involvement in the political affairs of the country.
E) both encourages effective involvement in the political affairs of the country and improves understanding of political issues and current events.

Question 28

What event impelled President Lyndon B. Johnson to say he had lost the support of Middle America?

A) The high number of casualties in the Vietnam War, particularly in 1968
B) Low approval ratings of his presidency in public opinion polls
C) Public opinion surveys indicating Democrats had moved from supporting to opposing the war
D) Walter Cronkite's negative assessment of the Vietnam War on the news
E) Race riots over the higher number of minorities serving in the Vietnam War, particularly in California, a powerful state in the electoral college.

Question 29

The belief that the media should not question the government or its policies is common in

A) authoritarian states.
B) democratic governments.
C) republican governments.
D) liberal states.
E) conservative states.

Question 30

The newspapers popular in the early nineteenth century that were highly partisan were known as the

A) party presses.
B) broadsheets.
C) biased broadcasts.
D) yellow journals.
E) red baiters.

Question 31

The first newspaper published in what would become the United States was the

A) Wall Street Journal.
B) New York Sun.
C) Boston News-Letter.
D) Boston Globe.
E) Philadelphia Gazette.

Question 32

The first of the penny press papers was the

A) Wall Street Journal.
B) New York Sun.
C) Boston News-Letter.
D) Boston Globe.
E) Philadelphia Gazette.

Question 33

The _____ established the airways as a public good, subject to governmental oversight.

A) Broadcast Media Act of 1920
B) Executive Media Order of 1920
C) Radio Act of 1927
D) Federal Communications Commission Directive
E) U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Fox v. CBS

Question 34

The practice of featuring sensationalism, comics, and scandal to sell papers was referred to as

A) yellow journalism.
B) tabloid tales.
C) red baiting.
D) scare mongering.
E) scandal sells.

Question 35

The general trend in media ownership in the twentieth century has been

A) toward diversification in micro-markets.
B) toward decentralization and increased competition as a result of deregulation.
C) toward greater consolidation and concentration of ownership.
D) toward greater specialization in topics.
E) unchanged since the late nineteenth century.

Question 36

In 1900 at the University of Pittsburgh, the first experimental radio transmission was made by

A) Alexander Graham Bell.
B) Reginald Fessenden.
C) William Randolph Hearst.
D) Edward Murrow.
E) Walter Cronkite.

Question 37

Presidential election returns were broadcast over the radio airwaves for the first time in

A) 1900.
B) 1908.
C) 1920.
D) 1928.
E) 1932.

Question 38

The arrival of television, and particularly the arrival of cable news networks, did all of the following EXCEPT

A) personalize communication.
B) expand the number of independently-owned news sources.
C) bring information from officials to the masses.
D) allow for intimate contact in a diverse and large society.
E) expand the scope of news coverage by introducing a 24-hour news cycle.

Question 39

In what two ways is television unique?

A) Its niche market and limited content
B) Its astounding rate of growth and widespread appeal
C) Its emotional appeal and diversity in its content
D) Its astounding rate of growth and its visual content
E) Its immediacy and its visual content

Question 40

The Internet developed in the early 1980s as the result of a

A) joint research project between the University of California, Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
B) Department of Defense program.
C) joint venture of Sun Microsystems, IBM, and Microsoft.
D) class project of a group of computer science students at the California Institute of Technology.
E) research program at the Lawrence Livermore labs.

Question 41

With respect to the commercial development of television, World War II

A) delayed commercial development.
B) expanded commercial deployment.
C) expanded governmental uses of the medium.
D) spurred innovation in television technology.
E) did all of these things.

Question 42

The number of Americans reporting they learned information about candidates and campaigns from _____ increased between 2000 and 2008.

A) local television news
B) nightly network news
C) the Internet
D) TV news magazines
E) daily newspapers

Question 43

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey, the group most likely to go online for news are

A) people under 30.
B) people between 30 and 49.
C) people 50 and over.
D) people over 30.
E) all ages; there is no difference in online access by age.

Question 44

Research on portrayals of public officials in the entertainment media indicates that since 1975, portrayals have become

A) more positive.
B) more negative.
C) more common.
D) less informative.
E) less accurate.

Question 45

The theory that the media performs three important social functions of surveillance, interpretation, and socialization, was advocated by

A) Douglass North.
B) Harold Lasswell.
C) Walter Cronkite.
D) Edward R. Murrow.
E) Vladimir Lenin.

Question 46

The media's surveillance function

A) forms our political belief structures and our political culture.
B) puts events into context.
C) draws attention to problems that need addressing.
D) reinforces economic and social values.
E) permits the government to watch the people.

Question 47

The Jungle, a critical examination of Chicago's meatpacking industry, was written by

A) Sinclair Lewis.
B) W.E.B. Du Bois.
C) Frederick Jamison.
D) Upton Sinclair.
E) Edward R. Murrow.

Question 48

When a journalist looks into and reports on societal ills, such as corruption in politics or abuses in business, the journalist is said to be engaged in

A) investigative reporting.
B) causal reporting.
C) rabble rousing.
D) informative investigation.
E) propagandizing.

Question 49

What event is often credited with reviving modern investigative reporting?

A) The civil rights movement
B) The Watergate scandal
C) The Great Depression
D) The Iraq War
E) The Iran-Contra Affair

Question 50

In 1999, a Chicago Tribune investigation led the governor of Illinois to

A) resign from office.
B) eliminate the estate tax.
C) begin hearings on campaign finance reform.
D) suspend the death penalty.
E) appoint a special counsel to investigate reapportionment.

Question 51

When the media frame events in a way that subtly makes them "good" or "bad," it is performing its _____ function.

A) interpretation
B) socialization
C) critical assessment
D) focusing
E) surveillance

Question 52

When the media teaches people political facts and opinions that help form their political belief structures and political culture, it is performing its _____ function

A) interpretation
B) socialization
C) critical assessment
D) focusing
E) surveillance

Question 53

An elected official attends the opening of a drug treatment center and makes a speech stressing the importance of rehabilitation, hoping that media will cover the event. The elected official is engaged in securing

A) gatekeeping.
B) agenda setting.
C) earned media coverage.
D) muckraking.
E) media bias.

Question 54

Although it may seem that presidents and the press hold each other in mutual contempt,

A) the press is dependent on the president.
B) the president is dependent on the press.
C) neither is dependent on the other.
D) each is dependent on the other.
E) each is independent of each other except during times of war or crisis.

Question 55

Earned media coverage refers to

A) positive press coverage provided free of charge to candidates running for political office.
B) events that appear to be spontaneous but are in fact staged and scripted by public relations experts.
C) featuring specific stories in the media in order to focus attention on specific issues.
D) determining which stories will receive attention in the media and from which perspective they will be covered.
E) process by which the media normalizes some facts and positions them within the broader political culture.

Question 56

The role of the media in performing its gatekeeping function is an issue of concern because the media

A) act as their own guardians, open to no serious challenge in this role.
B) have a strong liberal bias in its selection of stories.
C) too often defer to the party in control of the Congress.
D) show little concern for popular opinion.
E) do all of the above.

Question 57

The President's main spokesperson, responsible for holding daily conferences with news media outlets, is the

A) Secretary of Interior.
B) Secretary of State.
C) National Security Advisor.
D) Press Secretary.
E) Chief of Staff.

Question 58

A news conference is

A) a written statement that is given to the press to circulate information.
B) an event staged to generate publicity for a program or candidate.
C) a media event that allows the president to communicate with the press and the people.
D) a public appearance by a government official for the purpose of releasing information to the press.
E) None of these things

Question 59

A press release is

A) a written statement that is given to the press to circulate information.
B) an event staged to generate publicity for a program or candidate.
C) a media event, often staged, where reporters ask questions of politicians.
D) a public appearance by a government official for the purpose of releasing information to the press.
E) None of these things

Question 60

A public appearance by a governmental official for the purpose of releasing information to the press is generally referred to as a

A) press release.
B) news briefing.
C) photo op.
D) news conference.
E) cabinet briefing.

Question 61

Which of the following is NOT a role of the media with respect to the executive branch?

A) To inform the chief executive about current events
B) To inform the executive branch about the needs and concerns of the public
C) To allow the president to express their position and policy proposals directly to the American people
D) To keep the president in public view
E) To help maintain strong public support for the president's policies

Question 62

The first president to make effective use of the media to help forge a link with the public and influence their opinion was President

A) Theodore Roosevelt.
B) Herbert Hoover.
C) Franklin Roosevelt.
D) Harry Truman.
E) Ronald Reagan.

Question 63

The number of presidential press conferences held each year since the 1930s, on average,

A) has increased.
B) has decreased.
C) has remained roughly constant.
D) spiked in the 1970s but has declined since then.
E) increased until the 1980s, but has declined since then.

Question 64

Which of the following explains the relative lack of attention paid to the Congress by the media?

A) As the country's highest-ranking official, the president tends to garner greater attention
B) Congress is a large institution, and few members of Congress can claim a level of national recognition similar to that of the president
C) Congress is a deliberative body that moves slowly, two factors which do not make for exciting television coverage
D) Congressional procedures historically emphasized consensus building, while the media thrives on conflict
E) All of the above help to explain the relative lack of attention paid to Congress by the media

Question 65

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing received heavy media coverage because Anita Hill

A) accused him of sexual harassment.
B) said he was unqualified for the position.
C) accused him of exercising poor judgment as director of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
D) claimed she was a more qualified candidate for the position.
E) said that a female justice should be appointed instead.

Question 66

The 1960 presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon was noteworthy because

A) Nixon won the debate but lost the election.
B) Kennedy won the debate but lost the election.
C) television viewers said that Kennedy won the debate, while radio listeners said that Nixon won the debate.
D) television viewers said that Nixon won the debate while radio listeners said that Kennedy won the debate.
E) it was the last televised presidential debate until the 2008 election cycle.

Question 67

The increasing centralization and concentration of media ownership is an issue of concern because it

A) offers fewer perspectives on current events.
B) makes news gathering less efficient.
C) makes reporting more expensive.
D) undermines the profitability of the news media.
E) decreases economies of scale.

Question 68

Locales with two or more news organizations that can check each other's accuracy and neutrality of reporting are known as

A) cultural hegemony.
B) narrowcasting.
C) news monopolies.
D) competitive news markets.
E) fractionalized media.

Question 69

The publication of false and malicious material that defames an individual's reputation is generally referred to as

A) yellow journalism.
B) muckraking.
C) defamation.
D) libel.
E) slander.

Question 70

The Communications Act of 1934 established the

A) Federal Trade Commission.
B) Federal Communication Commission.
C) rules by which radio and television can be censored by the federal government,
D) rules regarding broadcast monopolies and corporate mergers.
E) equal time requirement.

Question 71

The power of the government to prohibit in advance the publication or broadcast of a certain material is known as

A) prior censorship.
B) specialization.
C) narrowcasting.
D) news monopoly.
E) restrictive broadcast.

Question 72

This Federal Communication Commission rule requires offering equal airtime in the broadcast media for all major candidates competing for political office.

A) The neutrality doctrine
B) The right of the rebuttal
C) The equalization law
D) The fairness doctrine
E) The equal time rule

Question 73

The social responsibility theory states that the media should

A) be state run.
B) show what they think the public wants.
C) balance what the public wants with what's good for it.
D) not need to balance what the public wants with what's good for it.
E) operate as a commercial enterprise.

Question 74

The theory that the media should provide both what the public wants and what's good for it is advocated by the

A) devolution theory.
B) libertarian theory.
C) social responsibility theory.
D) prospective governance theory.
E) theory of multiple audiences.

Question 75

The public advocate theory of the media is also referred to as the

A) devolution theory.
B) libertarian theory.
C) social responsibility theory.
D) prospective governance theory.
E) theory of multiple audiences.

Question 76

Historically, Americans have opposed censorship, believing that free and vigorous media are necessary to democracy.

Question 77

Magazines were the first mass medium, intended to communicate information in a timely fashion to a large audience.

Question 78

Many nineteenth-century penny presses were highly partisan, drawing most of their financial support from political parties.

Question 79

Mass media include magazines, newspapers, radio, and television but not the Internet.

Question 80

Today, unlike radio and newspapers, where concentration is intensifying, the ownership of television broadcasting is becoming more competitive and diverse.