Deck 14: Mass Media and the Press

Question 1

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, mass media primarily took the form of a ________ press operating through ________.

A) partisan; print outlets
B) commercial; print outlets
C) partisan; radio
D) commercial; radio
E) partisan; electronic media

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In a democracy, the two essential functions of a free press are providing citizens with information about the world and ________.

A) allowing candidates and parties to make a case for why they should be in office
B) promoting interpersonal friendships
C) disseminating celebrity gossip
D) reporting the scores of sporting events
E) broadcasting infomercials

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Gladys is a food blogger for Good Housekeeping, who writes primarily about making healthy dinners that also happen to look like cakes and other desserts. In what type of media is Gladys engaged?

A) public
B) biased
C) analog
D) private
E) mass

Answer 3

E

Question 4

________ refers to the press's role in monitoring and evaluating public officials and exposing wrongdoing and incompetence.

A) Burglar alarm
B) Trip wire
C) Land mine
D) Watchdog
E) Binoculars

Question 5

A news producer for a major network newscast is trying to determine whether to cover a celebrity's recent drug arrest or violence in a country that few Americans know about. According to the profit motive, which story will be chosen, and why?

A) the celebrity story, because it will attract a larger audience
B) the celebrity story, because it is more newsworthy for American audiences
C) the international story, because it is more newsworthy for American audiences
D) the international story, because it will attract a larger audience
E) neither; that will leave more time for advertising

Question 6

Which best characterizes the development of print media from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century?

A) a transition from sensationalism to objective journalism
B) a transition from partisan journalism to sensationalism
C) a transition from objective journalism to partisan journalism
D) a transition from sensationalism to partisan journalism
E) a transition from objective journalism to sensationalism

Question 7

The decision of news directors to focus on sports and gossip news rather than international news speaks to what guiding factor of the media?

A) the profit motive
B) the unbiased motive
C) the reporting motive
D) the violence motive
E) the news motive

Question 8

________ media are intended to convey messages to large, public audiences, like blogs, email, and tweets.

A) Mass
B) Electronic
C) Analog
D) Private
E) Public

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the current state of media in the United States?

A) The media is expansive and primarily objective in nature.
B) The media is expansive and primarily ideological in nature.
C) The media is a mix of objective and ideological sources of all types.
D) The political parties have primary control of media in the United States.
E) Media is locally owned and controlled, with little national focus.

Question 10

Some new forms of media can encourage people to vote, but the most effective tool for increasing turnout is ________.

A) face-to-face canvassing
B) direct mail
C) phone calls from volunteers
D) phone calls from celebrities
E) TV advertisements

Question 11

Which of the following best describes how the Internet and the increased availability of information have changed individual knowledge of the news?

A) Individuals are generally more knowledgeable about politics than they were in the past.
B) The type of knowledge individuals knows is the same regardless of what news sources they use.
C) Individuals who are interested in politics know more, but those who are not interested know about as much as they did before the Internet.
D) The large amount of information overwhelms most people, leaving even the most interested knowing less than they did before.
E) Individuals who are interested in politics know more, but those who are not interested know less than they used to.

Question 12

________ media are intended to convey interpersonal communications that are not intended for a wider audience.

A) Private
B) Electronic
C) Analog
D) Public
E) Mass

Question 13

Which technological innovation changed news by allowing messages to be more tailored and narrowed to specific groups?

A) television
B) radio
C) Internet
D) cable TV
E) the printing press

Question 14

Which type of media organization employs the largest number of journalists who cover American politics?

A) nonprofit corporations
B) federal government entities
C) state government entities
D) local government and community broadcasters
E) for-profit corporations

Question 15

In 2008, about ________ percent of Americans reported using the Internet for political news, more than ten times the number who did in 1996.

A) 45
B) 60
C) 85
D) 30
E) 55

Question 16

A news report explaining changes to the latest federal budget would fall under which of the media's roles in a free society?

A) evaluation of government officials
B) presenter of infotainment
C) solver of collective-action problems
D) interpretation of information
E) crafter of bias

Question 17

You are in a Google Hangout with your friends Rick, Shane, and Lori, and you discuss a recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance reform. What sort of media are you and your friends currently using?

A) public
B) biased
C) analog
D) private
E) mass

Question 18

In the Marvel Comics universe, The Daily Bugle newspaper consistently reports about Spider-Man's actions as being menacing toward society, in an attempt to turn the public against the Wall Crawler. What type of media best describes the actions of The Daily Bugle?

A) sensationalist
B) objective
C) infotainment
D) entertainment
E) partisan

Question 19

________ was the first twenty-four-hour news channel in the United States.

A) CNN
B) Fox
C) MSNBC
D) BBC
E) ABC

Question 20

Which of the following events helped shift the media toward a more objective standard of news reporting?

A) the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898, which was used by the media to start the Spanish-American War
B) the end of World War II
C) changes in technology, such as the rise of newspaper wire services, radio, and television
D) the folding of the DuMont network
E) the rise of independently owned newspapers

Question 21

The ________ required the holders of broadcast licenses to present information on important issues in a way that was honest, equitable, and balanced.

A) Free Press Principle
B) Equal Time Rule
C) Telecommunications Act
D) Electronic Media Act
E) Fairness Doctrine

Question 22

In which country is the majority of major broadcast media privately owned by a prominent national politician?

A) Iran
B) China
C) Italy
D) the United States
E) the United Kingdom

Question 23

The ________ required broadcasters to give equal time to competing candidates for public office.

A) Equal Time Rule
B) Fairness Doctrine
C) Telecommunications Act
D) Electronic Media Act
E) Free Press Principle

Question 24

________ bias refers to a media's systematic tendency to interject editorial content into the coverage of issues or events.

A) Statement
B) Elite
C) Ideological
D) Coverage
E) Gatekeeping

Question 25

The government has reason to believe that a story describing war strategy in Iraq to be published by The New York Times jeopardizes national security. ________ may allow the government to stop the publication of the story.

A) Prior restraint
B) The Telecommunications Act of 1996
C) The Security Doctrine
D) The Equal Time Rule
E) The Bush Doctrine

Question 26

A news organization that supports an incumbent president would exhibit ________ bias by failing to report any news about the economy during a recession.

A) statement
B) elite
C) ideological
D) coverage
E) gatekeeping

Question 27

Which is a federal law, passed in 1996, that substantially lowers barriers to new firms entering the media marketplace?

A) Fairness Doctrine
B) Equal Time Rule
C) Telecommunications Act
D) Electronic Media Act
E) Free Press Principle

Question 28

A news organization that regularly includes criticisms of a president's policies in news coverage of the economy exhibits ________ bias.

A) gatekeeping
B) elite
C) ideological
D) coverage
E) statement

Question 29

The ________ hypothesis predicts that people will choose to consume news from media outlets based on their personal interests and the issue areas that various outlets emphasize.

A) agenda
B) convergence
C) partisan
D) efficacy
E) engagement

Question 30

________ allows governmental actors to prevent media outlets from publishing particular material it believes will jeopardize public safety or national security.

A) Prior restraint
B) The Equal Time Rule
C) The Security Doctrine
D) The Telecommunications Act of 1996
E) The Truman Doctrine

Question 31

Which of the following best describes attitudes in the United States toward government regulation of private media?

A) In the United States, the federal government cannot monitor private media due to the Assange Act of 2011.
B) The United States is generally more open to monitoring of private media than other democratic countries.
C) The United States is generally less open to monitoring of private media than other democratic countries.
D) In the United States, private media is regulated just as much as public media.
E) The United States does not have the technological capacity to monitor private media.

Question 32

A news organization critical of an incumbent president would exhibit ________ bias by reliably reporting the number of American casualties in a foreign conflict without describing the number of enemy casualties or military objectives achieved in combat.

A) gatekeeping
B) elite
C) ideological
D) coverage
E) statement

Question 33

Media bias is ________.

A) only ideological in nature
B) generally considered to be unacceptable at all levels of media
C) sometimes unavoidable because of the nature of the news being presented
D) not considered a major problem by American politicians
E) a relatively new concept in American media, and has only existed since the rise of cable news

Question 34

In which country is the press principally state owned but operated independently of the government?

A) Iran
B) China
C) the United Kingdom
D) the United States
E) Italy

Question 35

Compared to the general public, journalists' ideological positions are ________.

A) farther to the left
B) farther to the right
C) about the same
D) much farther to the right
E) almost exactly the same

Question 36

Shows like The Daily Show focus primarily on offering a satirical presentation of real world news. What term best identifies the type of programming in which these shows engage?

A) infotainment
B) sensationalism
C) information
D) podcasting
E) political entertainment

Question 37

Which term refers to a media organization's systematic tendency NOT to report a specific type of story?

A) elite bias
B) gatekeeping bias
C) ideological bias
D) coverage bias
E) statement bias

Question 38

________ bias refers to a media organization's systematic tendency to emphasize certain types of stories or aspects of stories?

A) Gatekeeping
B) Elite
C) Ideological
D) Coverage
E) Statement

Question 39

Government licensing of radio frequencies solves a/an ________ among radio and television stations by preventing companies from using signals that interfere with one another's broadcasts.

A) coordination problem
B) prisoner's dilemma
C) collective-action problem
D) principal-agent problem
E) unstable coalition

Question 40

The ________ hypothesis predicts that people will choose to consume news from media outlets that share their ideological predispositions.

A) engagement
B) convergence
C) agenda
D) efficacy
E) partisan

Question 41

The media tactic that involves using the psychological process of shaping people's perceptions of a particular issue, figure, or policy is also known as ________.

A) framing
B) mixed strategy
C) priming
D) logrolling
E) pluralism

Question 42

Which is most consistent with the engagement hypothesis?

A) A generally conservative individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see "what the other side is up to."
B) An investor who is only mildly interested in political news that does not influence his or her business interests primarily visits financial news Web sites that principally cover economic and business news.
C) A liberal individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see stories that match his or her ideological predispositions.
D) A generally conservative person with little interest in politics happens to be exposed to some political news stories while he or she watches a local news broadcast to hear the scores of local sporting events and the weather report.
E) A person intentionally chooses to avoid political news coverage on television in general because he or she finds the style of modern broadcast journalism distasteful.

Question 43

The Internet has drastically changed how individuals get information, as well as the messages they receive. How has the Internet and new media in general changed American politics? In particular, how have elections and campaigns been affected?

Question 44

Which is most consistent with the agenda hypothesis?

A) An investor who is only mildly interested in political news that does not influence his or her business interests primarily visits financial news Web sites that principally cover economic and business news.
B) A generally conservative individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see "what the other side is up to."
C) A liberal individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see stories that match his or her ideological predispositions.
D) A generally conservative person with little interest in politics happens to be exposed to some political news stories while he or she watches a local news broadcast to hear the scores of local sporting events and the weather report.
E) A person intentionally chooses to avoid political news coverage on television in general because he or she finds the style of modern broadcast journalism distasteful.

Question 45

An important conclusion from the agenda-setting literature is that the media are very good at telling people ________ and less successful at ________.

A) what to think about; telling them what to think
B) what to think; telling them what to think about
C) what's important; telling them what's less important
D) what's less important; telling them what's important
E) the news; convincing people

Question 46

What is the term for the media tactic that involves focusing on a specific aspect of a story over other aspects?

A) mixed strategy
B) priming
C) framing
D) logrolling
E) pluralism

Question 47

Why does the First Amendment permit the federal government to regulate the content of broadcast media in ways that would be impermissible if applied to print media? What are some ways that the federal government regulates or has regulated the content of broadcast media? What are the goals of these regulations? Have the regulations had their intended effects?

Question 48

According to studies on learning and the media, where do people learn most of their news about current events?

A) friends and family
B) mass media
C) coworkers
D) direct observation
E) osmosis

Question 49

Which of the following would be an example of framing, in the context of the political media?

A) Dr. Richard Kimble is accused of a crime he did not commit and goes on the run to prove his innocence.
B) A news telecast focuses a story on a member of Congress who is running for office for a tenth term, putting primary focus on the member's advanced age as a way to characterize the member as out of touch.
C) A news director decides to present a story on that evening's telecast about a squirrel on a mini Jet-Ski rather than about conflict in the Middle East.
D) A sports reporter in Boston ends his telecast by yelling "Go Sox!"
E) A reporter takes a story about a war-torn country and focuses attention on the plight of refugees in the country rather than the parties at war.

Question 50

Which of the following would be an example of priming, in regards to the political media?

A) A group of benevolent robots comes to Earth to stop other robots from destroying the planet.
B) A news telecast focuses a story on a member of Congress who is running for office for a tenth term, putting primary focus on the member's advanced age as a way to characterize the member as out of touch.
C) A news director decides to present a story on that evening's telecast about a squirrel on a mini Jet-Ski rather than about conflict in the Middle East.
D) A sports reporter in Boston ends his telecast by yelling "Go Sox!"
E) A reporter takes a story about a war-torn country and focuses attention on the plight of refugees in the country rather than the parties at war.

Question 51

Which is most consistent with the partisan hypothesis?

A) A generally conservative individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see "what the other side is up to."
B) An investor who is only mildly interested in political news that does not influence his or her business interests primarily visits financial news Web sites that principally cover economic and business news.
C) A person intentionally chooses to avoid political news coverage on television in general because he or she finds the style of modern broadcast journalism distasteful.
D) A generally conservative person with little interest in politics happens to be exposed to some political news stories while he or she watches a local news broadcast to hear the scores of local sporting events and the weather report.
E) A liberal individual watches a liberal cable news outlet to see stories that match his or her ideological predispositions.

Question 52

Evidence that media has educational value, and that people retain factual information well, is ________.

A) mixed
B) confirmed by most quality research
C) not supported by the literature
D) overstated
E) not available because little research exists on the topic

Question 53

What are the primary functions of the press in a democracy? How does the press fulfill these duties in the United States? How well does the modern American media serve these public functions? Is the modern media environment an improvement over previous periods in the historical development of mass media in the United States?

Question 54

According to studies, what type of individuals are most swayed and persuaded by media information?

A) the most well-informed individuals
B) people who watch infotainment shows like The Daily Show
C) people who are moderately informed about politics
D) people who are not at all informed about politics
E) No one is swayed by media information.

Question 55

In 1992, the media continually discussed and mentioned Vice President Dan Quayle's inability to spell the word "potato" (which he spelled in a New Jersey classroom "potatoe") to highlight a mistake and influence the criteria that individuals use to judge politicians (namely to make Quayle seem incompetent). What technique best describes the media's focus on Quayle here?

A) framing
B) priming
C) mixing strategies
D) logrolling
E) pluralism

Question 56

Identify and describe three hypotheses that explain why people choose particular outlets for political news. What assumptions about people's interest in politics or cognitive processes motivate these theories? What evidence supports or contradicts the predictions of these theories?

Question 57

How would we know if an ostensibly objective media outlet is politically biased? What are three types of political bias that might be evident in political news coverage? Is political bias necessarily a liberal or conservative bias? What evidence is there of bias in major American media?

Question 58

The ________ hypothesis predicts that people will choose to consume news from media outlets that provide the level of news coverage, compared to other content, that they most prefer.

A) engagement
B) convergence
C) agenda
D) efficacy
E) partisan

Question 59

Among the three main hypotheses explaining how and why individuals choose the media content they do, the ________ hypothesis has been the most well supported by the political science literature.

A) engagement
B) partisan
C) agenda
D) liberal bias
E) conservative bias

Question 60

Research indicates that ________ is an effective tool for persuasion.

A) repeated exposure
B) limited exposure
C) balanced coverage
D) biased coverage
E) agenda setting