Deck 13: Media Economics and the Global Marketplace

Question 1

The term synergy describes the dynamic creative energy of media corporations such as Disney.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A monopoly exists when a small number of firms control an industry, either nationally or locally.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Large media corporations have been afraid to use the Internet because it threatens existing business models.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Historically, companies that distribute services like radio, cable, and the Internet tend to stay away from producing actual content like music and movies.

Question 5

Synergy typically refers to the promotion and sale of different versions of a media product across the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate.

Question 6

Most media companies spread out their holdings among various types of mass media rather than trying to control one medium, to avoid monopoly charges.

Question 7

The era of downsizing coincided with an increase in workers who belong to labor unions.

Question 8

The purpose of antitrust laws is to encourage diversity and competition in the marketplace.

Question 9

Because today's flexible economy demands fast product development, smaller media companies have an advantage over their larger competitors.

Question 10

The television network ABC is owned by Disney.

Question 11

The government trend toward deregulation was actually begun during the Carter years.

Question 12

The success of Snow White, Fantasia, and Pinocchio propelled the Disney Company to major studio status.

Question 13

Government controls over business were drastically weakened during the presidency of
Ronald Reagan (1981--1989).

Question 14

Because of the rise of specialization, people under eighteen and women over thirty-five have more cable television shows targeted at them.

Question 15

The movement toward business deregulation started during the presidency of Ronald Reagan
(1981--1989).

Question 16

The global economy has reduced prices to the point where most low-paid workers in Third
World factories can afford the stereos and TV sets they help manufacture.

Question 17

An oligopoly exists when there is a lot of variety in the number of sellers and producers of media content, but not much variety in what they actually produce.

Question 18

Commercial radio broadcasters once demanded government regulation because of technical interference and competition from smaller amateur stations.

Question 19

The deregulation movement returned media economics to nineteenth-century principles.

Question 20

The purpose of the 1950 Celler-Kefauver Act was to limit corporate mergers and joint ventures that reduced competition.

Question 21

Most media monopolies today operate at the local, not the global, level.

Question 22

Which of the following is one reason that companies like Viacom don't want their content on the Internet for free?

A) They are afraid that consumers will think that their content is poor quality because it is free.
B) They aren't sure that having their content available for free on the Internet is really helping attract paying customers.
C) They are afraid that sites like YouTube and Vimeo will claim credit for creating the
D) They don't think the Internet is a sophisticated enough medium for their content.
E) None of the options is correct.

Question 23

The global spread of media software and electronic hardware has made it easier for political leaders to secretly suppress dissident groups.

Question 24

Which of the following is a characteristic of the shift from an industrial to an information economy?

A) A change in focus from mass production to niche markets
B) A movement from global to local markets
C) A movement from office work to factory and industrialized production
D) An emphasis on laborers rather than service workers
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 25

Which of the following best describes limited competition?

A) A single firm that dominates an industry
B) A market that has many producers and sellers, but only a few products
C) A few firms that dominate an industry
D) Customers that pay directly for media goods, such as a cable TV or a magazine
E) A company that is limited in the way it can compete with its rivals, as in the case of price fixing

Question 26

The U.S. mainstream news media have done little in recent years to sustain a public debate.

Question 27

News organizations owned by large media conglomerates have been significantly increasing the number of reporters assigned to cover international issues, especially following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Question 28

When a media business relies on indirect payments for most of its revenue, consumers tend to .

A) become commodities to be "sold" to advertisers, who are the real clients
B) become completely unimportant
C) have the ability to communicate their preferences immediately
D) have the power to determine the type of advertising used
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 29

Media that rely primarily on direct payment to collect revenues include .

A) movies
B) online search engines
C) over-the-air radio stations
D) consumer magazines
E) daily newspapers

Question 30

If the first half of the twentieth century was part of the Industrial Age, the shift away from manufacturing jobs starting in the 1950s led to a period often known as the .

A) Monopolistic Age
B) Information Age
C) Cultural Imperialism Age
D) MTV Age
E) New Ice Age

Question 31

One reason cultural imperialism might be harmful even to the dominant culture is that it can foster resentment and ill will from people in other cultures.

Question 32

Which of the following is the reason Viacom (owner of MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon) sued Google and YouTube for a billion dollars?

A) YouTube wouldn't allow users to post videos from Viacom stations.
B) Viacom wanted to pressure Google into a merger.
C) The visual quality of videos on YouTube was below Viacom's standards.
D) Viacom felt that YouTube and Google weren't doing enough to stop users from uploading Viacom's copyrighted content.
E) YouTube wasn't playing enough Viacom content to allow its shows to be cross-

Question 33

Economies of scale .

A) provide incentives for producers to operate at high volumes to reduce the cost of a product
B) discourage global marketing of successful products
C) provide cheap means of losing weight
D) explain why print media easily travel across national borders
E) only exist in noncapitalist economic systems

Question 34

Most citizens of developed countries have a wide range of media products available to them, but they have little say in which media are created and circulated.

Question 35

The book publishing and motion-picture industries are both examples of .

A) monopolies
B) oligopolies
C) O & Os
D) limited competition
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 36

American culture dominates global markets partly because it is appealing and partly for economic reasons.

Question 37

Former CBS broadcast chief William Paley once argued that anyone who attacked the commercial broadcast system was attacking democracy itself.

Question 38

Baywatch is an example of an American TV production that was more successful in foreign countries than in the United States.

Question 39

Public debates about the structure and ownership of the mass media are encouraged by media owners, who consider such discussion to be in their best interests.

Question 40

Which of the following companies owns YouTube?

A) Viacom
B) General Electric
C) Google
D) Disney
E) AOL

Question 41

The concept of synergy can best be described as .

A) the power of a new media development as it displaces old, less technologically advanced media
B) several media subsidiaries working under one corporate umbrella to promote different versions of a media product
C) the development of shopping-mall bookstores to boost book sales
D) the development of more multimediated ways to distribute books
E) the ability of one culture to dominate another

Question 42

Magazines like Seventeen and AARP that target a certain age group represent a form of .

A) specialization
B) globalization
C) partisanship
D) ageism
E) synergy

Question 43

Government deregulation and corporate strategy are leading to a mass media industry controlled by .

A) hundreds of small companies
B) monopolies
C) oligopolies
D) national conglomerates
E) one single parent corporation

Question 44

According to the textbook, what's wrong with referring to a position as ''common sense''?

A) It creates a context in which there is less chance for challenge and criticism.
B) Social and political leaders use it as a tool to stifle changes to the status quo.
C) It is a social construct that shifts over time rather than representing any solid ''truth.''
D) It is a powerful tool of hegemony.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 45

Given that percent of new media products fail, a flexible economy demands fast product development and market research.

A) 10--20
B) 30--35
C) 40--50
D) 80--90
E) over 95

Question 46

The billion-dollar mergers and takeovers that swept the mass media in the 1990s were possible because of .

A) speculation on Wall Street
B) deregulation
C) the collapse of communism
D) the rise of the World Wide Web
E) tighter legal controls on corporate spending

Question 47

In the 1950s and 1960s, Disney was marked by .

A) legal trouble
B) corporate diversification
C) global expansion
D) economic turmoil
E) corporate shake-ups

Question 48

The significant trends in major mainstream media economics today are .

A) community ownership and civic action
B) specialization and synergy
C) partisanship and deference
D) national ownership and community action
E) dramatically greater diversity in ownership

Question 49

Which of the following statements regarding the U.S. government's action against monopolies in the late 1800s to early 1900s is false?

A) The government passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, outlawing monopoly practices.
B) The American Tobacco Company was one of the monopolies that broke up due to government action.
C) The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed in 1914, prohibiting manufacturers to sell to
D) Despite the Sherman Antitrust Act, Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company remained a monopoly.
E) All of the statements are true.

Question 50

When a company uses its concert promotion department to put on a show, then advertises the concert on the company's billboards, gives away free tickets on radio stations owned by that company, and advertises on the company's television stations, this is an example of .

A) consumer control
B) the global marketplace
C) synergy
D) deregulation
E) consolidation

Question 51

According to your textbook, today's flexible media system, in which new products are constantly rushed to the marketplace, favors .

A) workers who belong to labor unions
B) individual entrepreneurs who can tailor a unique media product to meet a niche market
C) large companies that can easily absorb losses incurred from failed products
D) government-subsidized companies that don't have to be concerned with making a profit
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 52

Which statement best reflects the progress of U.S. labor unions over the last sixty years?

A) They have experienced steady growth and now represent 35 percent of workers.
B) After being painted as ''socialist,'' they saw their enrollment suffer badly through the
C) Enrollment seems to rise and fall each decade, but with an overall peak since the turn of the twenty-first century.
D) They have benefited greatly from the steady influx of manufacturing away from other countries.
E) They grew steadily following World War II, peaked in the 1950s when about a third of Americans belonged to a union, then have watched their numbers dwindle as more manufacturing jobs move overseas.

Question 53

The 1996 Telecommunications Act .

A) raised the standards for broadcasters and made the process of applying, receiving, and keeping a broadcasting license much more difficult
B) allowed regional telephone companies to enter the cable TV business
C) allowed a company in the Top 20 market to own a newspaper and a TV station, as long as there were at least eight TV stations in the market
D) used regulation to guard against ownership concentration
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 54

The transition to an information economy was characterized by .

A) an increasingly centralized and permanent workforce
B) intense product rivalry between one country and another
C) an emphasis on mass rather than niche markets
D) the rise of transnational media industries
E) the ever-increasing power of labor union movements

Question 55

Which of the following is not a statement that describes the modern concept of hegemony?

A) Hegemony is a good tool for encouraging conversation and debate.
B) Hegemony was a technique recommended by modern public relations founder Edward
C) Hegemony's qualities are often defined or reinforced by narratives, or stories, told in various media forms including books, movies, and television.
D) Hegemony tends to portray the social, economic, and political status quo as normal and natural ways to see the world.
E) Hegemony tends to repel self-scrutiny or critical examination.

Question 56

In the textbook, the term wage gap refers to .

A) the growing difference in pay based on gender
B) the downsizing of traditional newsrooms, with fewer reporters earning much higher salaries
C) the rapidly growing difference in compensation between average wage earners and top corporate executives
D) the gap between union salaries in the 1950s and the 2000s
E) the shrinking gap in pay between hourly and salaried employees

Question 57

What blunder by Disney chairman Michael Eisner was responsible for Disney falling from number 1 to number 5 among movie studios in U.S. box office sales?

A) Hiring Robert Iger
B) Merging with Pixar
C) Starting Buena Vista
D) Refusing to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11
E) Selling Miramax

Question 58

The acceptance of the dominant values in a culture by those who are subordinate to those who hold economic power describes .

A) consolidation
B) democracy
C) hegemony
D) specialization
E) synergy

Question 59

Disney expanded its global reach by _.

A) purchasing ABC
B) opening a theme park in California
C) merging with Pixar
D) opening Tokyo Disney and Disneyland Paris
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 60

The trend of downsizing _.

A) leaves newsrooms with fewer editors and reporters to cover important events
B) is supposed to make companies more profitable, competitive, and flexible
C) has forced many employees to scramble for jobs
D) has increased the wage gap between the corporate CEO and the average worker
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 61

Unlike the other digital companies, Facebook lacks to access the Internet and digital media.

A) hardware devices
B) funding
C) data
D) leverage
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 62

Our society has been reluctant to debate the inequalities inherent in mass media ownership and has gradually collapsed the critical distinctions between .

A) capitalism and the free market
B) democracy and free speech
C) space and time
D) capitalism and democracy
E) socialism and free speech

Question 63

A 2012 Nielsen survey found that while 62 percent of tablet owners had paid for downloading music, only had paid for news.

A) 58 percent
B) 51 percent
C) 41 percent
D) 27 percent
E) 19 percent

Question 64

Because of antitrust laws, most media monopolies today operate on a(n) level.

A) local
B) federal
C) international
D) discrete
E) national

Question 65

Match the federal laws with their effects.
A. Permitted Baby Bells entry into the cable TV business
B. Broke up the Standard Oil Company
C. Limited anticompetitive mergers
D. Allowed dealers to sell competing products
Sherman Antitrust Act

Question 66

In 2012 became the most valuable company in the world, with shares worth $625.3 billion.

A) Google
B) Facebook
C) Apple
D) Disney
E) Amazon

Question 67

Which of the following is true about the globalization of media?

A) It's more difficult for American media to reach other parts of the world.
B) Globalization allows foreign companies to have more control over the media that
C) Globalization has prevented U.S. TV channels from establishing a foothold in other countries.
D) Globalization facilitates the equal development of media in both the United States and
E) Globalization allows companies to recoup losses in the United States with sales overseas.

Question 68

What was the impact/outcome of a 2010 Supreme Court decision (in a five-to-four vote) regarding campaign financing?

A) Stricter limits were placed on the amount of money businesses could donate to political candidates and causes.
B) No business or corporation is allowed to influence politicians with campaign cash.
C) Only small businesses and unions can donate money to campaigns.
D) The government cannot interfere in campaign spending by corporations.
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 69

One key paradox of the Information Age is that for economic discussions to be meaningful and democratic, they must be carried out in .

A) educational settings
B) the popular media as well as in educational settings
C) community-action groups
D) American homes
E) presidential debates

Question 70

How might diversification be used to skirt antitrust laws?

A) Employing minorities tends to make regulators happy and reluctant to target companies.
B) It gets local communities to issue licensed monopolies, such as is the case with many
C) By buying up lots of different media products, a company can avoid the appearance of monopolizing any one product, yet still be large enough that it only really competes with a handful of other similar companies.
D) A company avoids U.S. antitrust laws by buying up media companies around the world.
E) None of the options is correct.

Question 71

Which is a term that describes what happens when one society exports an overwhelming surge of media images that strongly influence everything from fashion styles to views of morality?

A) Cultural imperialism
B) Oligopoly
C) Consumer choice
D) Narrative storytelling
E) Monopoly

Question 72

In our market economy, citizens have , but not very much control over the types of products they might actually want.

A) consumer choice
B) enormous power
C) freedom from thought
D) great responsibility
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 73

Match the federal laws with their effects.
A. Permitted Baby Bells entry into the cable TV business
B. Broke up the Standard Oil Company
C. Limited anticompetitive mergers
D. Allowed dealers to sell competing products
Celler-Kefauver Antitrust Act

Question 74

Match the federal laws with their effects.
A. Permitted Baby Bells entry into the cable TV business
B. Broke up the Standard Oil Company
C. Limited anticompetitive mergers
D. Allowed dealers to sell competing products
Clayton Antitrust Act

Question 75

Match the federal laws with their effects.
A. Permitted Baby Bells entry into the cable TV business
B. Broke up the Standard Oil Company
C. Limited anticompetitive mergers
D. Allowed dealers to sell competing products
1996 Telecommunications Act

Question 76

America has been accused of cultural imperialism for which of the following reasons?

A) U.S. corporations own most of the world's mass media.
B) The Pentagon dictates foreign policy in most foreign countries.
C) American styles in fashion, food, and entertainment dominate the global markets.
D) Baywatch was more popular overseas than it was in the United States.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 77

In 2006, Disney CEO Robert Iger merged the company with .

A) Pixar
B) ABC
C) CBS
D) Viacom
E) Google

Question 78

Cultural imperialism is _.

A) a concept in journalism ethics that argues that journalists must know the culture they are reporting on
B) the theory that globalization is good for media, since it makes media more culturally diverse
C) the idea that large and powerful countries can dominate and even change the culture of smaller countries through media
D) the argument that people are more affected by the media that is familiar to them
E) the process of colonization of smaller and weaker countries by larger and more powerful countries