Deck 14: Mass Communication and Politics in the Digital Age

Question 1

While most media pundits gave Trump no chance of winning, __________ correctly predicted his 2017 presidential victory.

A) documentary filmmaker Michael Moore
B) CNN anchor Anderson Cooper
C) political pollster Nate Silver
D) co-founder of The Huffington Post Arianna Huffington

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A __________ is secret information deliberately given to journalists by a public figure with the hope that it will be published.

A) trial balloon
B) news leak
C) sound bite
D) push poll

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What does PAC in Super PAC stand for?

A) Political action committee
B) Political advertising coalition
C) Public activity contract
D) Public administration conglomerate

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Donald Trump's experience as a reality TV personality and his long history in the public eye enabled him to __________ during the Republican primary.

A) appeal to the Republican establishment
B) persuade the public with his detailed policy proposals
C) manipulate the news cycle to ensure maximum coverage
D) edit his sound bites to appear more presidential

Question 5

Which popular saying evokes the marriage of politics and entertainment on the campaign trail?

A) "You're only as good as your last performance."
B) "What bleeds, leads."
C) "Break a leg."
D) "Politics is showbiz for ugly people."

Question 6

A(n) __________ is typically aligned with a particular party and presents information to help its cause, with no sense of objectivity or balance in news coverage.

A) media oligarchy
B) partisan press
C) astroturfing campaign
D) fourth estate

Question 7

Journalism has long considered itself the main conduit of __________ information for the public and therefore key to the __________ processes.

A) educational/academic
B) ethical/moral
C) entertainment/social
D) political/democratic

Question 8

When journalists and news organizations represent a real or perceived viewpoint on a particular issue and slant their news coverage unfairly, they act contrary to professional journalism's stated goals of __________.

A) balanced coverage and objectivity
B) ideological education
C) agenda setting
D) media framing

Question 9

Journalism aspires to be an engine of democracy, yet critics often see __________ in political news coverage and the types of stories that journalists and news organizations cover.

A) polemic attacks
B) lobbying influences
C) deliberate distortions
D) media bias

Question 10

The mayor of Greensville, who is up for reelection next year, would like to approve the development of high-rise condo buildings in a city park on the river. Before committing to any course of action that might alienate her constituency, the mayor can test public opinion with a __________.

A) news leak
B) trial balloon
C) sound bite
D) crowdsourcing

Question 11

A(n) __________ poll is a type of political advertising, a telemarketing campaign that gives voters false or misleading information about an opposing candidate while appearing to be a regular telephone poll.

A) push
B) exit
C) straw
D) tracking

Question 12

Like other industries, the media industry __________ politicians to vote in favor of laws and regulations that would benefit the particular interests of the industry and its key players.

A) pays
B) manipulates
C) bullies
D) lobbies

Question 13

Given that news organizations frequently call for more transparency from the government and organizations they cover, critics find it hypocritical that these same organizations do not want the same level of scrutiny regarding __________.

A) insider information they receive from political campaigns
B) money they contribute to political campaigns
C) advertising revenues they receive from political campaigns
D) editorial endorsements they provide political campaigns

Question 14

Budget cuts by news organizations have affected news coverage of politics, with many big-city newspapers closing their Washington bureaus and relying for their political news on __________.

A) citizen journalists
B) press releases by PR firms
C) biased news sources
D) wire services

Question 15

You have decided to set up your own Super PAC because you think it best to __________.

A) spend money any way you see fit to advance your chosen candidate
B) accept only limited donations from individuals
C) accept only limited donations from corporations
D) contribute directly to a politician's campaign

Question 16

In the 2016 election cycle, Super PACs received approximately __________ in donations.

A) $104.7 million
B) $600.9 million
C) $1.8 billion
D) 3.2 billion

Question 17

In the final weeks of Trump's presidential campaign, his social media team spent $150 million in Facebook ads that targeted African American voters with __________.

A) positive messages about Mike Pence
B) negative messages about Barak Obama
C) positive messages about Donald Trump
D) negative messages about Hillary Clinton

Question 18

With the rise of electronic media, especially television, political communication and debate in the media have become increasingly superficial, reducing examination of news issues to __________.

A) character assassinations
B) sound bites
C) biased insults
D) opinion pieces

Question 19

The money candidates need to run for political office is so great because of the cost of __________.

A) political advertising
B) political travel and security
C) campaign staff salaries
D) campaign headquarters

Question 20

Campaign coverage in the news is heavily driven by __________.

A) Twitter
B) Facebook
C) telemarketing
D) opinion polls

Question 21

According to Pew, over half of the public got their news about the 2016 presidential election from __________.

A) candidates' websites
B) TV news
C) social media sites
D) talk radio

Question 22

Appearances on late-night talk shows and even comedy shows have become the norm as entertainment plays an increasingly important role in helping political candidates __________.

A) discredit their political opponents
B) impress voters with their political knowledge
C) create a more down-to-earth image
D) downplay their controversial policies

Question 23

In his examination of more than 1,100 political commercials, what did communication scholar Dr. Larry Sabato conclude?

A) To communicate political truth, an advertisement must be positively packaged.
B) At least 75 percent of all commercials in recent campaigns have been negative.
C) Political advertising is becoming increasingly negative.
D) Candidates who choose to support their own records in ads are not as successful as those who attack the records of their opponents.

Question 24

What is one of the biggest concerns about negative advertising, according to communication scholar Kathleen Jamieson Hall?

A) It promotes falsehoods or encourages the audience to make false inferences.
B) It makes viewers less likely to vote.
C) It creates a polarized political climate.
D) It promotes cynicism about humanity in viewers.

Question 25

What has helped make the electoral landscape more attractive to young people, reversing a trend going back at least thirty years of steadily declining youth participation in elections?

A) Musicians performing free concerts to endorse candidates
B) Political ads that use humor to attack candidates
C) A more prominent Internet presence in campaigns
D) Politicians campaigning at college campuses

Question 26

After Democratic U.S. representative Gabrielle Giffords was wounded in January 2011, questions were raised about whether the gunman had been influenced by __________.

A) the violent imagery and rhetoric used by conservative politicians
B) negative ads
C) Twitter
D) video games

Question 27

Which type of poll is not considered scientifically valid yet appears increasingly on news websites?

A) Random sample
B) Exit poll
C) Push poll
D) Online poll

Question 28

The following question would most likely appear in which type of poll? "Would you support a candidate who would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against perceived enemies and start WWIII?"

A) Exit poll
B) Push poll
C) Straw poll
D) Tracking poll

Question 29

Who participated in the arguably most important televised debate between U.S. presidential candidates in the twentieth century?

A) John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon
B) Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
C) Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter
D) Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater

Question 30

__________ have been increasingly significant in political elections since the first use of radio in 1924.

A) Negative advertisements
B) Electronic media
C) Presidential debates
D) Presidential addresses on TV

Question 31

What event helped usher in an era where a politician's personal qualities, rather than policy stances, took center stage?

A) Dwight Eisenhower's "Chance for Peace" speech
B) Franklin Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats"
C) Harry Truman's "Whistle-stop Tour"
D) Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Question 32

Social media allows candidates to communicate in more __________ ways with voters than they could via other media channels.

A) sincere
B) manipulative
C) formal
D) informal

Question 33

Some claim that President Obama owed his first election win to his __________.

A) published books
B) celebrity endorsements
C) Internet activity
D) experience as a senator

Question 34

When Clint Eastwood talked to an invisible Obama in an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention, his bizarre performance quickly became a __________.

A) machinima
B) meme
C) media bias
D) media frame

Question 35

Which 2016 presidential candidate could not name a single foreign leader at a town hall broadcast by MSNBC?

A) Gary Johnson
B) Donald Trump
C) Hillary Clinton
D) Jill Stein

Question 36

According to Pew, which social media platform was the most popular among those who got their news about the 2016 election online?

A) YouTube
B) Instagram
C) Twitter
D) Facebook

Question 37

According to Arianna Huffington, which social media platform proved instrumental in helping Obama win the 2008 election?

A) Twitter
B) Instagram
C) Facebook
D) YouTube

Question 38

__________ communicate with each other via text messaging or wireless networks to coordinate their activities.

A) Media moguls
B) Twitter trolls
C) Smart mobs
D) Mods

Question 39

Derrick gets his political news from a variety of sources that includes NBC, NPR, PBS, and CNN. Derrick is likely a __________.

A) liberal
B) libertarian
C) conservative
D) communitarian

Question 40

Social media and __________ are making the process of election monitoring across the world a little easier.

A) smart mobs
B) crowdsourcing
C) random samples
D) open access

Question 41

Fostering more __________ may be one of the biggest shifts in political campaigns and elections.

A) dialog
B) top-down communication
C) opinion polls
D) push polls

Question 42

Research indicates that among young viewers, __________ increase cynicism about and decrease interest in the political process.

A) celebrity endorsements of politicians
B) hit songs played in campaigns
C) negative political ads
D) campaign promises

Question 43

Which U.S. organization is one of the leaders in the movement to make government more open and accountable?

A) The Sierra Club
B) Creative Commons
C) Transparency Institute
D) Sunlight Foundation

Question 44

A study by Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy found that Trump's coverage was __________ percent negative in tone during his first 100 days in office.

A) 20
B) 40
C) 60
D) 80

Question 45

Which of the following is primarily a professional polling organization?

A) Gallup
B) Sunlight Foundation
C) Rotary International
D) Viacom

Question 46

Those at the combined far right and far left of the political spectrum constitute about _________ percent of the overall public.

A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 40

Question 47

Which media pioneer created PolitiFact?

A) Ted Turner
B) Jack Dorsey
C) Marshall McLuhan
D) Bill Adair

Question 48

The political and electoral process are increasingly defined by __________, massive research and statistical sets often based on social media and voter information.

A) numerical convergence
B) media oligarchies
C) media hegemony
D) big data

Question 49

You are a political candidate who offered a candid and controversial but "off-the-record" comment about your opponent at a public fundraising event. The next morning, however, you are embarrassed to discover that your statement has been published online. Who is most likely to have done this?

A) A CNN reporter
B) An independent blogger
C) A Fox News reporter
D) A PR professional

Question 50

__________ facilitates conversations between members of the public and between the public and its elected officials.

A) Print journalism
B) Letter writing
C) Social media
D) Voicemail

Question 51

How specifically do campaign polls drive campaign coverage?

Question 52

Who coined the term "smart mobs," and how do smart mobs operate? Provide three examples of where they have been mobilized successfully.

Question 53

What is OpenSecrets.org?

Question 54

Why is no comment "off the record" for politicians in twenty-first-century politics?

Question 55

What is a potential weakness of mass email petitions and form letters created by sites like change.org?

Question 56

Why do critics consider media coverage of politics biased?

Question 57

What impact has Donald Trump had on political journalism?

Question 58

How have social media affected political campaigns and civic engagement in the United States in the twenty-first century? List pros and cons of social media in this respect.

Question 59

Richard Lau and Lee Sigelman examined three distinct but related questions about negative political advertisements. Summarize each of these questions, including (a) what the hypothesis was, and (b) what tests of that specific hypothesis found.

Question 60

Today's politicians are media-savvy, knowledge they turn to their advantage in a multitude of ways. Identify some of the strategies used to influence the news. What are the positives and negatives to these tactics?