Deck 1: Mass Media Literacy

Question 1

Media researchers at Ball State University found that people are intentionally involved in a media activity for __________ percent of their waking hours.

A) 1
B) 10
C) 30
D) 60

Answer 1

30

Question 2

Traditionally, mass communication is defined as the technology-assisted transmission of messages to

A) print journalists.
B) interpersonal audiences.
C) mass audiences.
D) only niche audiences.

Answer 2

mass audiences.

Question 3

According to the research firm Nielsen, the medium that is used much more per day than other media is

A) music.
B) magazines.
C) television.
D) newspapers.

Answer 3

television.

Question 4

Mass media have become so integrated into people's lives that __________ is common.

A) mainstreaming
B) media multitasking
C) writing letters
D) niche casting

Question 5

On most days, the most-listened-for item in morning newscasts is

A) sports.
B) consumer news.
C) crime news.
D) the weather.

Question 6

Newspaper, radio, television and magazine companies cannot survive unless they

A) deliver an audience to advertisers.
B) provide the latest news.
C) offer low subscription rates.
D) serve the government.

Question 7

The type of communication that occurs between two individuals, either by themselves or in a small group is

A) mediated communication.
B) meta-communication.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) symbiotic communication.

Question 8

An executive participating in a business meeting is engaged in

A) group communication.
B) industrial communication.
C) intrapersonal communication.
D) mediated communication.

Question 9

In order for something to be categorized as group communication, the audience must

A) consist of more than 10 people.
B) not be able to provide immediate feedback.
C) bemore than one person and all be within earshot.
D) be a homogeneous group.

Question 10

Mass communication involves sending a message to a great number of people

A) who have paid or otherwise prepared to receive the message.
B) who are together in the same location so they can receive the message.
C) who are in widely separated locations.
D) who have common interests that make them a viable target audience.

Question 11

One characteristic that distinguishes mass communication from interpersonal and group communication is the

A) content of the message.
B) lack of immediate feedback.
C) ability of the receiver of the message to understand it.
D) length of the message.

Question 12

Which of the following social media traits is NOT shared with earlier, traditional mass media?

A) They reach millions of people in diverse locations.
B) They inform, persuade, amuse, and enlighten users.
C) They enable interactive dialogue among their users.
D) They bring in millions of dollars of revenue for their owners.

Question 13

Unlike production for industrial media, the production of content for social media

A) requires specialized skills, equipment, and training.
B) is primarily done by paid professional staff members.
C) is highly complicated, time consuming, and expensive.
D) uses readily accessible and affordable software tools.

Question 14

The mass media were almost entirely "word-centric" for hundreds of years until

A) libraries began using the Dewey Decimal System to categorize books.
B) it became technologically possible to duplicate and distribute images.
C) visual images became accepted as a form of communication as well as art.
D) motion pictures were invented and accepted as a mass medium.

Question 15

The term "visual literacy," which is now part of the broader concept of media literacy, became popular with scholars

A) trying to explain the importance of prehistoric cave-paintings discovered in France.
B) around 1850 in response to the invention and development of photography.
C) about 1900 after motion pictures began to add movement to visual images.
D) in the 1960s when the education products coordinator for Kodak wrote about it.

Question 16

Media literacy involves

A) having access to all forms of media.
B) knowledge about mass media and the application of critical thinking.
C) your financial stake in the media landscape.
D) the ability to read media textbooks.

Question 17

Media literacy involves all of the following EXCEPT

A) not confusing messages and messengers.
B) understanding the limitations and possibilities of various media platforms.
C) having a clear framework for the history and traditions of media.
D) appropriately balancing the costs and benefits of various media messages.

Question 18

If Jill walks through a mall and notices the background music playing through the loudspeakers, she is demonstrating

A) intelligence.
B) a sophisticated shopping strategy.
C) media literacy.
D) in-depth knowledge of the music industry.

Question 19

Most of our media exposure is

A) through the media products we purchase.
B) invisible or unnoticed at a conscious level.
C) through billboards.
D) expensive.

Question 20

Someone who condemns a reporter for supporting a politician because she quotes that politician in a news story

A) has effectively demonstrated their media literacy.
B) has subconsciously revealed that they support the politician.
C) has fallen into the error of judgment addressed in the cliché about shooting the messenger.
D) has not adequately considered the editor's role in telling the reporter what to report.

Question 21

One of the traditions of U.S. journalism implied in the Constitution is that the mass media should report news and

A) be inexpensive enough for consumers to afford..
B) offer space so advertisers can reach their potential customers.
C) provide politicians with a venue to speak uncensored to the citizenry.
D) serve as a watchdog of government on behalf of the people.

Question 22

One of the four purposeful functions of mass communication is to

A) inform.
B) initiate.
C) instigate.
D) irritate.

Question 23

One of the four purposeful functions of mass communication is to

A) patronize.
B) persuade.
C) promote.
D) publicize.

Question 24

One of the four purposeful functions of mass communication is to

A) amuse.
B) arouse.
C) assail.
D) assert.

Question 25

One of the four purposeful functions of mass communication is to

A) encapsule.
B) energize.
C) enlighten.
D) envision.

Question 26

The most visible form of information delivered by mass media is

A) personal opinion.
B) news.
C) advertising messages.
D) television listing.

Question 27

The most obvious form of mass media intended to persuade is

A) advertising.
B) books.
C) newspapers.
D) television.

Question 28

English thinker John Miltonadvocated exposure to competing ideas as the best way to discover truth in a concept he termed the

A) information-persuasion dichotomy.
B) marketplace of ideas.
C) information revelation function.
D) media market.

Question 29

Intense rivalry between most successful media companies to reach the largest possible audience and beat out their competition

A) is as old as the mass media themselves and continues to drive the media today.
B) is no longer a part of the media environment as a result of the Internet.
C) intensified and later began to fade during the 20^th century.
D) was an act staged by some unscrupulous media moguls to make more money.

Question 30

President Franklin Roosevelt's nationwide radio addresses rallying support for programs to combat the Great Depression demonstrated the mass media's ability to

A) give equal time to opposing political viewpoints.
B) unify the country by presenting common messages and shared experiences.
C) make a profit by presenting political messages.
D) combine information and entertainment.

Question 31

Network television broadcasts became a nationwide societal unifier because

A) they attracted huge audiences who all watched the same cultural fare.
B) prime time viewing hours encouraged people to stay at home with their families.
C) TV sets were manufactured in the United States and their sale created an economic boom.
D) people could choose from a wide variety of different types of programming.

Question 32

This national newspaper, launched in 1982, offered readers a "first-person" tone and enhanced graphic features that set it apart from its competition.

A) The New York Times
B) The Wall Street Journal
C) USA Today
D) Newsday

Question 33

Which of the following media was among the first to demassify in the 1950s?

A) television
B) radio
C) magazines
D) newspapers

Question 34

Demassification has NOT contributed to the growth of

A) general-interest magazines.
B) alternative media for narrow genres in the mass audience.
C) cable television networks.
D) neighborhood and suburban weekly newspapers.

Question 35

A termcoined in the 1980s to describe how the broadcast industry reaches niche audiences is

A) fringecasting.
B) fragcasting.
C) narrowcasting.
D) cablecasting.

Question 36

Media literacy enables us to more effectively use the mass media for our own advantage and avoid being conned by them.

Question 37

Although we don't always pay attention to them, we are exposed to media messages more than two-thirds of our waking hours.

Question 38

A study at Ball State University found that people intentionally spend 30 percent of their waking hours with the media.

Question 39

The mass media are the vehicles through which messages are disseminated to mass audiences.

Question 40

Mass media have become so integrated into our lives that media multitasking is common.

Question 41

Instant messaging and e-mail are two of the newest mass media to emerge as a result of computer technology.

Question 42

Technology makes it possible to draw clear distinctions between interpersonal communication and mass communication.

Question 43

People who use media, the industries that advertise in media and the companies built around media have a symbiotic relationship.

Question 44

Once technology is brought into a communication situation it can no longer be considered interpersonal communication.

Question 45

Group communication involves an audience of more than one, all within earshot.

Question 46

Mass communication would NOT have been possible WITHOUT the invention of technologies such as the printing press, broadcast transmitters, and Internet servers.

Question 47

Their ability to exchange user-generated content is one of the main reasons "social media" became the common name for this 21^st century form of communication.

Question 48

Social media and mass communication are both mediated forms of communication.

Question 49

Industrial media production can be successfully accomplished by almost anyone who has access to an Internet-capable computer and basic software skills.

Question 50

Visual literacy, a key part of media literacy, can be described as the ability "to read" still and moving images.

Question 51

"Film literacy" which deals with the conventions and techniques of motion media was already a well-established term and area of study long before "visual literacy" came on the scene.

Question 52

Most of our media exposure is invisible to us - or at least goes unnoticed - at a conscious level.

Question 53

One measure of media literacy is awareness of the presence of media messages.

Question 54

The better your media literacy skills, the better equipped you are to deal with a deluge of media messages.

Question 55

Media literacy is only concerned with how messages are received and perceived; media production is concerned with how they are prepared and sent.

Question 56

Realizing that a letter personally addressed to you with several references to your hometown and school is part of a mass mailing and not a personal message demonstrates your media literacy.

Question 57

Intelligent use of the mass media requires assessing the motivation for a message.

Question 58

The different technologies on which media are shaped do NOT affect messages.

Question 59

Media literacy emphasizes the importance of understanding tradition as a way of understanding the media and thereby promotes many of the most popular media myths .

Question 60

Researchers have consistently proven that video games directly cause violent crime.

Question 61

The role of the media in China is much different than it is in the United States.

Question 62

In the U.S., mass media have traditionally served as a watchdog on behalf of the people against governmental misdeeds.

Question 63

The most visible mass-delivered information is news.

Question 64

Information comes in many forms besides news; even advertising offers information that helps consumers make intelligent buying decisions.

Question 65

The outcome of Cairo, Egypt's Arab Spring in 2011 was heavily influenced by key protesters' ability to apply their media literacy skills to a serious political problem.

Question 66

Cell phone communication was one of the primary tools used by organizers to successfully oust Egypt's ruler during the Arab Spring of 2011.

Question 67

The role of persuasion is especially important in a democratic society.

Question 68

Advertising is the only type of mass message that is persuasive.

Question 69

Before mass media, people created their own diversion, entertainment and amusement.

Question 70

Insights into the human condition that are presented by the mass media can be very important in helping us figure out and better understand ourselves.

Question 71

Mass media first came into existence in the late-1800s.

Question 72

A far-reaching effect of mass media has been as a cultural unifier.

Question 73

The mass media can help a society identify its values and establish a cultural identity.

Question 74

As they did on 9/11, the mass media can help connect and bind people together during a crisis.

Question 75

Regrettably, the mass media's ability to unify and bind society only applies to negative situations and times of pain, sorrow, and tragedy.

Question 76

Thorough media coverage presented over time tends to bring about societal consensus even on controversial issues.

Question 77

Over time, mass media contribute to the evolution of society's view of what is considered acceptable and what is unacceptable behavior .

Question 78

The general trend among the mass media today is to seek the largest possible mass audience.

Question 79

Demassification means that mass media are narrowing their audience focus.

Question 80

Defragmentation is an alternate term for demassification of the mass media.