Deck 10: The News Media: Communicating Political Images

Question 1

Objective journalism is based on the idea that the reporter's job is to

A)report the facts and cover alternative sides of a partisan debate.
B)report what political leaders want them to report.
C)discover what other reporters are saying and provide a uniform interpretation of events.
D)scrutinize the partisan debate,and inform the news audience about which party has the better argument.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following statements is true?

A)Objective journalism is based on communication of facts and fairness.
B)Yellow journalism attempts to describe what is taking place or has occurred.
C)The New York Post is the bulletin board of major newspapers.
D)Objective journalism is based on communication of facts and fairness,while yellow journalism attempts to describe what is taking place or has occurred.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The FCC's equal time requirement

A)included the print media.
B)prohibited broadcasters from selling or giving time to political candidates and denying it to their opponents.
C)required broadcasters to give equal time to the two major political parties.
D)required broadcasters to give equal time to news programming and to commercial advertising.
E)required broadcasters to give equal time to third parties as well as the Democrats and Republicans.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The Gazette of the United States was founded to promote the policies of President

A)Warren Harding.
B)Grover Cleveland.
C)William Henry Harrison.
D)James Madison.
E)George Washington.

Question 5

What technology led editors to substitute news reports for opinion commentary?

A)radio
B)telegraph
C)broadcast TV
D)cable TV
E)power-driven printing press

Question 6

Yellow journalism contributed to public support for the

A)Spanish-American War.
B)Civil War.
C)War of 1812.
D)Mexican War of 1848.
E)American Revolution.

Question 7

The yellow journalism of the late nineteenth century was characterized by

A)its appearance solely in weekly and monthly magazines.
B)the emphasis on sensationalism as a way of selling newspapers.
C)prejudice against Asian people and countries.
D)an unwillingness to take editorial positions because of a fear of losing circulation.
E)the desire to present the news in an objective manner.

Question 8

Of the following television networks,which is typically considered the MOST partisan?

A)Fox News
B)ABC
C)NBC
D)CBS
E)PBS

Question 9

Partisan talk radio got its start

A)after the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine.
B)on the day of Rush Limbaugh's first broadcast.
C)after cable television led the way.
D)in the early 1990s after the election of Democrat Bill Clinton.
E)during the late 1930s.

Question 10

During the era of objective journalism,the commitment of newspapers to two-sided news reporting

A)did not extend to their editorializing.
B)was enshrined in the editorial section.
C)was uniform throughout the sections of a newspaper.
D)deteriorated democracy in the United States.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

The circulation battle of which two newspapers may have contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War?

A)Chicago Tribune and Boston Herald
B)Los Angeles Times and New York Times
C)New York Journal and New York World
D)Gazette of the United States and National Gazette
E)San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle

Question 12

The FCC restriction requiring broadcasters to "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance" was known as the

A)"Equal Time" rule.
B)objective-reporting model.
C)signaling function.
D)common-carrier function.
E)Fairness Doctrine.

Question 13

The federal government's licensing of broadcasting is based primarily on

A)the fact that broadcasting is a national medium.
B)the scarcity of broadcasting frequencies.
C)the fact that broadcasting was invented after the First Amendment was adopted.
D)the desire of national officials to control the content of broadcast news and entertainment.
E)a desire to censor reporters so that they will stop criticizing governmental officials.

Question 14

The news provides a refracted version of reality because it

A)emphasizes dramatic and compelling news stories.
B)is biased in favor of a Republican viewpoint.
C)is biased in favor of a Democratic viewpoint.
D)is biased in favor of a liberal perspective.
E)is biased in favor of a conservative perspective.

Question 15

The term "framing" is used to describe the

A)media's ability to influence what is on people's minds.
B)process of selecting certain aspects of reality and then crafting news stories around those aspects.
C)media's obligation to convey a uniform and standard interpretation of a situation.
D)nature of media reporting when objectivity has weakened and the system has tilted in favor of yellow journalism.
E)primary right of the media that is protected by the First Amendment.

Question 16

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)has regulatory oversight over which of the following?

A)radio
B)magazines
C)Internet content
D)newspapers
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 17

In comparison with today's newspapers,early American newspapers

A)were written by hand.
B)were so inexpensive that nearly everyone read a daily paper.
C)could not have survived without political party support.
D)were more widely read.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 18

Among the following,the news media are MOST likely to focus on events that

A)are timely.
B)affect small numbers of people.
C)occur in other countries.
D)happen to ordinary citizens.
E)are complicated to report.

Question 19

Historically,the American press has shifted from

A)a political to a journalistic orientation.
B)objectivity to subjectivity.
C)a journalistic to a political orientation.
D)partisan to very partisan.
E)negative to positive.

Question 20

Over the last century,which newspaper has had a lasting reputation as the country's best newspaper?

A)Washington Times
B)Miami Herald
C)Los Angeles Times
D)New York Times
E)Chicago Tribune

Question 21

The news media's common-carrier role is based on the idea that

A)the news will be available to all citizens.
B)various news organizations should interpret the news in nearly the same way.
C)the press should not charge for public service announcements.
D)the press should provide a channel through which political leaders can communicate their views to the public.
E)the press should be patriotic in the reporting of the news.

Question 22

Agenda-setting is an action that falls under which of the major roles played by the press?

A)common-carrier
B)signaling
C)watchdog
D)partisan advocate
E)news interpreter

Question 23

One special contribution of Internet-based news is that it

A)provides the ordinary citizen with an opportunity to be part of the news system.
B)provides slower,more deliberative reporting.
C)offers more unbiased reporting.
D)prevents rampant editorializing.
E)None of these answers is true.

Question 24

In contrast with some European news media,the main television news networks and the newspapers in America are MORE likely to

A)guide readers by providing ideological interpretations of current events.
B)play a partisan role by taking sides in political debate.
C)act primarily as neutral transmitters of information.
D)use yellow journalism.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 25

Which of the following broadcast news sources has seen its audience grow since the early 1990s?

A)ABC
B)CBS
C)NBC
D)NPR
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 26

Which institution receives the most news coverage from the national press?

A)the presidency
B)U.S.House of Representatives
C)U.S.Senate
D)U.S.Supreme Court
E)the federal bureaucracy

Question 27

How has the Internet affected the watchdog role of the media?

A)It has diluted the watchdog capacity with an overflow of opinions.
B)It has expanded the watchdog capacity of the media.
C)It has tainted the watchdog role with a partisan bent.
D)It has almost completely usurped the watchdog role from the traditional media outlets.
E)It has had little to no effect because it lacks the objective standards of traditional media outlets.

Question 28

On both radio and television,the most successful partisan talk shows

A)have been hosted by liberals.
B)have been hosted by nonpartisan journalists.
C)have been hosted by conservatives.
D)have been hosted by teams of journalists holding multiple partisan viewpoints.
E)have had no discernible political bias.

Question 29

Which of the following statements has been shown by scholarly research to be true?

A)Network journalists have a very substantial liberal bias.
B)Network journalists have a very substantial conservative bias.
C)Network journalists have a clear Republican bias.
D)Network journalists have a clear Democratic bias.
E)Network journalists tend to be negative.

Question 30

On-the-scene coverage of a natural disaster is an example of the press's role of

A)watchdog.
B)signaler.
C)partisan advocate.
D)common-carrier.
E)interpreter.

Question 31

CNN and MSNBC have responded to Fox's ratings success by

A)reducing the number of talk shows in their line-up.
B)increasing the number of talk shows hosted by liberals.
C)attempting to lure audiences by focusing on their unbiased news reporting.
D)installing talk-show hosts with nonpartisan appeal.
E)installing talk-show hosts with partisan or hard-edged appeals.

Question 32

The media perform the signaling role by

A)informing the public of breaking events and new developments.
B)serving as an open channel for leaders to express their opinions.
C)exposing officials who violate accepted performance and moral standards.
D)acting as the public's representative.
E)All of these answers are correct.

Question 33

The traditional media have "softened" their news by

A)infusing it with more partisan talk shows.
B)infusing it with more stories about celebrities,crime,and the like.
C)infusing it with more coverage of international affairs.
D)focusing on editorials instead of nonpartisan facts.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 34

Most broadcast news journalists

A)are strong Democrats.
B)lean Democratic.
C)have no political views.
D)lean Republican.
E)are strong Republicans.

Question 35

The Watergate scandal illustrates the

A)futility of media attempts to forecast political events.
B)inadequacy of the media as a common-carrier to the public.
C)power of the media to serve as watchdog to safeguard against abuses of power.
D)ability of the press to serve as the public's representative in political disputes.
E)abuse of power by journalists in the United States.

Question 36

Which of the following does NPR serve as an example of?

A)the beneficial role of the "equal time" provision of the Communications Act
B)the economic dominance of partisan network media
C)the one true success story of public broadcasting
D)the increasing role that entertainment stories are playing in traditional news reporting
E)the rising power of Internet blogging and independent reporting

Question 37

The reason the news product is designed to fascinate as well as to inform is because

A)news organizations are fundamentally businesses and must obtain revenue to survive.
B)of the high level of illiteracy.
C)the print media wish to emulate the broadcast media.
D)of the need to compete with Hollywood productions.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 38

Scholarly research has shown that,overall,the traditional media

A)have a strong liberal bias.
B)have a slight liberal bias.
C)have no substantial bias.
D)have a slight conservative bias.
E)have a strong conservative bias.

Question 39

In the 1960s,presidential candidates

A)received more negative coverage than they do today.
B)were largely ignored by the media.
C)were hounded by the media incessantly.
D)had longer sound bites,on average,in broadcast television newscasts.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 40

One of the reasons the reporting of national news is relatively uniform among news sources is that

A)the government dictates much of what is reported.
B)there are only a few important events each day that merit news coverage.
C)the network newscasts are brief and the day's top stories tend to dominate.
D)reporters are not given much freedom by their editors.
E)modern journalists have become fairly lazy and use mostly wire reports to create news copy for the network newscasts.

Question 41

Which of the following is true of age differences in news consumption?

A)Younger adults are more than twice as likely as older adults to use the web for news consumption.
B)The disparity in age for news consumption is greater with television than with newspapers.
C)Older adults are more likely than younger adults to access the web.
D)Age differences in news consumption shrink for Internet-based news but do not disappear.
E)About 60 percent of young adults pay little or no attention on a regular basis to any news source.

Question 42

What steps did the government have to take to regulate broadcast media,and why were those steps necessary?

Question 43

Identify the term partisan press.Why was it superseded by the objective press?

Question 44

Staunch conservatives are MOST likely to pay regular attention to

A)MSNBC.
B)NPR.
C)the Daily Show.
D)Rush Limbaugh.
E)Fox News.

Question 45

Explain the four functions of the modern media.

Question 46

The rise of the Internet as a news source has

A)substantially increased the partisan divide.
B)led to a small but significant increase in the partisan divide.
C)led to a small but significant decrease in the partisan divide.
D)substantially decreased the partisan divide.
E)had no appreciable impact on the partisan divide.

Question 47

During what decade did the American television network news audience change from a growing to a shrinking one?

A)the 1960s
B)the 1980s
C)the 1990s
D)the 1970s
E)The audience has not yet begun to shrink.

Question 48

In terms of news consumption,since the 1980s young adults

A)have been more informed than older ones.
B)have been less informed than older ones.
C)have experienced a rise in news consumption because of the Internet.
D)have experienced a rise in news consumption because of cable news channels.
E)have remained on par with older adults in terms of news consumption.
Essay Questions

Question 49

Most successful Internet blogs

A)have a conservative bias.
B)have bolstered the strength of traditional newspapers by drawing on their stories as sources for material they post online.
C)have achieved the same kind of reporting access to government leadership that the major news outlets have traditionally had.
D)are beginning to mimic the impartiality and objective journalistic standards of the major media outlets.
E)have a liberal bias.

Question 50

How do the motivations of the press differ and often lead to a greater coverage of crime stories than the political process or world events?

Question 51

What development brought about a dramatic reduction in television's capacity to generate an interest in news?

A)an increase in newspaper circulation
B)the loss of objective journalistic standards
C)the rapid spread of cable
D)the rise of Internet news consumption
E)a drop in education levels in the United States

Question 52

Of all the time people spend on the Internet,they spend the LEAST amount of time on which of the following?

A)messaging
B)games and movies
C)searches
D)news and current events
E)social networks

Question 53

The "long tail" is a phenomenon related to the

A)partisan flavor of talk shows.
B)degree of editorializing by broadcast news.
C)rate of Internet news readership.
D)increase in the age gap of news readership.
E)partisan nature of Internet news.

Question 54

Identify the factors that account for the relative uniformity in news reporting among major American news institutions.

Question 55

Daily Kos and the Drudge report are MOST similar to

A)news programs.
B)talk shows.
C)entertainment shows.
D)reality TV.
E)weekly news magazines.