Deck 10: Media: Tuning in or Tuning Out

Question 1

Young people report gathering most of their political information from

A) the Internet.
B) television.
C) newspapers.
D) radio.
E) magazines.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What inspired the more aggressive form of journalism known as muckraking in the early 1900s?

A) a fear that partisan leanings were tainting news
B) the need to sell newspapers
C) the failure to investigate thoroughly
D) a desire to increase objectivity
E) sympathy for the plight of ordinary citizens

Answer 2

E

Question 3

A Gallup poll revealed that as of 2017, the highest proportion of Americans (just 27 percent) expressed high confidence in which of the following?

A) television
B) newspapers
C) magazines
D) Congress
E) the Internet

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Newspapers in the 1830s witnessed all of the following transformations EXCEPT

A) a decreased dependence on government contracts.
B) communication advances via the telegraph.
C) the adoption of the rotary press, which sped up the printing process.
D) the development of the penny press.
E) a decreased dependence on paid advertisements.

Question 5

In 2016, people were most likely to get campaign news from

A) national newspapers.
B) local newspapers.
C) the combination of social media, websites, apps, and email.
D) local TV news.
E) cable news.

Question 6

The first American newspaper, published in Massachusetts in 1690, shut down after just one issue because

A) the colonial government placed a ban on all secular publications.
B) the public had no interest in reading about the news.
C) the colonial government passed a law requiring printers to obtain a license prior to publishing a newspaper.
D) the public was scandalized by the newspaper's salacious reports.
E) literacy rates in colonial New England were too low to sustain a regularly-published newspaper.

Question 7

Which of the following terms best describes yellow journalism?

A) sensational
B) adversarial
C) objective
D) investigative
E) partisan

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a trend in newspaper readership today?

A) The number of daily newspapers has decreased.
B) The circulation of daily newspapers has declined.
C) The number of people reading newspapers online is increasing.
D) Newspapers are thinner and stories shorter.
E) The amount of coverage devoted to community reporting in newspapers has decreased.

Question 9

Visible trends in the mass media today include all of the following EXCEPT

A) declining interest in traditional media on the part of young Americans.
B) a lack of interest in using new communications technologies to engage in politics.
C) declining newspaper circulation and readership.
D) the rise of narrowcasting, or programs targeted at a small segment of the population.
E) consumption of news less at certain times of day and more throughout the day based on "social flow."

Question 10

Narrowcasting

A) first became prominent in the early twentieth century.
B) has meant that most Americans don't receive the same news.
C) functions to promote common political experiences for Americans.
D) has become less important as the Internet has become more important.
E) has yet to have a significant impact on political coverage by the media.

Question 11

The first time radio aired the results of a presidential campaign, it was to report the election of

A) Abraham Lincoln.
B) William McKinley.
C) Theodore Roosevelt.
D) Warren Harding.
E) Franklin Roosevelt.

Question 12

Organizations such as the Associated Press and United Press International are associated with the rise of

A) the partisan press.
B) the penny press.
C) yellow journalism.
D) muckraking.
E) objective journalism.

Question 13

Which of the following statements most accurately describes John Adams and Thomas Jefferson's handling of the press?

A) They scrupulously guarded a division between government and the media.
B) They held regular press conferences to win the media to their side.
C) They awarded government contracts to printers who supported their policies.
D) They distrusted newspapers and sought to impose government censorship over all of them.
E) They gave all journalists free access to all the workings of the cabinet in order to keep the people informed.

Question 14

The term muckraking refers to journalism that

A) aggressively investigated real and apparent misdeeds by powerful entities.
B) relies on jingoistic appeals to attract readers.
C) focuses on celebrity news and infotainment at the expense of analysis.
D) engages in partisan slanders of political figures.
E) strives for high standards of objectivity even at the expense of missing a great "scoop."

Question 15

Which event convinced television networks that there was a large audience for televised news and led to the adoption of thirty-minute news programs?

A) Stock Market Crash of 1929
B) attack on Pearl Harbor
C) outbreak of the Korean War
D) Nixon-Kennedy presidential debate
E) outbreak of the Vietnam War

Question 16

Which of the following statements about young Americans is LEAST accurate?

A) They increasingly develop their political ideas through online social networks.
B) They are less attentive to traditional news sources than are older generations.
C) They prefer local news programs to network news programs.
D) They are less skeptical of media sources and more likely to accept media claims than older Americans.
E) They consume news and information from more subjective sources.

Question 17

Which of the following statements about ownership of the media is LEAST accurate?

A) In many democracies, the government owns all or many of the major news outlets.
B) In the United States, the government does not own or control any major news outlet.
C) Some critics fear that corporate domination of the media leads to news that is meant to entertain rather than to inform.
D) Even some reporters feel that the profit motive in present-day journalism leads newsmakers to jump to conclusions before the facts are in.
E) Control of media outlets is being increasingly concentrated into the hands of a small number of corporations.

Question 18

Based on current understandings of the First Amendment, which of the following statements regarding government regulation of the media is LEAST accurate?

A) Having declared the airwaves on which television and radio broadcast public property, the government has more control over those media than it does over others.
B) Because the livelihood of public officials depends heavily on their reputations, courts have made it easy for them to successfully sue print media for libel.
C) The government is rarely authorized to prevent the publication of material that it does not want exposed.
D) Although the government limits the number of media outlets that a single entity can own, these limitations have been lessened in recent years.
E) The courts may allow the government to bar the publication of materials if the information contained therein poses a threat to national security.

Question 19

Americans, on average, are most likely to get their national and international news from

A) television.
B) newspapers.
C) magazines.
D) radio.
E) the Internet.

Question 20

The United States is currently the only advanced industrial nation in the world in which

A) the government dictates that media outlets must give candidates equal air time, if time is given to any candidate at all.
B) the government regulates private ownership of the media.
C) virtually all the major media outlets are privately owned.
D) the government directly sponsors a news media outlet.
E) a fairness doctrine is enforced on major media companies.

Question 21

Journalists frequently use sports metaphors to describe politics, and they are particularly likely to compare elections to

A) baseball.
B) horseracing.
C) football.
D) tennis.
E) boxing.

Question 22

Which president helped to create the modern White House press corps when he added a press room to the White House?

A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Franklin Roosevelt
E) Ronald Reagan

Question 23

Which of the following statements about political advertising is LEAST accurate?

A) Some western democracies ban paid advertising and instead give free airtime to candidates.
B) Some scholars believe attack ads depress voter turnout.
C) The long-term impact of negative advertising is a matter of dispute.
D) The effectiveness of advertising, positive and negative, has been clearly established and quantified.
E) One form of negative ad is the comparative message, which contrasts each candidate's position on a given issue.

Question 24

Which of the following statements does NOT reflect conventional wisdom about presidential debates?

A) Candidates must studiously avoid gaffes, because the media is likely to cover them extensively and aggravate their effect.
B) Candidates' demeanor and appearance have an effect on whether or not they win the support of viewers.
C) Debates offer citizens one of the rare opportunities to compare candidates side by side.
D) Incumbents generally have the most to gain from debates.
E) Candidates worry about passing the "living room test," coming across as someone whom viewers would like to welcome into their homes.

Question 25

Which of the following statements about government regulation of broadcast media is LEAST accurate?

A) The FCC can fine networks for airing material the commission regards as indecent.
B) The FCC requires that stations grant equal time to political candidates during election time.
C) For several decades, the FCC required that broadcasters air all sides of a political controversy.
D) With the proliferation of media outlets, the FCC abolished the fairness doctrine that once shaped the way broadcasters had to present the news.
E) The FCC regulates only the content of broadcast media, not the ownership of broadcast media outlets.

Question 26

The televised Nixon-Kennedy debate of 1960 revealed that

A) the American public was not interested in politics.
B) the visual appearance of candidates affects viewers' assessment of their qualifications.
C) viewers ignore how candidates look on screen and hone in on what is said about the issues.
D) a candidate's performance during a debate will have little impact on the outcome of an election.
E) challengers have little to gain by acceding to debates, which generally allow frontrunners to enhance their leads.

Question 27

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, media outlets were accused of

A) ignoring the government and focusing on human interest stories.
B) reporting too much on domestic news at the expense of foreign coverage.
C) providing a more entertainment-based coverage of events.
D) extreme partisan bias against a Republican president.
E) failing to scrutinize a popular president.

Question 28

Which of the following statements about how political candidates exploit the media is LEAST accurate?

A) Whereas prominent candidates once appeared on entertainment programs and other alternative media where they could expect more favorable treatment, this practice has waned since the early 1990s.
B) Candidates will often appear at rallies where the crowds have been prescreened to include only supporters.
C) Candidates often try to do something that is newsworthy in itself, in order to get earned media.
D) Candidates rely on spin doctors, who interpret recent events in a manner flattering to the candidate and try to make that interpretation widely accepted.
E) Candidates may "stroke" journalists by giving them exclusive interviews.

Question 29

In 2016, most of the media attention to presidential debates during the primary season

A) focused on the Republicans.
B) was dominated by Governor Chris Christie.
C) focused on the Democrats.
D) was remarkably free of controversy.
E) was restricted to weekdays.

Question 30

Which of the following statements about game coverage of politics is LEAST accurate?

A) Game coverage tends to emphasize strategy and tactics over the potential for future leadership.
B) Game coverage contributes to an emphasis on how campaigns are conducted rather than the issues for which candidates stand.
C) Game coverage leads to a stress on which candidate is winning and which is losing.
D) Game coverage requires an in-depth understanding of complex issues on the part of journalists who employ it.
E) Game coverage fits with a cynical view of politics and trivializes the political process.

Question 31

Which of the following statements about bloggers is LEAST accurate?

A) Many bloggers are average citizens who have no formal education in the field of journalism.
B) Bloggers are generally not held to the same journalistic standards as is the traditional press.
C) Those treated unfairly by bloggers typically have no formal recourse.
D) Many traditional journalists disparage bloggers for their lack of professional qualifications.
E) Although bloggers can amplify an already-reported story, they have not yet shown the capacity to break major news stories.

Question 32

Which of the following statements about local news coverage is generally LEAST accurate?

A) Local news programs favor attractive, stylish anchors.
B) Local news programs emphasize lightweight banter over deep analysis.
C) Local news programs are increasingly less popular than national news programming.
D) Local news programs devote much airtime to covering crime stories.
E) Local news programs often focus as much, if not more, on entertaining viewers as on informing them.

Question 33

Which of the following statements about media coverage of character issues is LEAST accurate?

A) During the first half of the twentieth century, the press devoted much of its coverage to uncovering the private peccadilloes of public officials.
B) Supreme Court decisions have made it difficult for public figures to sue newspapers for libel.
C) The current age of adversarial and "gotcha" journalism has increased attention on candidates' personal lives and failures.
D) Some scholars believe that television encouraged more coverage of candidates' personality traits than their policy positions.
E) Some scholars and journalists believe the increased number of female journalists has affected the boundaries of what the media consider to be newsworthy subject matter.

Question 34

Which of the following statements about trends in news coverage is LEAST accurate?

A) Since the 1970s, many journalists have seen their function as to uncover and expose the misdeeds of prominent government figures.
B) The rise of adversarial journalism has coincided with and possibly contributed to a decline in political participation by many citizens.
C) The American public largely ignores negative reporting from the media, and viewership and readership drop during political scandals.
D) Some prominent and influential journalists are celebrities in their own right, which may affect how they cover and present the news.
E) Media coverage following the September 11, 2001, attacks suggests that the press might relax its scrutiny on presidents with high approval ratings.

Question 35

Which of the following statements about exit polls is LEAST accurate?

A) News outlets, eager to be the first to report a presidential winner, often rely on exit polls to predict the outcome of an election.
B) The media's exploitation of exit polls is a relatively recent phenomenon.
C) In 2000, all the broadcast networks relied on the same firm to provide them with exit poll data.
D) Announcing winners based on exit polls may lead to lower voter turnout in the far western states.
E) Exit polls exhibited impressive accuracy in predicting the winners of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Question 36

A classic study cited in the text found that news coverage (1948-2000) of presidential candidates by newspapers, newsmagazines, and television was

A) unbiased and fair.
B) sometimes biased in a partisan way toward liberal candidates.
C) sometimes biased in a partisan way toward conservative candidates.
D) sometimes biased in a partisan way toward third-party candidates.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 37

In the 2012 general election presidential debates, Mitt Romney

A) won the first debate and saw a boost in the polls.
B) won all three debates, but got no boost in the polls.
C) lost the first debate and saw a decline in the polls.
D) appeared timid and unwilling to challenge President Obama.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 38

As president during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln

A) successfully convinced Union journalists to support his views.
B) could rely on a safely partisan press to support his policies.
C) viewed the press as a distraction that was best ignored.
D) censored war-related news and imprisoned editors.
E) contended that the freedom of the press was more important than the preservation of the Union.

Question 39

The Internet debuted as a political medium for which presidential election?

A) 1992
B) 1996
C) 2000
D) 2004
E) 1988

Question 40

Which of the following has been called into doubt by the successful presidential campaign of Donald Trump?

A) the need for candidates to maintain a regular public presence during the campaign
B) the value of the Internet for engagement by a candidate with the public
C) the value of paid advertising in presidential campaigns
D) the need for presidents to take strong ideological positions
E) the need for presidents to make use of the media to get elected

Question 41

Which of the following presidents had the most consistent skill at winning over media support?

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

Question 42

The rise of the Internet has brought the largest change in media production and consumption since the 1990s. Describe the important aspects of the Internet as a source of political news and a shaper of political views. Also examine how it has affected traditional media sources such as television and newspapers.

Question 43

Which of the following statements about the state of the media and Americans' relationship to them today is accurate?

A) Despite a general cynicism about the news, millennials spend more time pursuing news daily than any other generation.
B) In the past few decades, only the attacks of September 11th, 2001, were able to briefly improve public views of the media.
C) The rise of alternative media, cable, and Internet news has brought a corresponding rise in news consumption.
D) Some 75 percent of millennials consider themselves to be active "seekers" of the news.
E) None of these answers is correct.

Question 44

Who was the first president to hold regular press conferences?

A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Franklin Roosevelt
E) Ronald Reagan

Question 45

Which of the following networks is most likely to please liberals?

A) MSNBC
B) ABC
C) CBS
D) Fox
E) NBC

Question 46

Describe the relationship between government officials and the press. How has this relationship changed over time? What is the state of that relationship today? What impact does this relationship have on the citizenry? How does the press cover different branches of government differently? How do government officials try to shape press coverage to their own benefit?

Question 47

During the terms of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, the relationship between the press and the presidency was

A) adversarial, primarily because the general public detested the sitting president's policies.
B) adversarial, primarily because the press had discovered that presidential scandals helped sell newspapers.
C) friendly, like that between fellow members of a men's club.
D) strained, because the press tirelessly searched for evidence of presidential connections to Communists.
E) dominated by the president, who could summarily imprison a journalist who reported a negative account of the government or its measures.

Question 48

Which president enjoyed the longest honeymoon period with the press?

A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Franklin Roosevelt
E) Ronald Reagan

Question 49

Discuss the current state of television media. What are the most popular broadcast television news programs and how do they present the news? What is the effect of the proliferation of television news outlets? Does a desire for ratings and profits have a negative effect on news coverage? Should the government take greater steps to regulate broadcast media and ensure that they cover news events thoroughly?

Question 50

Which of the following networks is most likely to please conservatives?

A) MSNBC
B) ABC
C) PBS
D) Fox
E) NPR

Question 51

Which of the following statements about press coverage of Congress is LEAST accurate?

A) The media does not provide as much attention to individual members of Congress as it does to the White House.
B) Some members of Congress receive less national press attention than do White House pets.
C) There is no one member of Congress who can speak authoritatively for the entire body.
D) The congressional media corps consists of fewer than 30 members.
E) The media are particularly interested in committee chairs who lead volatile investigations.

Question 52

Which of the following statements about press coverage of the Supreme Court is most accurate?

A) Unless they deal with issues of national coverage, Supreme Court proceedings are usually televised.
B) At the end of a controversial case, it is customary for justices to meet with the press to explain their decisions.
C) The major news networks typically let their primary anchors try to interpret Supreme Court decisions, despite a lack of legal or constitutional expertise.
D) When the press covers the Supreme Court, it is usually to describe ideological divisions among the Court and to identify which justices are "winning" or "losing" on a particular issue.
E) Because Supreme Court justices are rarely chosen from among well-known public figures, and the direct power of justices is so limited, the press pays little attention to judicial confirmation hearings.

Question 53

Discuss the rise of political blogs. What impact do they have on political discourse? In what ways are they similar to and different from traditional media outlets?

Question 54

Which of the following statements about the nature of press coverage of Congress is LEAST accurate?

A) The press focuses much of its attention on the party leaders in the two houses.
B) The press focuses much of its attention on heads of influential congressional committees.
C) National press coverage of Congress is often cynical and adversarial.
D) The way that the press depicts Congress may encourage citizens to view Congress with disdain.
E) Following the dictum that "if it bleeds, it leads," the local press usually emphasizes negative attributes of its viewership's representatives in Congress.

Question 55

Describe how the media cover political campaigns. Which aspects of campaigns do they cover best and which aspects of them do they slight? How do candidates attempt to exploit the media to their own advantage? What limits does the government place on candidates' access to the media? Are these limits effective, inadequate, or overly restrictive?

Question 56

Which president was known as the Great Communicator for his ability to present his views effectively and keep his team focused on a "message of the day"?

A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Franklin Roosevelt
E) Ronald Reagan

Question 57

The tools by which modern presidential administrations control their image include all of the following EXCEPT

A) calling on members of the press corps who are known to throw out softball questions.
B) giving low-level members of the administration wide latitude to interact with the press and offer various, even competing, explanations of the president's policies.
C) issuing frequent press releases that clearly enunciate the reasoning behind presidential policy.
D) floating "trial balloons" to test the public response to an issue before making a wholehearted commitment about it.
E) briefing of the president on potential questions before a conference, and limiting reporters to only one follow-up question.

Question 58

Discuss the declining readership of newspapers. Why are decreasing numbers of Americans reading them regularly? What new media outlets are emerging to supplant newspapers? How do these new media outlets affect how citizens acquire information about current events? Is the decline of newspapers a cause for concern, or do new media outlets adequately replace them?

Question 59

Discuss the history of the media in the United States. What major technological changes have affected them? How have these changes altered the way Americans receive information? What changes are most salient today? How have these developments already changed the public's relationship with news media, and how might they further change it?