Deck 5: Drugs in the Media

Question 1

Which of the following theories best explains media bias on the drug story? The:

A) ruling elite theory
B) money machine theory
C) grassroots theory
D) professional subculture theory
E) All of the above theories contribute concepts that help to understand media bias on the drug story.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

The news stories that reported that LSD causes chromosome damage and result in the user passing on birth defects to his or her offspring was:

A) verified by research conducted in the 1960s.
B) a complete media invention-no article published in the scientific literature reported such a finding.
C) an urban legend that was circulated during the 1960s.
D) disconfirmed by later scientific research.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The author emphasizes that charges of media bias are commonly lodged by observers with particular approaches or perspectives. Which of the following is the author regarding as bias with respect to the media reporting the drug story? The extent to which these stories:

A) subvert the Marxist agenda and delay the proletariat revolution.
B) undermine the readers' faith in God.
C) do not accurately reflect the evidence gathered and the conclusions reached by scientists.
D) fail to contribute to patriotic fervor.
E) stimulate an interest among the young in trying and using illicit psychoactive drugs.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following assertions about methamphetamine, as reported by the media in the late 1980s, turned out to be true? The use of meth:

A) had moved up the socioeconomic ladder to the point where abuse was as common among the rich as among the poor.
B) had marched across the country to the point where abuse was as common on the East Coast as on the West Coast.
C) had become the drug of choice among young people to the point where it had become the most popular and widely used drug in the country.
D) was "instant addiction"-one puff and you're hooked for life.
E) none of the above.

Question 5

Which of the following theories of media bias is most strongly focused on the factor of hegemony or institutional bias in stressing the slant of media drug stories? The:

A) ruling-elite theory
B) money machine theory
C) grassroots theory
D) professional subculture theory
E) none of the above.

Question 6

Media stories on the use of PCP in the 1970s tended to emphasize that the use of the drug would cause the user to:

A) die of a drug overdose.
B) progress to more dangerous drugs.
C) engage in multiple drug use and harm himself or herself as a result.
D) have psychotic episodes and engage in self-destructive behavior.
E) none of the above.

Question 7

The period during which media attention was most strongly focused on drug use and abuse was the:

A) 1950s.
B) 1960s.
C) 1970s.
D) 1980s.
E) 1990s.

Question 8

Which of the following media assertions about the use of crack cocaine in the 1980s was later verified by scientific research?

A) Crack has become America's drug of choice-even more popular than marijuana.
B) Nearly every expert now concedes that the crack plague is all but universal.
C) One out of ten babies born today are "crack babies"-infants of crack-addicted mothers.
D) Crack babies will be permanently damaged and will become an unmanageable multitude of disturbed and disruptive youth-a lost generation.
E) none of the above.

Question 9

This chapter is based mainly on which of the following sources of news media?

A) broadcast news-mainly television
B) the Internet
C) print sources, mainly newspapers and magazines
D) fiction, mainly novels
E) advertising

Question 10

Which of the following media assertions about the use of crack cocaine in the 1980s was later verified by scientific research?

A) Try it once and you're hooked! Once you start, you can't stop!
B) The use of crack immediately hurls the user into an inferno of craving and despair.
C) Crack has now infected every group and community in the country.
D) Crack is as common in the middle-class suburbs as it is in the ghetto and the urban slum.
E) none of the above.

Question 11

The year that drug use was most frequently in the news was:

A) 1956.
B) 1966.
C) 1976.
D) 1986.
E) 1996.

Question 12

The effect caused by smoking crack cocaine in the 1980s that the media most emphasized was:

A) dying of an overdose of the drug.
B) progressing to the use of other, more dangerous drugs.
C) becoming addicted or dependent on the drug.
D) becoming insane and violent.
E) using crack in conjunction with alcohol and becoming an alcoholic.

Question 13

According to the discussion on media bias, ________.

A) none of the principles of the professional subculture of journalism pull the journalist away from bias toward objectivity
B) some of the principles of the professional subculture of journalism pull the journalist away from bias toward objectivity, while some do not
C) all of the principles of the professional subculture of journalism pull the journalist away from bias toward objectivity
D) whether and to what extent the professional subculture of journalism pulls the journalist away from bias toward objectivity is unknowable and cannot be determined
E) none of the above.

Question 14

Sociologists refer to an episode during which the public or the media express concern or fear from a given agent or threat that is exaggerated, out of proportion to, and less serious than its objective danger or potential damage:

A) a moral panic.
B) media overload.
C) an accurate assessment of the situation.
D) media objectivity.
E) none of the above.

Question 15

In terms of number of people that drug use kills each year in the United States, ________.

A) illegal drugs kill many times more people than legal drugs
B) legal drugs kill many times more people than illegal drugs
C) illegal and legal drugs kill about the same number of people
D) the number of people that legal and illegal drugs kill remains unknown
E) none of the above.

Question 16

The year the American public most strongly believed that drug abuse was the nation's number one problem was:

A) 1959.
B) 1969.
C) 1979.
D) 1989.
E) 1999.

Question 17

The harm that the media attributed marijuana with causing during the 1930s was that use of the drug would cause the user to:

A) develop the "amotivational syndrome."
B) progress to more dangerous drugs.
C) become insane and violent and commit rape and murder.
D) drop dead of a drug overdose.
E) pass on birth defects to his or her offspring.

Question 18

Sensationalistic stories of drug harm erupted for different drugs at different times. For these stories, match up the decade with the drug during which these stories most typically erupted.

A) marijuana in the 1960s
B) crack cocaine in the 1950s
C) PCP in the 1990s
D) methamphetamine from the late 1980s to the 2000s
E) none of the above.

Question 19

News stories in the 1960s about the harm caused by the use of LSD:

A) reported consistently throughout the decade about only one harm the use of the drug caused-insanity and self-destruction.
B) reported consistently throughout the decade about only one harm the use of the drug caused-chromosome damage.
C) began by focusing its reporting mainly on one harm the use of the drug caused (insanity and self-destruction), but switched its attention to a second harm (chromosome damage).
D) was unfocused and all over the map with regard to the harm the use of the drug caused-from addiction to overdoses to progression to more dangerous drugs.
E) none of the above.

Question 20

Which of the following theories is most likely to be influenced by the cardinal rule, verify a story with two or more sources? The:

A) ruling elite theory
B) money machine theory
C) grassroots theory
D) professional subculture theory
E) none of the above.

Question 21

The professional subculture of journalism is made up of several components or elements, some of which push a drug story in the direction of bias and others of which toward objectivity and accuracy. Explain what these elements are and how they could have such influences on a drug story, giving examples from specific drugs during specific eras.

Question 22

Why is the distinction between factual bias and selection bias in the reporting of news stories about drugs and drug use? Be specific, be detailed, and use examples.

Question 23

How does the media hierarchy of prestige influence media sensationalism with respect to drug use? Do media organizations higher on the ladder of prestige present a drug story in a different way than media organizations lower down on the ladder of prestige? Explain.

Question 24

Discuss the various claims that the media made regarding the effects of specific drugs between the 1930s and the 2000s that were factually incorrect. Why were these claims made, how were they corrected, and have they died down now that the factual record has been set straight regarding these drugs?

Question 25

In several cases, media attention to a drug's supposed harms and dangers was followed by legislation criminalizing the possession and sale of that drug. Cite these cases, explaining for what drug this took place and in what era.

Question 26

What factors make the sudden emergence of the widespread use of a particular drug newsworthy? Use examples from specific drugs during specific eras.

Question 27

In your opinion, which of the four theories of media bias best explains the enormous attention paid to crack in the 1980s? Be specific and detailed.

Question 28

Knowing what we know about drug use and harm-specifically that legal drugs kill vastly more users than illegal drugs-explain the disjunction between the volume of media attention paid to the latter versus the former. Try to discuss this matter objectively rather than moralistically. What makes death as a result of use of an illicit drug more newsworthy than death as a result of an illegal drug?

Question 29

Discuss some common themes that can be found during all the eras of drug stories, from marijuana use in the 1930s to methamphetamine use in the late 1990s to the early twenty-first century.

Question 30

Apply the distinction between an "essentialist" and a "constructionist" approach to phenomena, spelled out in Chapter 1, to media representations of drug use throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Is the media depiction of drug use an essentialist or a constructionist approach to drug use?